Edmundson, entering his third full year in the league, who has struggled with injuries in his two years. The Jets have no long-term security with Trouba and that meddles with their future planning. In Steen's rookie year with the Maple Leafs, the club held training camp in Sweden. With With the start of the regular season now less than a week away, Already having lost several key players to injuries, the St. Louis Blues just found about another injured player in star young forward The injury is just another blow to the Blues, who have already lost several key players, including As for Fabbri, knee injuries can be difficult to recover from, so despite just a re-evaluation after 10 days, the worry is he might be out for much longer. The young defenseman clearly does not want to be in Winnipeg and has set himself up for yet another arbitration clash next summer, after which he will bolt in free agency. Schenn, acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers at a costly price of two potential first-round picks along with Most of the team’s top talent is already locked up long-term. However, he paired well with Schenn and will likely move to the second line along with him. Regardless, however, if he fares well, he could see time with the Blues throughout the season.Dunn has been a major revelation after surprising a few when he made the Blues out of training camp last season. Without doing so, the chances of him being available to start the season would have been lower.Steen also denied the speculation that he has given the team an ultimatum to re-sign him before the end of the preseason:Steen is entering the final year of his contract, one that carries a cap hit of $5.8MM and a salary of $6.5MM. As a member of a leadership group that’s been under scrutiny for their lack of, well, leadership, moving Steen would represent an opportunity for Doug Armstrong to send the message to the dressing room that he’s been searching for.It’s also not as though Steen is himself beyond reproach. O’Reilly produced 24 goals and 61 points, but could also see his game elevated in the pairing with Tarasenko, who had a slight down season as he scored just 33 goals, which is below his usual averages.
There are rumors that the team will reward him next season for being willing to accept much less than he was worth.Johnson has been working on one-year deals for a little while, but the veteran backup could be needed if Allen falters in goal this year. The 28-year-old has now posted double-digit goals for the second straight years and posted a career-high 54 points this season. Perhaps one of their worst deals, Steen still has four years at 33 years old. The draft pick, then, is meant to balance those scales; the Rangers currently hold Tampa Bay’s second round pick in the coming draft with conditions that could cause it to become a first round pick, though those conditions could be relinquished if the pick was included in a trade to the Blues.Dumping Shattenkirk’s deal and returning one solid forward and one defensive project might have some appeal for the Rangers, who find themselves holding a playoff spot despite allegedly being in the early stages of a rebuild. Schmaltz has one more year on a deal that operates as a two-way contract this year and a one-way contract next year. The 29-year-old wing had a career-high 23 goals last year. His addition should hopefully help Tarasenko develop into that superstar that everyone believes that he can be. He looked to be having a solid year last year, but tore his ACL in February and missed the rest of the season.
Already locked up for five more years, the 24-year-old blueliner is coming off a 35-point season and many feel he will only improve. Schenn, who likely will move to the second line this year, posted career-highs in goals (28) and points (70) and was a big hit in St. Louis. The 6-foot-4 center has been a solid mainstay as a bottom-six center as he gets used to playing with adults in the NHL.
The Blues currently have all but $285K of their cap space committed to 24 players. The 19-year-old dominated his junior league last season and many people believe he has a great shot at winning a roster spot this season as the team feels that there is no reason to return him back to his junior team. Fabbri finished the year with 11 goals and 18 assists and many were counting on him to take over the team’s second-line center spot this year, although the team left him at the wing position during yesterday’s game.Much of the attention of the youth will fall on Fabbri, who many are hoping will have a breakout season this year. The team took a hard loss earlier this offseason when Berglund underwent surgery on his left shoulder and will not return until December. The morning the Blues announced they were moving on from Hitchcock, Steen found himself cornered in the dressing room by Bernie Federko and dressed down in front of the media - though mostly out of earshot - for his attitude in the run-up to the firing.
The 28-year-old especially struggled last year, posting career-lows in goals against (2.75) and save percentage (.906). St. Louis Game Time Injuries have played a major role for the 31-year-old veteran as he has missed 42 games in three seasons. In hindsight, history shows that more often than not, expensive, long-term free agent contracts don’t work out. Though he’s shown flashes of promise, he’s never quite caught on as a regular in St. Louis.