From The Rink: Sterling Signs, UFA's Left, and a Look Around the Central
The July fireworks started early in the NHL this year as July 1st opened the free agency period with a bang. As the dust settles, we take a look at the recent Blues signings, the unrestricted free agents still in play for St. Louis, as well as a look around the Central.
Blues Sign Sterling: The Blues shored up their forward depth by signing Brett Sterling on Monday to a one year two way deal.
Sterling spent last season in the Pittsburgh system, playing mainly with the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins. In 65 games with Wilkes Barre, Sterling registered 26 goals and 27 assists. Sterling also managed to crack the Pens lineup when injuries decimated the team. In 7 games with Pittsburgh, Sterling was able to net 3 goals and 2 assists.
Sterling has not spent much time at the NHL level but in his short career he has been a prolific scorer in the AHL. In 5 seasons Sterling has appeared in 319 games and has 171 games and 145 assists. Sterling was a 5th round draft pick by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2003.
UFA’s Available: St. Louis was able to sign their restricted free agents as well as shore up some key spots but still have some areas of concern. With that in mind here are 3 players who could be on the Blues radar.
Jason Arnott- At 37 years old, Arnott still managed to put up decent numbers for Washington and could be a nice addition for a young team such as the Blues. In 78 games, Arnott added 17 goals to his career total of 400+ goals.
While with Nashville Arnott was a bit of a nemesis to the Blues and it would be nice to add that veteran presence and skill set to this team.
Antti Miettinen- Miettinen has spent the last 3 seasons with Minnesota and, while not putting up huge numbers, has been a steady point producer for the Wild. In each of the past 4 seasons, Miettinen has 15+ goals and 35-45 points a year.
Last season, in 78 games, Miettinen had 16 goals, 19 assist, and 35 points. Miettinen is another one of those players who had the Blues number when playing the Note and if he doesn’t sign with St. Louis, hopefully he moves to the Eastern Conference.
Jamie Langenbrunner- The player who has had the most link to a contract with St. Louis is Langenbrunner and it is mainly for his veteran leadership and not the points he produces. Langenbrunner is coming off of his worst season of his career and still put up 32 points for Dallas.
With the experience of Captaining the Devils and winning two Stanley Cups, Langenbrunner could be the perfect fit as the next veteran player to mentor the youngsters. Following in the footsteps of Al MacInnis, Dallas Drake and Darryl Sydor.
None of these players may sign with the Blues but a NHL forward is needed for this team to seriously compete for the playoffs next year.
Central Moves: While the Blues were semi-active around the Draft and at the start of free agency, the other Central teams were wheeling a dealing like crazy. Here is a look at the players signed and traded to and from the other Central teams.
Detroit- The Wings re-signed forwards Drew Miller and Patrick Eaves and also defenseman Jonathon Ericcson. With the retirement of Brian Rafalski, Detroit needed to add some solid defenseman and they did that by signing both Mike Commodore and Ian White.
Chicago- The Hawks held another mini-fire sale again this season and managed to off load some salary from their books. Chicago sent Troy Brower to Washington for a 2011 1st round pick; in seperate deals with Florida, Tomas Kopecky was swapped for a 2013 7th round pick while Brian Campbell went south while Rostislav Olesz is now in the Windy City.
Buffalo sent the negotiating rights to Steve Montador to Chicago for a conditional 7th round draft pick in 2013. Chicago was able to sign Montador as well as Andrew Brunette, Jamal Mayers, Sean O’Donell and Danile Carcillo.
Columbus- Aside for Chicago, the most active Central team was Columbus, as they picked up Jeff Carter from Philadelphia and James Wisniewski from Montreal. In return the Jackets gave up Jakub Voracek, 2011 1st and 3rd round draft picks and a 2012 7th round pick.
Columbus also added to thier depth by signing Alrexandre Giroux, Nicholas Drazenovic, Andrew Joudrey, as well as goalies Mark Dekanich and Curtis Sanford.
Nashville- Up until yesterday, the Predators had been as quiet as the Blues but they shook things up with a trade with Toronto. The Preds acquired Brett Lebda, Robert Slaney and a conditional 2013 7th round pick in exchange for Cody Franson, Matt Lombardi and a 2013 7th round conditional pick.
On draft day, Nashville shipped draft bust Nikita Filatov to Ottawa for a 3rd round pick in the 2011 draft. Nashville also lured Niclas Bergfors to the Music City on Sunday.
The off season is starting to wind down and soon enough we will be back in to training camp and we will see how these moves have paid off.
Come back soon for more individual player reviews from the previous season and look for our top ten games of the upcoming season.
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