This post was originally published at TheHockeyWriters.com.

The Blues can check off one of their biggest priorities for the summer.  David Perron is under contract for another four years.

The Canadian-born left-wing signed a four-year, $15.25 million contract extension.  The cap-hit will be a miniscule $3.8 million per season, while the contract itself is back loaded.  Perron will be paid $3 million in 2012-13, $3.5 million in 2013-14, $4.25 million in 2014-15 and $4.5 million in 2015-16, according to capgeek.com.

“I love the city of St. Louis and I’m thrilled to play in front of these awesome fans for another four years,” Perron told stlouisblues.com. “We had an excellent regular season but we all feel this team has so much more to accomplish.”

Perron was one of the brightest stories to come out of the 2011-12 NHL season.  After suffering a career-threatening concussion caused by a hit from Sharks center Joe Thornton on November 4, 2010, Perron returned to the Blues lineup on December 3, 2011 at home against the Chicago Blackhawks.  Perron scored on his third shift of the game at 6:51 of the first period in the Blues’ 5-2 loss.

This post was originally published at TheHockeyWriters.com.

On a very quiet July 1, the Blues were almost dead silent.

The Blues made deals, but national coverage of the big names kept them from making headlines.  The Blues added defensemen Taylor Chorney, Scott Ford and goaltender Mike McKenna, who is a St. Louis native.

All three players signed identical 1-year, 2-way contracts. 

McKenna’s contract caps off a memorable weekend, as he married his wife Rachel on Saturday.  McKenna could not hold back his excitement on his Twitter feed:

“Can't describe how excited I am to wear the Bluenote. 29 years old, 7 years pro, still gives me goosebumps thinking about it.”

This post was originally published at TheHockeyWriters.com.

Being tenured with one team for ten years is a rarity in professional sports nowadays.

10-year veteran Barret Jackman, who has spent his entire NHL career as a St. Louis Blue, agreed to a three-year contract extension Monday morning.  Jackman is not only the longest-tenured defenseman in the NHL, but the longest-tenured athlete in St. Louis.

The contract will pay Jackman $9.50 million over the next three seasons ($3 million in 2012-13; $3.25 million in 2013-14 and $3.25 million in 2014-15).  According to the current CBA, his cap-hit will be $3.17 million per season.  Jackman will be 34 years old when his new contract expires.

The highlight of Jackman’s season came on February 18, when he broke a league-high 150 game goalless drought in a 4-0 win over the Minnesota Wild at Scottrade Center.

Jackman was a staple in the Blues’ rebuild.  He was the only player left on the Blues’ roster from their last-place finish in 2005-06 after Eric Brewer was traded exactly one year before Jackman broke his goalless drought in February.

With Jackman signed, the writing is likely on the wall for upcoming unrestricted free-agent defensemen Kent Huskins and Carlo Colaiacovo.  Up-and-comers Ian Cole and Cade Fairchild stand a pretty good chance of making the Blues’ roster out of training camp, so there will be minimal vacancies on the blue line in St. Louis.

But was this the right decision?

This post was originally published at TheHockeyWriters.com.

Great things come to those who wait.

This is true for Blues management and fans alike, as Russian prospect and 2010 first-round draft choice Vladimir Tarasenko has a signed a three-year entry-level deal with the St. Louis Blues.  Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the maximum allowed amount that a 2010 draft choice can receive under the current NHL collective-bargaining agreement is $900,000 per season. 

Tarasenko, 20, was the Blues second selection, 16^th overall, in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.  After drafting Jaden Schwartz with their 14^th overall pick, the Blues sent their 2009 first round selection, David Rundblad, to the Ottawa Senators in order to select Tarasenko.

The Russian right-winger’s decision to leave the KHL comes just weeks after he was left off the Russian World Championships roster.  Tarasenko and Blues GM Doug Armstrong had planned a meeting in Finland, the location of the World Championships, but Tarasenko cancelled that meeting and returned home to Russia when he received word that he would not play for his home country.

Tarasenko did not leave Armstrong to hang out and dry, though.

"I knew that he was serious [about joining the Blues] because he took an 11-hour train ride from Moscow for a two-hour meeting and an 11-hour train ride back," Armstrong told Blues beat-writer Jeremy Rutherford of stltoday.com.

Reportedly, Tarasenko did receive a fruitful offer to return to the KHL.  The offer was likely worth a lot more than a NHL entry-level contract.  Terms of the offer have not been released, but sources say that it “dwarfs” the maximum NHL entry-level contract.