St. Louis Blues Give Jori Lehtera Three-Year Contact Extension
The St. Louis Blues kicked off the 2015 NHL free agency period by locking up one of their own emerging stars for the long term. The team signed center Jori Lehtera, who joined the Blues for 2014-15 after spending four seasons in the KHL, to a three-year contract extension which will pay him $14.1 million and keep him in the fold through the 2018-19 season.
Lehtera’s new deal won’t actually kick in until 2016-17, as he still had one year left on his initial contract. That means he’ll be paid $2.25 million this coming season, but after the new deal kicks in, he’ll be paid $4.4 million in 2016-17, $4.7 million in 2017-18, and $5 million in 2018-19.
Lehtera was one of the Blues’ key players in 2014-15, playing a crucial role for much of the year on the team’s “STL line” with wingers Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko. Over 75 games, Lehtera had 14 goals, 30 assists, and a plus-minus rating of plus-27, which placed him second on the team in that category, behind only Tarasenko.
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Lehtera, who had never played more than 58 games in a season while playing in Europe, did seem to have difficulty adjusting to the rigor of the NHL schedule, so the Blues will have to hope that he can make that transition and be more effective over the duration of the season going forward. After collecting seven goals and 17 assists in 28 games up to December 11, Lehtera had just two goals and seven assists during a 29-game stretch December 13 to March 5. He did find a bit of a second wind down the stretch, scoring five goals and notching six assists over his last 18 games.
It should be interesting to see how the Blues utilize Lehtera going forward. If they retain the players from the long-standing top line–Alexander Steen, David Backes, and T.J. Oshie–a difficult decision will have to be made on which highly-played player ends up as the third line center. Backes is scheduled to make $4.75 million in 2015-16, while Stastny will be the highest-paid player on the team at $7 million.
Unless one of the veteran wingers, Steen or Oshie, is moved, Lehtera may end up on the third line for the early part of 2015-16 as the Blues attempt to justify Stastny’s contract by giving him a top-six role. But with the way things set up, Lehtera could slide back into a top-six role in 2016-17 as his salary hikes up, and Backes could walk as an unrestricted free agent at that point. Another option would be moving Backes outside to wing, which has long been discussed, if the Blues are able to move Steen or Oshie via trade.