St. Louis Blues Lose Steve Ott, Pat Cannone in Free Agency on Friday
In addition to David Backes and Troy Brouwer, their two biggest losses on Friday, the St. Louis Blues lost two more players to free agency in Steve Ott and Pat Cannone.
The St. Louis Blues’ most deflating losses came in the opening minutes of this year’s NHL free agency period, as captain David Backes signed with the Boston Bruins and winger Troy Brouwer joined the Calgary Flames. While they were more expected and much less detrimental to the Blues’ plans for 2016-17, the Blues did suffer two more losses in unrestricted free agency later on Friday, as fourth-line grinder Steve Ott signed with the Detroit Red Wings, while minor-league center Pat Cannone joined the Minnesota Wild organization.
In a somewhat surprising development, Ott was able to score a one-way NHL deal on the opening day of free agency, and as an added bonus, he’s joining the team that he grew up rooting for as a kid. Ott, who will be 34 in August, wasn’t particularly productive during his time in St. Louis, scoring just three goals while adding 14 assists and posting a minus-23 rating in 122 regular season games with the Blues. With that said, he seemed to be unanimously regarded as a great teammate, and the club always seemed to perform better when he was in the lineup.
Ott had no goals and just two assists in 21 regular season games with the Blues this past season, but he suffered two torn hamstrings in early December, which ended his regular season.
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He was diagnosed with colitis in April, which seemed to eliminate any hopes that he’d be able to return in the postseason, but he surprised everyone by shattering the timetable for recovery and returning for Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. While Ott’s aggressive nature was a hinderance to the team at times, particularly when he took unnecessary penalties in the Western Conference Finals and enabled the dominant San Jose Sharks power play to get on the ice, he was an asset to the team more times than not, providing explosive energy on the fourth line.
Ott’s deal with Detroit is a one-year contract that will pay him $800,000. That’s a significant drop-off from the $2.6 million-dollar salary that he made for the last two years with the Blues, but it’s still a pretty solid deal for a forward who has three goals in the past two seasons.
The 29-year-old Cannone signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Wild. After beginning his career in the Senators organization, the 5-foot-10, 190-pound center had spent the past three seasons in the Blues’ system, even serving as the captain of their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, last season. While he’s considered a “tweener” that doesn’t really have the skill necessary to play a top-nine forward role in the NHL, yet lacks the physicality and aggressiveness needed to play on a fourth line, Cannone performed very well with the Wolves and served as a quality depth option.
Next: Blues Sign Carter Hutton to Two-Year Deal
Cannone posted the best AHL numbers of his career in 2015-16, scoring 20 goals, adding 32 assists, and finishing with a plus-5 rating in 73 games. He has yet to play in an NHL game during his five-season pro career, but he has attended training camp with the Blues in each of the past three seasons.