With a rash of injuries, the St. Louis Blues are making at least one move to improve their depth at forward, as reporters including Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal indicate that they’re bringing back Scottie Upshall.
Upshall, 33, had been with the Vancouver Canucks on a PTO. There were rumblings that something was in the works when Upshall was scratched in favor of Anton Rodin on Thursday.
Do note that the Upshall signing isn’t official, especially according to the Canucks organization.
if upshall has signed elsewhere, benning said the canucks don't know about it .... official word: "we wanted to get a look at rodin"
— Jason Botchford (@botchford) September 29, 2017
You might call this Upshall’s second stint with St. Louis, but that’s really a matter of semantics. He just concluded two seasons with the Blues, including 2016-17, when he scored 18 points. The sixth pick of the 2002 NHL Draft has settled into a role as an energy guy in the NHL, and he provides some familiar insurance.
Of course, the question is: would this hurt the chances of Jaromir Jagr signing with the Blues? The team acknowledged considering signing Jagr, though they also want to make sure he’s a stylistic fit. Upshall has already played with this group, so that’s not as much of a mystery.
This isn’t to say that Upshall cancels out a Jagr signing altogether, though. With Robby Fabbri out for the season, Zach Sanford missing possibly that much (if not close), Patrik Berglund out months, and Alex Steen likely to start on IR, it’s perfectly reasonable to imagine the Blues bringing in Jagr and Upshall.
We’ll just have to wait and see. In this case, Upshall’s a lower-risk, lower-reward pickup for the Blues.