St. Louis Blues Sign Kyle Brodziak to One-Year Contract

The St. Louis Blues capped off a busy day of wheeling and dealing, which included the trade of longtime franchise face T.J. Oshie to the Washington Capitals and the signing of several minor-league free agents, by signing former Minnesota Wild center Kyle Brodziak on Thursday evening.

As NHL.com’s Lou Korac tweeted on Thursday, the Blues were able to work out a financially efficient deal with Brodziak, who skated in 73 regular season games and 10 playoff contests for the Wild this past season. After making $3 million in 2014-15, Brodziak will make a much more team-friendly salary of $900,000 in 2015-16.

Brodziak, who has played in 621 NHL games over 10 seasons for the Wild and the Edmonton Oilers, figures to fit into the Blues’ fourth-line center role, which was a revolving door for much of the past season. It may be that way again in 2015-16, as Steve Ott can play the position capably and may fit better in the role against more physical teams, but Brodziak at least provides the club with a capable offensive presence on the traditional “checking line”.

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Brodziak is pretty clearly an upgrade over Marcel Goc, who ended the 2014-15 season as the primary fourth-line center. Goc provided little to no offensive value, and despite being billed as a strong presence in the defensive zone, he seemed to be a liability in that regard during the postseason. In contrast, Brodziak has been a pretty decent offensive performer with the Wild, having accumulated at least 20 points over his past seven full seasons.

At least according to the often-questioned statistic of plus-minus, Brodziak has been a below-average defensive performer over the course of his career, registering a minus-52 rating, so hopefully he won’t create too much of an issue playing with wingers Steve Ott and Ryan Reaves, who are also questionable defensive players. Depending on if 2014 first-rounder Robby Fabbri makes the team, it’s possible that Patrik Berglund could end up dropping down to the fourth line, putting Brodziak in the press box more often than not, which could mean the worries about the defense on the fourth line are all for naught.

Next: Blues Add Peter Harrold, Jordan Caron on Two-Way Deals