By Andrew Allsman| Posted: July 2, 2014| Contact |
Signing Jori Lehtera was the Blues’ first move on a hectic
Tuesday kickoff to free agency, and it has nearly flown under the radar. It’s
not unexpected, considering the team announced the signing of prolific center
Paul Stastny just 20 minutes after the announcement was made on Lehtera’s
two-year deal. But the signing of the former prospect was more than a depth
move; it was an all-together important one.
The addition of Lehtera was one that surprised St. Louis. Lehtera
had spent seven games with the then-AHL affiliate of the Blues, the Peoria Rivermen,
during the 2008-09 season. Before, and since then, Lehtera had been playing
overseas and had shown little interest in playing in the NHL.
Last season, the Blues’ 2008 third-round draft pick was
offered a roster spot on a St. Louis team that was decimated at the center
position. But Lehtera declined, and signed a contract with Novosibirsk Sibir of
the Kontinental Hockey League. The Blues were left in a tough position, and did
not expect to ever see Lehtera sporting their logo. But things changed in a
hurry.
"I had a good chat with him at the Olympics at the
dining hall,” said Blues general manager Doug Armstrong, who was a part of Team
Canada’s 2014 Olympic management. “I told him that we were disappointed that we
couldn't come to an agreement (last year).”
Lehtera, who was a part of Finland’s Olympic squad, did what
any player looking for another chance would do; he admitted that he had made a
mistake.
Following that conversation with Armstrong, Lehtera got to
work on his end of the bargain, finding his way out of the two-year deal he
signed with Sibir last season. Had Lehtera and Armstrong not met in that dining
hall, Lehtera would have likely returned to the KHL for the final year of his
contract. At the end of that contract, Lehtera would have been a 27-year-old
unrestricted free agent, and the Blues would have lost his exclusive rights.
“This year was very
important for us in the sense that if he had gone back, he'd be an unrestricted
free agent at 27 and so this was our last, and only, opportunity to deal with
him with no outside competition,” Armstrong said.
“We'd been dealing with the competition of the KHL and the
KHL has been winning up until this year. He was able to get his way out of his
contract. Over here, we bought one year of restricted free agency and one year
of unrestricted.”
The 26-year old center will make $5.5 million over the next
two seasons, as well as a $1.6 million signing bonus. He would have made a lot
more in the KHL, had he chosen to return. But Lehtera wanted to re-invent his
first chance at an NHL spot.
“We've been working on this for a while since he said he
could get out of his deal, but we've been trying to keep it a little bit under
wraps not to get anyone's hopes up,” said Armstrong. He had to do the work
first to get out of the deal before we could do anything.”
Lehtera’s signing has the potential to be a big one for the
Blues, who went from having a weak center grouping, to having a surplus of
middlemen in about 33 minutes on Tuesday.
The Finnish skater has put up impressive numbers in the KHL
over the past three seasons. Since leaving Lokomotiv and joining Sibir in 2011,
Lehtera has tallied 118 points. 79 of those have been assists.
"He's a big body, 6-foot-2, 210-pounds .....Very, very
soft hands,” Armstrong said of Lehtera. “Very good passer. When you look at his
goals-to-points ratio, he's certainly a three-to-one passer to goal scorer.
He's a guy that can find players. I watched him at the World Championships give
some guys some back-door tap-ins on the power play. He's just an offensive
player where his strengths are his passing skills."
Lehtera also has some familiarity with his new teammates,
specifically Vladimir Tarasenko. Lehtera and Tarasenko were linemates on Sibir
before the latter joined the Blues in 2012. The two are every well accommodated
with one another, and gel together on the ice. It could be that the former linemates
are reunited.
Originally, it was believed that, if the Blues brought in a
top center like Stastny, he would center youngsters Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir
Tarasenko. However, Armstrong indicated that the coaching staff could slide
David Backes to the wing, have Stastny center the first line and put Lehtera
between Schwartz and Tarasenko.
“I think we have a
lot of different options now,” Armstrong said. “It might take a little bit of
time to find a constant rhythm and the right pairings.”
The Blues’ coaching staff is very high on Lehtera, and see
the center making a big impact next year. Lehtera won’t be battling for a spot
on the roster and will be in the lineup opening night. He may have been an
under-the-radar signing, but it’s all relative. To the Blues, he is a key asset
that, a few months ago, the club didn’t count on having.
“Having the opportunity to watch him play at the Olympics
first-hand, watching all his games at the World Championships, talking to
people I know from the Finnish Federation, there's very little question he's
ready to step in and be a contributing factor in the NHL,” said Armstrong.