Blues hire Alexander Steen as European player development consultant

Alexander Steen is back with the St. Louis Blues. 

Two-and-a-half years after retiring as a player following a 15-year NHL career, he is rejoining the team with whom he played most of his games. The Blues announced Monday that they’ve hired Steen to work in their hockey operations department as a European player development consultant. He will work with the team’s European prospects and return to St. Louis to assist with rookie development camps.

“I’ve missed it, for sure. This is going to be fun,” Steen said in a team release. “I still follow the team pretty closely, so I already know the prospects we’ve got – I just haven’t met them yet. It will be fun getting to know them on a personal level and begin working with them.”

Steen, 39, had a productive NHL career split between the Toronto Maple Leafs, who drafted him 24^th overall in 2002, and the Blues, who acquired him in 2008 along with Carlo Colaiacovo for Lee Stempniak. Steen played 12 of his 15 seasons with St. Louis. 

He finished his career sitting fourth in franchise history in games (765) and sixth in points (496). He played on the Blues team that won its first and only Stanley Cup in franchise history in 2018-19, tallying two goals in 26 playoff games. He retired in 2020 due to two herniated discs in his back. He sits 18^th in NHL history in goals by Swedish players with 245 and 19^th in points with 622. His father, longtime NHLer Thomas Steen, sits 12^th and 11^th in those categories.

After retiring, Steen had spent the past couple years working as a sporting director for a team in his native Sundsvall, Sweden. He has also provided the Swedish World Junior team with some scouting and consulting.