The St. Louis Blues have added the premier center of the free-agency period, signing Paul Stastny to a four-year, $28 million contract.
Stastny, 28, leaves Colorado, where he scored 25 times with 35 assists in 2013-14. The 28-year-old joins a Blues lineup that already has David Backes at center, giving St. Louis the kind of 1-2 punch down the middle that Stanley Cup-winning teams often possess.
For the Avs, the loss of Stastny is significant, and it puts even more pressure on management to work out a long-term deal with Ryan O’Reilly.