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St. Louis Blues Give Scottie Upshall a One-Year, $900,000 Extension

By Patrick Karraker

May 1, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; St. Louis Blues right wing Scottie Upshall (10) skates against the Dallas Stars during during game two of the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the American Airlines Center. The Blues win 4-3 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
May 1, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; St. Louis Blues right wing Scottie Upshall (10) skates against the Dallas Stars during during game two of the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the American Airlines Center. The Blues win 4-3 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Blues decided to bring back an important member of their fourth line prior to the beginning of free agency.

In what can be described as a surprising move, albeit a pleasant one, the St. Louis Blues announced on Thursday morning that they’ve agreed to a one-year, $900,000 extension with winger Scottie Upshall. The 32-year-old, who came into Blues training camp on a professional tryout deal a year ago and ended up making the team, had six goals and eight assists in 70 games for the Blues in 2015-16. He added a goal and two assists in 17 playoff contests.

There are numerous unconfirmed reports indicating that forward Vladimir Sobotka will return to the Blues after a two-year stint in the KHL, and if those reports end up being true, Sobotka will likely end up being plugged in on the Blues’ fourth line. Though Sobotka is capable of playing all three forward positions, it figured that he would probably replace Upshall on the left wing. As it turns out, though, that won’t be the case.

Blues GM Doug Armstrong told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Jeremy Rutherford last week that all of the team’s unrestricted free agent forwards were likely to hit the free agent market, so it was also surprising to see the team extend one of their own players (not named Jaden Schwartz) prior to the opening of free agency. Perhaps, though, showing some early loyalty to a fourth-liner like Upshall enabled the Blues to save some money, as he might have earned a better payday from another team coming off a strong playoff run.

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Assuming that Sobotka ultimately returns and plays under the $2.7 million-dollar deal that he was awarded in arbitration prior to his departure, the Blues will have roughly $10 million of cap space left to work with. Since they need to re-sign their own restricted free agents, including Schwartz and Ty Rattie, that obviously decreases the franchise’s chances at re-signing David Backes or Troy Brouwer and basically makes bringing both of them back a financial impossibility. In addition, though, it probably spells bad news for fourth-line center Kyle Brodziak, who seems likely to be replaced by Sobotka since Upshall slots into the left wing spot on that line.

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