Ilya Kovalchuk will certainly find a home in the NHL, but it won't be in St. Louis.
Despite the Blues' need for a legitimate goal-scoring threat, the club didn't give much consideration to signing the top offensive player in free agency this year, citing the team's desire to build from within and budget constraints.
"Kovalchuk is a great player, but he's not the right player for the organization at this time," new Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said Thursday. "With a player like Kovalchuk, there are certain points for an organization when you feel comfortable making that plunge, and right now, we think that with our younger players continuing to grow, we think it's better short- and long-term to find out the growth pattern these players have.
"Everyone can have their opinions, but it has to work not only on the ice ... but it also has to work under the framework of the team's budget. Kovalchuk is a great player; I'll never deny that he's a great player. But right now, where we're situated, it's not the right player for us. At the end of the year, (Blues president) John (Davidson) addressed that ... we weren't in that type of market for that type of player this year."
The Blues didn't sign any unrestricted free agents Thursday, but they did re-sign two of their own restricted free agents. Left winger Alex Steen agreed to a four-year, $13.45 million contract extension, while newly acquired center Vladimir Sobotka inked a one-year, $750,000 deal.
Steen, 26, scored a career-high 24 goals last season, tying for the team lead with Andy McDonald. Steen was a strength on the team's power play, where he netted nine of his goals, and a solid contributor on the penalty-kill, scoring two shorthanded goals on a unit that ranked No. 1 overall in the NHL.
"Four years, I'm more than happy," Steen said. "The Blues really gave me a shot at playing both sides of the game. It's been awhile since I got the chance. I look forward to another great year with the guys."
Armstrong believes Steen can be part of the Blues' core.
"If you can get those players between the ages of 26-31, that's really the prime hockey-playing part of their career," Armstrong said. "I think that Alex is just hitting that. The way that he plays is very well suited to the way (Blues coach) Davis Payne likes to coach. He's a confident two-way player. He can provide work on both special teams. He found some goal scoring, which we believe is going to be more consistent. You look at his 24 goals in 68 games last year ... we're going to expect that to be the norm."
Sobotka, 22, was acquired from Boston in a trade last week for defensive prospect David Warsofsky. Sobotka had four goals in 61 games with the Bruins last season and is expected to be on the Blues' NHL roster next season.
There was no progress to report Thursday on extensions for the Blues' six remaining restricted free agents: Erik Johnson, David Perron, Jaroslav Halak, Cam Janssen, D.J. King and Tyson Strachan. None of those players received offer sheets from other teams; Johnson is ineligible to receive one after missing the 2009-10 season with a knee injury.
Armstrong said he spoke to Johnson's agent, Pat Brisson, "and we're working toward (a contract), but we're still a great distance from training camp and I'm not that concerned. I'm confident that everyone will be in training camp."
Two players whose future with the Blues remains in question are defensemen Mike Weaver and Carlo Colaiacovo. They both became unrestricted free agents Thursday and received some interest around the league but did not sign anywhere.
Armstrong said the Blues remain interested.
"We've said to them, 'If you would like to come back to us and talk about a contract when you have a good understanding of the landscape,' we'd have interest in both of those players," Armstrong said.
Whether it would be Weaver or Colaiacovo, or replacements for the two, Armstrong said: "We're not actively trying to sign anyone as of today."
That should come as no surprise, Armstrong added.
"I think we've been consistent," he said. "The strength of our team, and the success of our team is going to come from the people that ended the season here last year.
"The core group of our team, our younger players, are no longer young entering their second, third and fourth years in the league. We expect them to be everyday contributors. And there are some players here we consider veterans that are going to need to take their game up to a different level. We believe both of those things can happen. So we're not looking to remake our team from the outside. We're looking to grow internally."
Bluenotes: The club announced the hiring of Dave Taylor as director of player personnel. Taylor was general manager in Los Angeles from 1997 to 2006 before taking over as director of player personnel in Dallas, 2007-2010.
