The St. Louis Blues have decided to sign one of their own restricted free agents, inking Sammy Blais to a one-year contract. The deal will pay the young Blais $850K for the 2019-20 season, and will keep him a restricted free agent next summer.
Blais, 23, was a sixth-round pick of the Blues back in 2014 but has made quite a name for himself in his young professional career by blending a sneaky scoring touch with a big physical presence. The 6’2″ forward put that physicality on display for the Blues in the playoffs where he forced opponents to keep their heads up at all times and registered 70 hits in just 15 games. Though the offense hasn’t materialized at the NHL level he is a fine option in a fourth-line role already and may be given an even bigger role next season.
The question will be what kind of opportunity will be available on the Blues, given the continued development of several other young forwards. The team has four restricted free agents still to sign up front in Ivan Barbashev, Robby Fabbri, Zach Sanford and Oskar Sundqvist, all who can play in the bottom-six. There is also the group of Jordan Kyrou, Erik Foley, Dominik Bokk and Klim Kostin that will be pushing for NHL ice time before long, meaning Blais will need to fight for every chance he can get.