Pius Suter (24) was always a target for the St. Louis Blues, and the center signed a two-year contract on Wednesday. (Anne-Marie Sorvin-Imagn Images) [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/f86b231e-b810-4090-b0ab-90c610a02537.jpeg] Pius Suter (24) was always a target for the St. Louis Blues, and the center signed a two-year contract on Wednesday. (Anne-Marie Sorvin-Imagn Images) MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Pius Suter, who signed a two-year, $8.25 million ($4.125 million average annual value) on Wednesday [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/report-blues-signing-center-pius-suter-to-two-year-8-25-million-contract] with the St. Louis Blues [http://thn.com/stlouis], was among the targets for the organization, according to general manager Doug Armstrong. The 29-year-old, who set career highs in goals (25) and points (46) with the Vancouver Canucks [http://thn.com/vancouver] last season, comes in with the notion of plugging a hole in the middle of the lineup as a 2C/3C, penalty killer, exceptional defensive forward that created offense off his defense with a high shooting percentage due to being in the right places at the right time around the net. "Just his versatility," Armstrong said of Suter. "He had obviously a very good offensive year, his best goal-scoring year, but we think that he can come in here and provide us depth at the center ice position. He and [Nick] Bjugstad (who signed a two-year, $3.75 million contract on Tuesday) certainly change our center ice complexion. (We) have five natural centers now with [Brayden] Schenn there and 'Sunny', so there's going to be some options and it's always easier to move a centerman over to wing than a wing to center. "We like our depth there and we think [Suter] can play with [Dylan] Holloway and [Jordan] Kyrou if that's what the coach wants to do. He's very versatile and it's going to give us some options and the coach some options during training camp." Options were becoming thin at the position for the Blues, with some of the top centers available as unrestricted free agents coming off the board, including Sam Bennett re-signing with the Florida Panthers [http://thn.com/florida] and Mikael Granlund signing a three-year, $21 million ($7 million AAV) contract with the Anaheim Ducks [http://thn.com/anaheim]. But for the Blues, Suter was always there. This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision. "He was on our list of centermen to discuss and then when the market hit, we really connected hard on the night of the first," Armstrong said. "We did our due diligence with him, he did with us. We had a conversation on the second with the coach and the player (and) myself, talked about the city, talked about his role and he felt very comfortable. I think it's a great opportunity for him. He's still young, it's a two-year deal. If we wanted to start the season with [Torey] Krug on our roster and not go into summer LTI, there was only an X-amount of dollars that we had and we can accomplish that now. With a caveat, it only takes one phone call, but I would say our roster is pretty well set now." Some may ask why would Suter, who has 162 points (82 goals, 80 assists) in 364 NHL games with the Canucks, Detroit Red Wings [http://thn.com/detroit] and Chicago Blackhawks [http://thn.com/chicago], take a short-term deal? It's simple: "I think that was the conversation with the coach, it’s the ability to bank another solid season," Armstrong said. "When he’s (a) free (agent again), I think the cap’s going to be $113 million and I think he’s still going to be relatively young (31). It’s an investment in his future; he’s making an investment on himself to come in here and play an important role. And then whether it’s next summer or some point in the future, we’re going to be able to talk to him about a long-term deal and the more layers you have of success, the more likely you are to get paid and I think we provide the opportunity for him to maximize his earning potential and I think he sees that. Now our job is to provide that for him and his job is to take advantage of it." Suter's camp, including himself, saw no benefit in taking a four- or five-year deal or longer. "I think they were as comfortable, at the dollar value that we could offer, it didn’t make an economic sense for him to go long-term with the cap going up and what we think is his ability to improve," Armstrong said. 'Centermen, as you see, that market is thin. Whatever the market is on next year’s free agents, I guarantee they won’t all be there. "We’re happy to get our center ice in position and I think it’s going to be great for a player like [Dalibor] Dvorsky. He can come in now as if he’s having trouble in the middle of the ice, he can start on our team as a wing; we don’t have to force-feed him into an area and then over time, he’ll take over one of those jobs. There’s going to be great competition. He certainly has the opportunity to come in and make our team. "When I say our team is set, you look at our roster now, the number of players that we have are 23 players, but what’s sort of lost on it is if [Otto] Stenberg or [Jakub] Stancl or [Juraj] Pekarcik or [Zach] Dean or Dvorsky I’ve talked about come in, it’s actually a savings for us. If we put them on our team and send someone down to the minors because we earn $1.1 million in relief. The owner likes having those guys in the minors, that’s one thing, but from a team perspective, there’s going to be great competition. What we don’t have to do is rush those players. When I look at this from 30,000 feet, this is the year of the young defenseman, young meaning not experienced defenseman. On the Blues right now, you have [Tyler] Tucker is going to get an opportunity to be a full-time player, [Logan] Mailloux’s going to get an opportunity to be a full-time player, [Matthew] Kessel’s in that group, [Philip] Broberg just turned 24. And you look at that forward group, they’re probably a year away when you have all those guys. You have Stenberg, Stancl, Pekarcik, Dvorsky really all 20 turning pro. We’re going to let them have the opportunity to get their foundation and footing under them. Now if they come in and take a job, great. But I would say next year at this time, there’s going to be a great opportunity to input a lot of young forwards. I do believe that getting that foundation is so important for the player in the organization than force-feeding him into an area where maybe they can’t have success. I think we’ve protected ourselves from having to do that while allowing them the right to come in and take a job."
