Chris Stewart announced through Twitter that he has signed a two-year extension with the St. Louis Blues. The forward had an arbitration hearing scheduled for July 22nd, but the Blues and Stewart were able to reach an agreement prior to the hearing.
Stewart's announcement can be seen in the Tweet below:
On the eve of my wedding in proud to announce that I will be spending the next 2 yrs in STL…. #bluesssssss
— chris stewart (@CstewSTL25) July 19, 2013
Congratulations to Stewart on his new deal and on his upcoming wedding.
Stewart's deal is believed to be worth $4.1 million in 2013-14 and $4.2 in 2014-15. Stewart receives a decent raise compared to the $3 million he earned in 2012-13. Stewart led the Blues in points (38) and in goals scored (18) during the abbreviated season.
Is this a strong deal for the Blues? Definitely. It's believed Stewart wanted a longer deal worth more money (some reports say he turned down a deal comparable to Oshie's five-year, $20.8 million contract), but he ended up agreeing to a two-year deal worth just over $4 million a season.
Keeping Stewart for close to $4 million a year is outstanding. I thought it might take $4.5 million or more to keep Stewart in the mix, so to see him fall under that mark is a welcome surprise. There was even some concern that Stewart might fetch around $5 million a year, a salary which might have made it difficult to sign Alex Pietrangelo, Jake Allen and the newly acquired Magnus Paajarvi to new contracts.
Stewart deserved a raise. However, he would have been a risky player to sign to a long-term deal considering his inconsistent play over the last few years. Stewart's deal is a slightly larger "prove yourself" deal which would still allow him to cash in if he's able to build on his mostly successful 2012-13.
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