It was announced today that the St. Louis Blues have signed restricted free agent forward, Patrik Berglund, to a three year, $11.1M deal. Broken down over three years, Berglund will earn about $3.7M per season.
Now many look at this deal and just shrug it off as the Blues inking one of their RFA's. However, if we look at things a little closer, that doesn't seem to be the case. The timing of the signing is certainly odd.
Berglund has been in the rumor mill for quite sometime as a forward that the Blues would be willing to move in upgrade at the center position. So why would the Blues sign him, just one day before the NHL draft, the second biggest trading day of the season? Well, it could be that the Blues want to get the max amount of value out of Berglund, and having him signed to a reasonable contract that will buy a few of his UFA years.
But wouldn't a team that he gets traded to want to potentially negotiate a contract with Berglund themselves? Maybe a potential team to deal Berglund too didn't want to give him that much and it hampers trade negotiations?
Or maybe, this is Doug Armstrong showing Berglund that he wants him to be the Blues third line center next season. There is another player who is somewhat similar to Berglund that could be dealt. It's a rather unpopular option, but Vladimir Sobotka could potentially be a trading chip as well. Perhaps the Blues were negotiating with Ottawa to acquire Spezza, and the Sens are asking for Sobotka instead of Berglund. Running with Spezza, Backes, and Berglund as the Blues top three centers would provide the Blues with strong depth down the middle. The options are there.
If Berglund stays next season, having a third line of Joakim Lindstrom/Patrik Berglund - Vladimir Sobotka - Dmitrij Jaskin could really surprise people. There are other options as well, but as of now, this could be the most realistic.
Now obviously, we will not know anything until tomorrow. But it looks to me as if this is just a precursor to a bigger move that we'll see go down tomorrow. The Blues could deal Berglund to acquire an upgrade at center, or possibly even acquire a top four defensemen to play with Kevin Shattenkirk. Needless to say, tomorrow should be a very fun day for Blues fans.