Per STL Today:
Blues defenseman Erik Johnson has agreed to a two-year contract extension with the club.
The deal is worth $5.2 million; the team’s salary-cap hit will be $2.6 million for the next two seasons.
An announcement on Johnson’s extension could be made by the club later today.
Johnson, 22, had been a restricted free agent who was not allowed to receive offer sheets because he missed the entire 2008-09 season with a knee injury.
“I just told my agent I wanted to get it done,” Johnson said. “We were mulling over some offers for a while, but thus is what we wanted to do. I’m really grateful that the Blues have invested this in me.
“I know myself, and all the young guys included, plan on really going out and showing that we’re going to step up and take control of the team.”
Johnson was the first overall pick in 2006 and in two seasons with the Blues, he has 15 goals and 57 assists in 148 games. Last season, he had 10 goals and 29 assists.
He is the last of the Blues’ restricted free agents to re-sign with the club. As recently as a week ago, negotiations were moving slowly, according to Johnson’s agent, Pat Brisson.
“Being the first overall pick, you still have to prove yourself,” Brisson told the Post-Dispatch. “Unfortunately, he got hurt, but you can see his progression. Normally after two years, whether he has offer-sheet rights or not, the trend is to explore a longer-term deal and lock up your core players. That doesn’t seem to be the case with the Blues.
“So the course of the conversation has changed a bit. This is perhaps a direction we weren’t intending to go down, but the Blues are looking for a shorter-term (extension). Whether it gets done now or a month from now, I don’t know. We’re progressing but it’s not there yet.”
But two days into August, the deal is done, and it appears that the Blues got their wish with a two-year deal.
Recently, Blues GM Doug Armstrong told the Post-Dispatch: “Our younger players, when they’re coming out of entry level, they’ve all progressed, but they haven’t been defined. By taking contracts at shorter term, you allow them to grow and make a fair-market value moving forward.”
Blues forward David Perron also signed a two-year extension following the expiration of his entry-level contract.
