Blues' Armstrong: Sobotka wants to play in NHL

The Vladimir Sobotka saga lives on.

According to St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong, the team remains in pursuit of the center, despite his recent return to the KHL.

"Strange enough, he's gone back to the KHL, but he's left his family in Prague and he's still working on trying to get out of his deal (with Avangard Omsk)," Armstrong told Louie Korac of NHL.com.

Sobotka, 29, has spent the past two seasons in the KHL. The Czech forward has one year remaining on his Russian deal, and would like to return to the NHL, but needs to get out of his contract. He last appeared in the NHL in 2014 with the Blues.

"I don't want to say he's not happy playing there, but I know he wants to play in the NHL," Armstrong added. "He had a tough ending to the season last year with an injury that got him to look at things a little bit differently."

Following the 2013-14 campaign, Sobotka, then a restricted free agent, left for the KHL. An arbitrator later ruled that he owed the Blues a year of service if he returned to the NHL, after which he could become an unrestricted free agent.

Drafted by the Boston Bruins in 2005, Sobotka has played 381 NHL games and scored 123 points.