The St. Louis Blues have signed veteran forward Martin Havlat to a one-year contract, the team announced on Friday.
Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that it’s a two-way deal that pays $600,000 in the NHL and $200,000 in the AHL.
With a rash of injuries afflicting the Blues, the team had brought in Havlat and Dainius Zubrus on professional tryout contracts (PTOs) after the season already started, so Havlat has been practicing with the team for a bit.
For his part, Martin Havlat didn’t get a contract offer over the summer after playing last year with the New Jersey Devils. He took a PTO with the Florida Panthers but was not offered a contract at the conclusion of training camp.
Havlat has battled injuries over the last few seasons, scoring just five goals and nine assists last season through the 40 games he appeared in. He last appeared in more than 48 games in the 2010-11 season with the Minnesota Wild.
On the Blues injury front, the team is currently without the services of Paul Stastny, Patrik Berglund and Jaden Schwartz, who have all been sidelined for an extended period. They’ve also seen Vladimir Tarasenko, Robby Fabbri and Kevin Shattenkirk miss games to injury this season as well.
The Blues have signed forward Martin Havlat to a one-year deal. https://t.co/L6vtevV8zE
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 6, 2015
In corresponding moves the team reassigned Ty Rattie to the Chicago Wolves of the AHL and activated Kevin Shattenkirk off of injured reserve, according to Norm Sanders of the Belleville News-Democrat.
Zubrus was released from his PTO on Friday.
Why did Marty Havlat signed in St. Louis? He LOVES to play, he wants to CONTRIBUTE and he wants to WIN. #He'sBack
— Allan Walsh🏒 (@walsha) November 6, 2015
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