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

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11. Phil McRae, C

24 years old, re-signed as RFA to $600K/$200K two-way contract

McRae, the 33rd-overall pick in the 2008 draft and son of former Blue Basil McRae, made a poor decision by deciding to leave the Blues’ organization last year to go to Europe. He went on to have a solid season with eight goals and 20 assists in Liiga, the premier Swedish league, but he gave up the chance to potentially earn NHL time as an injury replacement. McRae will come back to America this year, but his chances at getting an NHL shot have been decreased by the signings of centers Paul Stastny, Jori Lehtera, and Joakim Lindstrom. McRae still has relative youth and a solid set of skills on his side, but he’ll really need to impress to move up the organizational depth chart. Still, his signing gives the Blues some nice insurance in the AHL that they didn’t necessarily have available last season.