The St. Louis Blues made their first free-agent signing of the day for an external player, grabbing Ross Johnston for a three-year, $2 million AAV deal. This follows bringing back Jonatan Berggren on a one-year deal.
This is a nice job by Alexander Steen on his first day as the General Manager, as this signing continues to beef up the roster. We all saw at the draft how first-round pick Maddox Deganais and sixth-rounder Lars Steiner are literal tanks, and now he is adding some older players with grit to add toughness.
Johnston can brawl
Johnston is not a guy who is going to give you a bunch of stats. He is a body-thrower, an intimidating force standing at 6-foot-5 and over 230 pounds. That is exactly what kind of vision Steen has for this bottom-six, and he got the perfect guy to put in there.
Last season saw one of the best years of his decade-long tenure in the NHL. He was a part of the Anaheim Ducks, who are seemingly the Blues' favorite place to get players from in recent years, with Cam Fowler, Mason McTavish, and now Johnston coming from there. In 62 games, he had three goals and 11 assists for 14 points, all of which were career highs, or tied with.
He also had a career-high in hits, with 192. Seeing him and Nathan Walker on that fourth line will be devastating for opposing teams. Johnston also fought nine times last season, which is tied for the most he has had in a single season in the NHL (2023-24).
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