Sweep of free agency through 7 July 2015 Blues open wallet for Tarasenko

Only three signings occurred on Tuesday in the NHL including Vladimir Tarasenko being signed by the St Louis Blues to an eight-year, $60 million contract.

It is the largest contract signed in Blues’ history.

“I think it’s a great day in Blues history to get a player of Vladi’s caliber locked into the organization through the prime of his career,” general manager Doug Armstrong said of Tarasenko, who recently got married in his native Russia. “We saw, I think just the tip of the iceberg of what Vladi can do in this league last year.

“At such a young age to show those skills really made this a priority for us to see if we can talk him into and work with him to get him to sign a long-term extension. Those were the things that were talked about really since we started this maybe a week before the (NHL Draft) what was going to make him comfortable as far as term. I was quite comfortable that it was going to be a lot of money regardless, but getting the term for us was something that our ownership group believed in.

“Vladimir signed for eight years, Alex Pietrangelo signed for (seven), I think the nucleus of our defense and our forwards are here for the foreseeable future and we can build around that group.”

Tarasenko ended the NHL season tied for 10th with 73 points on 37 goals in 77 games and was a +27.

Mikkel Boedker signed a one-year deal with the Arizona Coyotes. Boedker played in only 45 games this past season and was out of action since January when he underwent surgery to remove his spleen.

“We are pleased to sign Mikkel,” general manager Don Maloney said. “He is an important player for us and we look forward to having him back next season.”

In Carolina, Zach Boychuk signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Hurricanes that will have in the organization for an eighth year.