You don’t need to jog Nick Bjugstad’s memory much for him to remember what it was like to play the Blues — it was his last game of the regular season with Utah.
At that time, Bjugstad was a witness to the Blues’ late-season surge that included clinching a postseason berth that night with a rousing 6-1 win over the Hockey Club. When he next takes the ice at Enterprise Center, it will be as a member of the Blues this time.
“As a player playing against them, there’s no space,” Bjugstad said. “It was not fun to play the last game here against them. I thought this team could make a deep run.”
As an unrestricted free agent this summer, Bjugstad signed a two-year contract with a $1.75 million cap hit, fortifying the team’s center depth. The right-handed Bjugstad, 33, had eight goals and 11 assists with Utah last season, but put up 45 points with the Coyotes in 2023-24.
Bjugstad underwent back surgery in August 2024, as the injury limited his offseason training a year ago and contributed to the decreasing offensive numbers. But he’s now more than a year removed from the surgery, and confident that he can find his production again in St. Louis.
“It was a tough one for me last year,” Bjugstad said. “I came off surgery in late August. It was a back surgery that I’ve had before, so it takes me a minute to recoup. I missed any type of summer (training) last summer. Kind of starting from square one two months into the season. That was tough on me. With that being said, I was excited to get a full summer in here. Skated a lot, trained a lot, did a lot of Pilates. Just hung out with my family. It was good from a training standpoint. I feel much more confident going into this season than I did last year.”
Bjugstad also underwent back surgery in May 2020 while a member of the Penguins, then bounced around to Minnesota, Edmonton, Arizona and Utah before landing in St. Louis. Bjugstad was originally a first-round pick by the Panthers in 2010 and set his career-high of 49 points with Florida in 2017-18.
With the Blues, Bjugstad will not be relied upon to put up those kinds of numbers of course.
He’ll likely slot in the bottom six, at either center or right wing. There’s a spot open at wing on the third line, presumably with Jake Neighbours and Pius Suter. There’s also a spot open at center on the fourth line, as the Blues will try to replace Radek Faksa. Bjugstad, Oskar Sundqvist or Nathan Walker could be the options there.
In the first two days of training camp, the Blues have used Bjugstad at center between Pavel Buchnevich and Alexandre Texier.
“We will put him on wing at some point in the camp, but right now, just with the organizational depth the way it is, we don’t have a plethora of centers,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “So giving all the guys more responsibility at center, it’s harder to play center in our system. Probably true of any system, but ours, I know it is harder. It’s a lot more work, it’s a lot more reads.”
Bjugstad is listed at 6-5 and 205 pounds, but he brings a different game than Faksa did before him. Bjugstad isn’t as physical or defensive-minded as Faksa was before him, though there is more polish to his game on the offensive side of the puck. And potentially that returns with Bjugstad’s health.
“I had a rough year,” Bjugstad said. “Even mentally, it’s hard when you have a good year, a good few years. Then physically, you just can’t find it. That’s how I felt. I’m planning on staying healthy. I really found different ways to take care of myself, my body and mind. It’s definitely a different approach as you get older and you’ve been through stuff like that. For me, it’s exciting to come in with a full head of steam and full summer of training.”
He continued: “My mind was wanting to do one thing last year and it really wasn’t generating as far production and how I’ve felt in previous years. Positive thing is I’ve had this surgery, I know I can come back from it without any real issues going forward. It just takes some time. I got that time. Ready to go, feel good.”
If Bjugstad ends up on the third line, and if he’s able to provide a scoring punch (he scored 22 goals in 2023-24), the Blues could end up with a third scoring line. Neighbours has scored 49 goals in the last two season. Suter potted 25 with Vancouver a year ago.
Bjugstad’s happy to be a part of it.
“I know how good this team is,” Bjugstad said. “I know how good the culture is. Just having that have played here, how much they’ve enjoyed the city and the fans and the environment they’re in. So that’s important, especially (as) an older guy in my career. I wanted to join a team that I felt was a contender. Obviously, a team that wants you as well. Got the call. It was exciting. I didn’t really know what to expect in free agency, so I was fortunate to get the call from (Doug) Armstrong.”
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Matthew DeFranks | Post-Dispatch
Hockey reporter
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