St. Louis Blues Sign Danny Kristo to One-Year, Two-Way Contract

The St. Louis Blues decided to re-sign a depth forward that dominated in the AHL last season.

The St. Louis Blues announced on Tuesday morning that they’ve signed winger Danny Kristo to a one-year, two-way contract. Kristo will return to the Blues organization for the second straight year after spending the entirety of the 2015-16 campaign with the AHL Chicago Wolves.

Kristo scored 25 goals with the Wolves last year, matching his AHL career-high and making it three times in three AHL seasons that he’s exceeded the 20-goal mark. He also contributed 23 goals, and he finished just behind center Pat Cannone for the team lead in points with 48.

As a former second-rounder who’s still just 26 years old, Kristo may still have the potential to become an NHL regular at some point. The production’s been there year after year; the only problem is that he doesn’t have elite size (he’s 6-foot and 188 pounds), and he’s not particularly strong in his own end. In addition, there have been rumors about Kristo having some attitude issues, and the fact that already he’s been with three organizations (the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and the Blues) provides some juice to those rumors.

Next: Blues Sign Jordan Kyrou to Entry-Level Deal

It’d stand to reason, though, that if Kristo keeps playing as well as he has in the AHL over the past three years, he’ll get a chance at some point. He’ll probably be behind guys like Jordan Caron, Ivan Barbashev, and perhaps new additions Andrew Agozzino, Landon Ferraro, Alex Friesen, and Kenny Agostino as it pertains to getting a call-up in 2016-17. But if Kristo continues to compete and the Blues are decimated by injuries again, perhaps this will be the year that he gets a shot.