St. Louis Blues 2019 fifth-rounder leaving the organization after signing with AHL team
The St. Louis Blues currently have two players signed and hold the RFA rights to another player from their 2019 NHL Draft class. However, another prospect from that draft has officially moved on from the organization.
Keean Washkurak, 21, was drafted in the fifth round, 155th overall by the team in 2019 out of the OHL’s Mississauga Steelheads. He has signed a one-year AHL contract with the Belleville Senators.
After playing three games for the Utica Comets in the AHL, and collecting 19 points and 110 penalty minutes in 21 games for HK Levice in the second-tier Slovak men’s league during the pandemic season in 2020-21, St. Louis signed Washkurak on Jun. 1, 2021, to his three-year entry-level contract.
Keean’s contract expired at the end of this past season after spending the last three years playing for the Springfield Thunderbirds in the AHL and the team chose not to give him a qualifying offer.
Washkurak was a full-time player for Springfield, holding a regular roster spot from 2021 to 2024. Unfortunately, offensively he has struggled to produce at the pro level with only 46 points in 175 games.
His best season actually came in his rookie year in 2021-22 when he recorded 13 goals and 23 points in 64 games. Additionally, he appeared in eight playoff games for the Thunderbirds during their run to the 2022 Calder Cup Final.
Last year, it was tough sledding for the former fifth-rounder. He scored four goals and 10 points in 63 games and was a team-worst minus-22.
With the abundance of newly drafted prospects by St. Louis over the last two drafts and a lack of offensive progression in Washkurak’s play, it appeared that the writing was on the wall that the team and he were going to part ways.
Keean has the potential to play a significant depth role on the Belleville squad, which seems to be aiming for contention this season after also signing Washkurak’s teammate and the AHL’s top goal-scorer, Adam Gaudette.