St. Louis Blues forward Steve Ott at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis on March 3, 2014. UPI/Bill Greenblatt
It looked for a while that Steve Ott’s time with St. Louis wasn’t going to last very long. Coming over from Buffalo with Ryan Miller in the February trade, the Blues organization was ready to move in a different direction. They had signed free agent centers Paul Stastny and Jori Lehtera and were waiting to work out a deal with restricted free agent Vladimir Sobotka.
However, Sobotka is considering a return to Russia in the KHL, so the Blues moved forward with re-signing the unrestricted free agent Ott to a two-year, $5.2 million contract. Ott had three assists in 23 regular-season games with the Blues and two points in six Stanley Cup Playoff games.
“We brought him here for a reason,” GM Doug Armstrong said. “I think he’s a really strong utility player. Obviously I think he’s going to want to get that first goal as much as we’re going to want him to get that off his back. But I think we all saw what type of competitor he was in the playoffs.”
