Philip Broberg signed a six-year, $48 million contract with the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. It has an average annual value of $8 million and begins next season.
The 24-year-old defenseman has 15 points (two goals, 13 assists) in 46 games this season, his second with the Blues. He signed a two-year, $9.16 million contract ($4.58 million AAV) contract with them on Aug. 20, 2024, after the Edmonton Oilers did not match an offer sheet tendered by the Blues on Aug. 13, and could have become a restricted free agent after the season.
He had an assist but sustained an upper-body injury and left a 4-2 loss against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday with an upper-body injury after two shifts.
“It's exciting to have him for this year plus six more that basically takes him right through the meat of his prime years,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. “He's been one of the few bright lights in a season that hasn't gone anywhere near the way we expected. He's a player on the back end I think we can build around.”
Broberg had NHL career highs in games (68), goals (eight), assists (21), points (29), plus-minus (plus-21) and shots on goal (97) last season.
“He touches right now our penalty kill, our 5-on-5 play, getting incorporated a little more into the power play, which I think he will take a bigger chunk of that as time goes on,” Armstrong said. “A cornerstone player on the back end that it's nice to have in the fold. He and I had a good conversation that he's held up his end of the bargain and now it's up to the management to hold up their end of the bargain to put up a team around him that can have success.”
Selected by Edmonton in the first round (No. 8) of the 2019 NHL Draft, Broberg has 56 points (12 goals, 44 assists) in 194 regular-season games for the Oilers and Blues and five points (three goals, two assists) in 27 playoff games.
"Stability, reliability, confidence, playmaker and an incredible desire to grow," Blues coach Jim Montgomery said of Broberg. "A lot of times, people get obsessed with statistics and he's just a hockey player. He helps you in all three zones. ... I've seen how much he's grown this year compared to just last year when he was very good for us anyway, and he's just a guy that wants to be a difference maker."
