After months of speculation, Vladimir Sobotka has agreed to a mutual termination of his contract with Omsk Avangard of the KHL ahead of the April 30th expiry date. He is now free to return to North America if he wishes to sign with the St. Louis Blues, and would be eligible for the playoffs this season. This is still not a likely scenario, as even playing a single game would burn the year he owes the Blues—Sobotka signed a one-year deal in July of 2014, before bolting for the KHL. 
The 29-year old center showed off in the KHL playoffs this year, scoring 10 points in 12 games while continuing to play a physical style. Even though he only scored 30 points during the regular season, he still could likely play an effective role on a Blues team that has turned around their season since firing Ken Hitchcock partway through. Now firmly in the playoff picture, the Blues are just playing to determine who they’ll face in the first round with the most likely scenario being the Minnesota Wild.
Sobotka was traded to the Blues back in 2010 from the Boston Bruins, and played four years for the team before his KHL departure in 2014. Now that there is a chance he may return to the NHL, he’ll have to play at least one season for the Blues before becoming a restricted free agent. The length of that season is up to the two sides, as whenever he returns he will be reinstated off the suspended list and resume the $2.725MM deal he agreed to. He is also eligible for the expansion draft, regardless of whether he burns that year now or later.
Terminating his contract early does add some smoke to the fire of his early return, but Blues’ GM Doug Armstrong has made it very clear in the past that he wouldn’t talk about Sobotka until he was back on North American soil. Losing the asset after just a few games would be unfortunate, but with the Blues looking again like they could make some noise in the playoffs, perhaps his addition could put them over the top.
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