{"id":393954,"date":"2026-01-05T21:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T21:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/393954\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T21:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T21:42:10","slug":"blues-sign-winger-alexey-toropchenko-to-2-year-extension-what-it-means-for-the-roster-payroll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/393954\/","title":{"rendered":"Blues sign winger Alexey Toropchenko to 2-year extension: What it means for the roster, payroll"},"content":{"rendered":"

The St. Louis Blues have signed forward Alexey Toropchenko to a two-year contract extension with an annual average value of $2.5 million, the team announced<\/a> Monday.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old winger was slated to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 after signing a one-year, $1.7 million deal as a restricted free agent during the 2024-25 season. Players on one-year deals couldn\u2019t officially sign extensions until Jan. 1, so Toropchenko just became eligible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always exciting when you get extensions, especially with the St. Louis Blues,\u201d Toropchenko said Monday. \u201cI was drafted by the team, and I\u2019m very proud to wear the Blue Note in front of me. I will continue to leave everything each day on the ice for my team. I\u2019m looking forward to the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toropchenko has played 27 games this season, with two goals and five points. In 286 games over five NHL seasons, all with the Blues, he has 32 goals and 65 points. He mostly occupies a fourth-line role, but coach Jim Montgomery has shown he\u2019s comfortable moving him up the lineup in a pinch and playing him late in games.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re always happy when a guy gets rewarded, and we keep a nucleus guy,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cTo me, Torpo has earned everything he\u2019s got. I remember (Klim) Kostin was ahead of him, and he surpassed him because of his work ethic. He had the ability to (kill penalties), and he wanted to do that. He had the ability to forecheck and hound.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always say he\u2019s the kind of guy who might only score seven or 11 goals in the regular season, but when you get in the playoffs, their line scored more than our other three lines five-on-five because you win with those guys. You need to have skill to get into the playoffs. You need guys like Torpo to win in the playoffs. And because of his penalty-killing and his length and his speed, he helps you win every night in the regular season, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

How he earned the deal<\/p>\n

Toropchenko has become a staple by being a dependable bottom-six forward who is one of the team\u2019s best forecheckers.<\/p>\n

In 2023-24, he had 14 goals and 21 points, leading many to believe that there was some offensive upside to go along with his responsible play. But in 117 games since, he has just six goals and 23 points.<\/p>\n

Even with the point regression, Toropchenko fits the mold of a hard-working, low-maintenance player. General manager Doug Armstrong has identified with that type of player in the past, and the same can perhaps be said for incoming GM Alexander Steen.<\/p>\n

What does it mean for the lineup and payroll?<\/p>\n

With Toropchenko\u2019s contract extension completed, the Blues now have two-thirds of their fourth line re-signed for the next two seasons. In September, the team re-upped with Nathan Walker on a two-year extension ($887,500 AAV).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important business to get done at this time of the year because the Blues have several pending RFAs \u2014 a list topped by Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg. According to PuckPedia<\/a>, the team has 19 rostered players next season with $21.5 million in projected cap space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The St. Louis Blues have signed forward Alexey Toropchenko to a two-year contract extension with an annual average…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85,3935],"class_list":{"0":"post-393954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-st-louis-blues"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}