St. Louis Blues Continue Smart Summer By Bringing Scottie Upshall Back

Nobody went into the summer drooling over the prospect of bringing Scottie Upshall back. It’s still a good signing on multiple fronts.

The St. Louis Blues signed potential UFA, Scottie Upshall a few days before the 2016 NHL Draft. It was a good signing.

The Blues inked the versatile fourth line player to a one-year deal. Upshall got a raise too. He earned $700,000 in 2015-16 after coming in on what amounted to a tryout deal.

Upshall, perhaps realizing both how close the Blues could be to winning and also his standing in the league, given his age, signed another one-year deal worth $900,000. The extra bonus for Upshall is this contract is one-way.

His previous contract with the Blues was two-way, which was smart since there was no guarantee (at the time) that he would even make the team. Now, Upshall seems all but certain to make the team and be a key part again as well.

During the regular season, Upshall only averaged just under 11 minutes on the ice. He still managed to turn that into a productive season for a fourth line player. He had six goals and 14 points and almost 100 hits.

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His time in the playoffs went down by over two minutes, but he didn’t let that get him down. He had a goal, three points and averaged 2.5 hits per game in the 17 he played in the postseason.

Also, something that is harder to measure statistically was the penalty killing aspect. The St. Louis Blues ended the 2015-16 regular season with the third best PK in the entire league. Both Upshall and Kyle Brodziak were a big reason for that.

That duo, especially late in the year, were huge on the penalty kill. The odd thing was how they did it too. Neither had a bunch of blocked shots or take aways. They simply played good positional hockey, limited shot opportunities as best they could and cleared pucks.

Thus, re-signing Upshall is a great deal. It gives the Blues plenty of options with plenty of time left to make more additions.

There are still quite a few ifs, but if the Blues re-sign Brodziak as well, then their fourth line would be really interesting. Bringing back Brodziak and Upshall gives you a solid first PK unit that already has chemistry together. It also gives you lots of options for the fourth line.

You could envision a scenario where Vladimir Sobotka gets moved to the wing for a line of Sobotka, Brodziak or Upshall. Maybe Sobotka centers the other two. Or you can have a nice rotation of the fourth line with Ryan Reaves coming in when you need a bigger body.

The reality is that Upshall is what he is. He’s not going to see a ton of time on the ice and not going to produce a bunch of points. He knows this. You don’t go from making $3.5 million to $700K (now $900K) without having that realization.

However, he plays a key role that the Blues need with their penchant for taking silly penalties. He’s a good locker room guy and provides leadership for the younger guys as well as good chemistry.

More importantly, from the outside, his contract doesn’t hamper any other movement. Yes, it’s a little higher than it was last year, but it is under $1 million.

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That $100,000 might seem insignificant, but that can make the difference in the final stages of a negotiation with someone else. On the flip side, an extra $900K isn’t likely to entice anyone who wasn’t already interested anyway.

So, it’s a smart deal overall for the Blues. Nobody is going to be thanking their lucky stars that Upshall is back, but it provides the Blues depth and stability. It’s a smart money deal that won’t really take anything away from other contracts and further solidifies the Blues cap situation in terms of contracts sealed up.

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