St. Louis Blues Sign Benn Ferriero to Two-Way Contract

The St. Louis Blues have signed 27-year-old forward Benn Ferriero to a one-year, two-way contract. Ferriero, who has experience playing both center and wing, has played in 98 NHL games for the San Jose Sharks, New York Rangers, and Vancouver Canucks since the 2o09-1o season. He most recently played two games for the Canucks this past year.

Ferriero has shown decent scoring ability in the past. He’s scored at least 15 AHL goals on three separate occasions, including in 2013-14 for the Utica Comets, for whom he had 19 goals and 20 assists over 54 games. And while he didn’t have any NHL points last season, he did manage to register seven goals and an assist over 35 games with the Sharks in 2011-12.

The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Ferriero presumably will fill the role that Keith Aucoin vacated when he decided to depart for Switzerland last month. He’ll provide veteran leadership at the Blues’ Chicago affiliate and serve as an NHL-tested option if the Blues suffer with a bout of injuries and have to raid their AHL team for replacements. Other than a possible veteran goalie to provide insurance to Jake Allen and Brian Elliott, the Ferriero signing knocks off the last to-do item on the Blues’ free agency shopping list, as they’ve now got enough depth at pretty much every position to have viable replacements waiting in the AHL if needed.