The St. Louis Blues have signed David Rundblad to an entry-level contract today. Rundblad was selected 17th overall in the draft last season and has progressed a fair deal this season.
After starting the season, well horribly, Rundblad hoped to show the world what he could do at the World Junior Championships. Well anyone who watched that knew his game was off until the last game played for Team Sweden where Rundblad scored his one and only goal in the tournament.
At that point, the pissing and moaning from Blues fans was at an all time high about St. Louis drafting him. If David knew, I don't think it bothered him to much, because he headed back to in Sweden, Skellefteå AIK, and finished the season very strong.
After scoring his first goal in the Swedish Elitserien on March 14th against the Linköpings HC, David had a strong second half, offensively and defensively, to finish with a career high 13 points in the SEL.
David is in St. Louis training this summer and obviously to work on his contract. Now that this is done, the real question is going to be where will he play next season. He does have one more year on his contract in Sweden, but Doug Armstrong is known to get his European players over in the American Hockey League before their contracts expire overseas. (See Niklas Grossman and Loui Eriksson).
If Rundblad plays in North America next season, it will be with the Peoria Rivermen, if not, he'll return to Skellefteå AIK.