T.J. Oshie happy to sign a five-year contract with St. Louis Blues, the place he loves to be at
Few days back, just ahead of his arbitration hearing, T.J. Oshie signed a new five-year deal with St. Louis Blues, avoiding an arbitration hearing. Oshie had earlier decided to go to arbitration court to get his salary increased, along with 15 other players,
on the 4th of the July.
The five-year contract is worth $20.875 million for which Oshie would be given $3.375 million, $4 million and $4.5 million for the first, second and last three years respectively. And having already spent four years with St. Louis Blues, T.J. Oshie is very
happy and glad to have signed another five-year deal and a long term contract.
The 25-year-old, centre/right winger still wants to get better day by day and year by year as he said,
"It's great. I couldn't be any happier to re-sign with the Blues. It's where I've grown as a player and as a pro. As far as the long-term security goes, it's something that I've never had in my career”.
The American professional ice hockey player started his career with Sioux Falls Stampede in United States Hockey League (USHL) in 2004, before being selected 24th overall in the 1st round of the 2005 NHL draft.
But he kept playing in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) with University of North Dakota until 2008 when he signed his first contract with St. Louis Blues on 13 May 2008.
He had signed a three-year entry-level contract which was worth $2.55 million.
Even though he suffered injuries, Oshie maintained a very healthy scoring rate and 39 goals in 57 games, 48 points in 76 games and 34 points in 49 games played in the 2008-2009, 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 season respectively. A performance, which earned him
a one-year contract extension in the season which turned out to be his best as he scored 54 points in 80 games.
St. Louis Blues general manager, Doug Armstrong was equally excited as he said,
"We're obviously excited to have T.J. under contract as he enters the prime of his career and to know that we'll have him through that portion. It's very rewarding and we think he's a big piece of our team from last year and he's a big piece moving forward."
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