Blues Sign Oskar Sundqvist

The Blues are bringing back a familiar veteran.  The team announced today that they’ve signed unrestricted free agent center Oskar Sundqvist to a one-year, two-way contract.  The deal will pay $850K in the NHL and $300K at the AHL level.  PuckPedia adds (Twitter link) that the deal has a $350K guarantee.

The 32-year-old played in 52 games with St. Louis last season, picking up five goals and 12 assists in just under 13 minutes per night of ice time.  While he was a healthy scratch at times, he also missed 11 games with a trio of injuries.

Over his 11-year NHL career, Sundqvist has 67 goals and 114 helpers in 545 appearances.  The bulk of those outings have come over his two stints with the Blues; his best showing offensively also came with them back in 2018-19 when he had 31 points.

A fourth liner for most of last season, Sundqvist has likely dropped a spot or two on the depth chart now.  St. Louis added Mason McTavish in a draft day trade while also converting Dillon Dube’s minor-league deal last season to an NHL pact for the upcoming season.  Winger Ross Johnston was also added in free agency, covering a spot on the fourth line that could have been available otherwise.

Accordingly, while it’s certainly quite possible that Sundqvist breaks camp as a depth forward, it’s also possible that he finds himself on waivers for the purpose of AHL assignment in the fall.  If that happened and he passed through unclaimed, it would be his first time playing at the minor league level since the 2017-18 campaign when he played in six games with AHL San Antonio, the former affiliate of the Blues.