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The Blues have signed former Minnesota Wild center Kyle Brodziak to a one year deal as a replacement for Marcel Goc.
The Blues have agreed to a one-year deal with forward Kyle Brodziak. >>> http://t.co/egLJ141V0x #OurBlues #stlblues pic.twitter.com/QLRhJpSCCG
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) July 3, 2015
After a day where many questioned the T.J. Oshie trade for various and sundry reasons, this signing doesn't offer up much grist for the mill.
Kyle Brodziak 7th in #mnwild history in games, 8th in points, was Chuck Fletcher's first player trade as GM in 2009 #stlblues
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) July 3, 2015
Brodziak's a big boy (6'2", 212 lbs) who had 20 points last year (9 goals, 11 assists). His offensive output might be cut next season playing with Steve Ott and Ryan Reaves. His face off percentage is lower than Goc's at 49.2%, and he averaged 13:02 TOI last season, which is substantially down from his breakout season of 2011-2012 where he averaged 19:03 and potted 22 goals. He's declining, but he still has some gas in the tank. Considering that this is just a one-year deal, that shouldn't matter much.
His salary last year was $3 million, but this season he'll be playing for $900,000, a substantial paycut. Wild(s) fans aren't happy about losing him, either, so that may be a good sign that the Blues have shored up their 12 forwards with a solid center for the fourth line.