The St. Louis Blues have made a qualifying offer to defenseman Chris Pronger. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the team has put $7.2 million on the table. Pronger now has until August 15 to decide whether or not that amount is enough for him to be in St. Louis for the 2005-2006 season.

Pronger is a free agent and can now go around the league and see if he can get more money from other teams. If Pronger is offered more money from another team, the Blues have the right to match that price and keep Pronger. If they decide to let him go, they’ll get four first-round draft picks as compensation.

While the option to search for money is certainly there, other teams won’t be able to add much more to what Pronger has already been offered. Under the new collective bargaining agreement, no player can make more than $7.8 million per season, which is just $600,000 more than the offer the Blues have made to the former MVP of the league.