The Blues announced this morning that they’ve signed college free agent left-winger Felix Trudeau to a two-year, entry-level contract. The deal begins next season, but he’ll still have a chance to make his pro debut down the stretch on a tryout with AHL Springfield, the team said.
According to PuckPedia, Trudeau’s deal carries a cap hit of $1.014MM. He will be paid a base salary of $850K, a signing bonus of $102.5K, and a minors salary of $85K in 2026-27 with additional performance bonuses up to $72.5K. In 2027-28, those base salary and signing bonus figures jump to $967.6K and $107.5K with no performance bonus potential. The Blues, who now control Trudeau’s rights through 2030, will owe him a $1.06MM qualifying offer in the summer of 2028.
Trudeau, 23, saw his collegiate career come to an end this past weekend when his Sacred Heart Pioneers dropped the Atlantic Hockey America championship game to Bentley. The 6’2″, 190-lb forward was a depth piece for the University of Maine as a freshman and sophomore, but emerged as a star in Connecticut for Sacred Heart after transferring there in 2024.
The Quebec native has led his club in scoring each of the past two seasons, ending his career with a spectacular 25-23–48 run in 39 games with a whopping 87 penalty minutes and a +14 rating. The hard-nosed winger was one of the 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the NCAA’s top men’s hockey player, announced last week. Along with that, he was named the AHA’s forward and player of the year while tying for sixth in the country in scoring, second among undrafted free agents behind Michigan’s T.J. Hughes, who will be landing an NHL deal as soon as the #1-ranked Wolverines’ run toward a national championship ends.
It’s always harder to gauge the projectability of players coming from non-power Division I conferences. Despite finishing as the runner-up to Bentley for the championship honors, Sacred Heart was still only ranked 29th out of 63 DI teams in the year-end NCAA Percentage Index. Playing against weaker competition will have inflated his point totals somewhat compared to Big Ten, Hockey East, and NCHC stars, but his power-forward style could make him an effective bottom-six piece if his offense doesn’t translate well to the pro game. As Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis notes, though, he’ll need to work on his skating in Springfield before challenging for an NHL call-up.