The St. Louis Blues signed 30-year-old Swedish forward Joakim Lindstrom - a former 2nd-round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets - to a one-year, one-way contract worth $700,000, according to Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The diminutive scoring forward was originally drafted by the Blue Jackets in 2002, but washed out of the league after stints with Columbus, the Phoenix Coyotes and the Colorado Avalanche. In 97 career NHL games, Lindstrom has 15 goals and 33 points, and is nearly a point per game player over 200 career games in the American Hockey League.
Lindstrom, who recently starred for Team Sweden's bronze medal winning World Championship team, led SHL club Skellefteå in scoring and was second in scoring in the entire league during the regular season. Lindstrom's team emerged as Swedish champions, and he was the leading scorer in the SHL postseason.
With the success enjoyed by 28-year-old sophomore forward Carl Soderbergh of the Boston Bruins this past season, it'll be interesting to see if more clubs follow St. Louis' example and look overseas for talent this offseason. Daniel Rasmussen of the Växjö Lakers, for example, has reportedly drawn the interest of the Vancouver Canucks and Philadelphia Flyers.
