Vladimir Sobotka’s agent told GM Doug Armstrong that the forward is leaving the KHL to return to the St. Louis Blues, according to Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
This backs up other signs that Sobotka might come back to the Blues, as discussed back on June 20.
Naturally, there’s the disclaimer that nothing is official, which Rutherford notes.
There’s no word yet on how much Sobotka would cost if he does indeed return to St. Louis. His last one-year deal was for $2.725 million back in 2014-15. He enjoyed solid production during the past two seasons with Omsk in the KHL, but didn’t put up the sort of numbers that would inspire the kind of deal that would break the bank.
Vladimir Sobotka had 28 goals and 72 points in 97 games over last two seasons with Omsk Avangard in KHL #stlblues
— Norm Sanders (@NormSanders) July 8, 2016
Cap Friendly pegs the Blues’ cap space at $8.7 million, but RFA Jaden Schwartz is likely to eat up a significant portion of that free room. It wouldn’t be shocking, then, if Sobotka carries a similar salary to that $2.275 million cap hit at age 29.
Sobotka figures into the Blues’ plans to try to put a deep offensive attack on the ice:
Army wants 10 top-nine forwards. As of now, they are Tarasenko, Stastny, Steen, Lehtera, Schwartz, Berglund, Fabbri, Jaskin, Perron, Sobotka
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) July 1, 2016
Again, it could always fall through, but this sounds like a sensible move.