On the eve of training camp, the Blues signed fourth-line forward Nathan Walker to a two-year extension worth an average of $887,500 per season.
Walker would have been an unrestricted free agent after the 2025-26, but will instead be signed through the 2027-28 season in St. Louis. This season will be Walker’s seventh within the Blues organization, and he’s totaled 27 goals and 27 assists in 217 games in the Note.
Last year, Walker played a career-high 73 games and had a career-best 16 points while averaging 12:06 of ice time. He’s expected to reprise his role on the fourth line this season with Alexey Toropchenko and potentially Oskar Sundqvist as the center replacing Radek Faksa.
Walker, 31, was born in Cardiff, Wales but represents Australia internationally. He signed as a free agent with the Blues in the summer of 2019. Walker is one of many Blues eligible to sign extensions, with Dylan Holloway, Philip Broberg and Cam Fowler as the notable players whose contract expires at the end of the season.
On Wednesday morning, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said the club was not in a rush to re-sign Broberg and Holloway.
“We’ve talked to everyone individually about the contracts,” Armstrong said. “We’ll do it behind closed doors. Broberg and Holloway, I’ll talk specifically, I said this to them laughing, I said ‘You’re not going anywhere, you’re restricted free agents, except we got you by offer sheets. So it might happen again.’
“But we’re going to leave enough (cap) space. They know how important we see them, but I also want to get to know St. Louis a little bit, make sure they’re comfortable with our team, which is going to happen. But it’s not something they expect to be done quickly, or we’re even going to try and worry about quickly.”
Broberg, 24, and Holloway, turns 24 next week, arrived in St. Louis last summer after the Blues successfully acquired them via offer sheet from Edmonton.
“They know that for us to be where we want to get to, where Alex (Steen) wants to take this team, they’re big parts of it,” Armstrong said. “We’ve told them that. They understand that, and the contracts always take care of themselves. I’ve never seen a good player be underpaid very long.”
Jim Montgomery led the Blues on a turnaround highlighted by their post-4 Nations Face-Off run as the best team in the league, underscored with improvements all over.
According to a person familiar with the situation, St. Louis is one of the cities vying to host the World Cup of Hockey when it returns in Feb. 2028.
Dylan Peterson’s physicality, Theo Lindstein’s adjustment to North America and Dalibor Dvorsky’s growth were among the highlights of the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase.
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Matthew DeFranks | Post-Dispatch
Hockey reporter
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