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The Blues made an early free-agency splash today, and it probably was not a splash anyone saw (or wanted) coming:
#stlblues sign David Perron to a 4 year deal with an AAV of $4 million.
— Joey Palazzola (@Palazzola_RTN) July 1, 2018
David Perron is returning to the Blues for the second time. First drafted 26th overall in 2007 by the Blues, he was dealt to the Edmonton Oilers, where he flourished with 28 goals in 2013-2014. He then found himself in Pittsburgh before a brief stint with the Anaheim Ducks. He returned to the Blues in 2016-2017 and contributed 18 goals and 26 assists before being selected by the Vegas Golden Knights in their expansion draft last June. While with Vegas, Perron put up a career-best regular season point total, tallying 16 goals and 50 assists.
Doug Armstrong obviously saw a combination of assists and history with Perron, and snagged him back. The issue here is that the assist total came by virtue of Perron being on a team that could actually score - Vegas scored 3.27 goals per game on average last year. The Blues? 2.72. Hopefully Perron can contribute to an uptick there, but if players aren’t finishing, Perron isn’t padding that assist total.