Blues General Manager Alexander Steen has brought back a fan-favorite Friday evening, announcing the team has re-signed veteran forward Oskar Sundqvist to a one-year, two-way contract worth $850,000 at the NHL level and $300,000 in the AHL.
The deal keeps a familiar face in the fold for a Blues organization that has leaned on Sundqvist's versatility and penalty-killing abilities for the better part of a decade. The 32-year-old center appeared in 52 games for St. Louis last season, contributing 17 points on five goals and 12 assists while adding 26 penalty minutes while averaging just under 13 minutes each game.
Across two stints in St. Louis, he has suited up 432 times, piling up 141 points on 52 goals and 89 assists. 'Sunny' is best known around St. Louis for his role in the Blues' 2019 Stanley Cup run, when he appeared in 25 postseason games as St. Louis captured the first championship in franchise history.
While the signing adds another veteran to the group, it also continues to crowd the bottom of St. Louis's forward group. Sundqvist now joins Nathan Walker, Jack Finley, Dillon Dube, Ross Johnston, Alexei Toropchenko, and Pius Suter in a competition for depth minutes, giving Jim Montgomery no shortage of options as he shapes his fourth line and penalty-kill units heading into camp. That group could get even more crowded depending on how the organization handles a handful of players who spent time in Springfield last season, including Aleksanteri Kaskimaki, Otto Stenberg, Dylan Peterson, and Zach Dean, all of whom will push for opportunities to make the jump.
For a Blues roster still working through its identity under new leadership, the depth at forward gives Montgomery the flexibility to reward performance in camp rather than hand out jobs by default. The internal competition that Steen has pressed into and stated as a point of importance will be present regardless of how the competition shakes out. The sheer number of bodies vying for a handful of roster spots figures to be one of the more compelling storylines of training camp.