Earlier today, the St. Louis Blues signed goaltender Georgii Romanov to a one-year, two-way contract. Because it's a two-way contract, Romanov will not need to clear waivers if or when he is shuttled between the AHL's Springfield Thunderbirds and the NHL Blues.
Earlier this week, one of the Blues' goaltending prospects, Colten Ellis, was claimed off waivers by the Buffalo Sabres. While seeing the 25-year-old Ellis depart for the Eastern Conference doesn't impact the Blues much at the NHL level, it did do a number on the goaltending depth for the Thunderbirds. Should either Jordan Binnington or Joel Hofer miss time due to injury this season, one of Will Cranley or Vadim Zherenko would've been called up from Springfield to spot start in the NHL, leaving the Thunderbirds shorthanded.
To solidify that goaltending depth, GM Doug Armstrong went out and signed Romanov. Like Ellis, Romanov is 25 years old; he spent most of last season with the San Jose Barracuda (the San Jose Sharks' AHL affiliate team), where he went 11-6-3 with 3.10 GAA and a save percentage of .905. Romanov has 50 career AHL games under his belt, as well as 10 NHL games with the Sharks, where he posted an .888 save percentage at the NHL level.
This is a marginal signing for the Blues, and it's unlikely Romanov gets any NHL games this season as Zherenko and Cranley are likely ahead of him on the depth chart. If those two play poorly, however, it does open the door to Romanov getting a lion's share of the starts for the Thunderbirds and, as a result, moves him up the pecking order should the Blues need to recall a goaltender for their roster.