The St. Louis Blues continued the process of keeping the core of their 2011-12 Central Division championship team intact on Monday, signing defenseman Barret Jackman to a three-year contract reportedly worth $9.5 million.
Jackman, 31, played in 81 games for the Blues in 2011-12, scoring a goal and handing out 12 assists while finishing with a plus-20 rating, tied for second on the Blues behind Alex Steen. He was due to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, but eschewed the open market to stay with the Blues, who recorded their most wins since the 1999-2000 season by going 49-22-11.
It's the second re-signing of the offseason for the Blues, who also brought back winger Chris Stewart last week on a one-year deal worth $3 million. Jackman, however, has played his entire 598-game NHL career with the Blues, and is a key member of the team that drafted him in the first round (17th overall) in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft.
The Blues have a reasonable summer ahead of them, with two key restricted free agents to re-sign in center T.J. Oshie and winger David Perron. Keeping the defensive corps intact is a priority, though, since the minor league system doesn't have an NHL-ready defenseman in the pipeline other than Ian Cole, who's played 52 games for the Blues over the last two seasons.
The Blues took great steps forward under Ken Hitchcock in 2011-12, and with a young core of talent including Oshie, Perron, Kevin Shattenkirk and Alex Pietrangelo, should be poised to move forward in the seasons ahead. Keeping a veteran presence around is key, though, and Jackman will provide that for the Blues.
