With the NHL Draft in Nashville just a couple days away, the St. Louis Blues have added to their hockey operations staff with a familiar flavor.
The Blues announced on Monday they have brought back 2019 Stanley Cup-winning champion Alexander Steen as a European player development consultant.
The 39-year-old will be on hand when the Blues conduct their prospect camp from July 1-4 at Centene Community Ice Center, spent 12 seasons with the Blues from 2008-20 after they acquired the winger in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Winnipeg, Manitoba native played an important role for the team winning its first Cup as part of a line with Ivan Barbashev and Oskar Sundqvist, a line coach Craig Berube would often go to when needing to set the tone in games. It was a transition from playing up in the lineup that Steen transitioned to in order to make the 2019 team layer out perfectly en route to reaching its peak of winning the title, playing in all 26 postseason games.
Steen went on to score 496 points (195 goals, 301 assists) in 765 regular-season games in St. Louis before retiring after the 2019-20 season, finishing his Blues career ranked fourth all-time in regular-season games played and sixth in points. He is one of only four players in Blues history to record more than 190 goals and 300 assists, joining Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko and Brett Hull.
Overall, Steen played 15 seasons in the NHL after being drafted by Toronto in the first round of the 2002 draft, finishing with 622 points (245 goals, 377 assists) in 1,018 career regular-season games and 36 points (15 goals, 21 assists) in 91 postseason games.