Ranking St. Louis Blues Offseason Moves from Least to Most Impactful

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6. Joakim Lindstrom, C

30 years old, signed as UFA to one-year, $700K contract

Lindstrom, a 6-foot, 200-pound Swedish forward who has spent 97 games in the NHL with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Phoenix Coyotes, and Colorado Avalanche, didn’t really do much during the previous phase of his American career. But after returning to his home country, Lindstrom did some impressive things as a scorer, registering 48 goals and 89 assists in 129 games over the course of three seasons. For that reason, the Blues are giving him another chance in the NHL, and they hope with the things he’s learned back in Sweden as well as the presence of his fellow countrymen Patrik Berglund, Alexander Steen, Magnus Paajarvi, and Carl Gunnarsson on the roster that he can be a different player in 2014-15.

While there’s reason to be skeptical that Lindstrom will be significantly better than he was before, GM Doug Armstrong and Ken Hitchcock have very high hopes for him, and it sounds like he has a good shot at claiming a top-nine forward role during training camp. At bare minimum, expect Lindstrom to be one of the 14 forwards on the opening 23-man roster.