Quinton Burns Inks An Entry-Level Deal
PuckPedia: The St. Louis Blues signed Quinton Burns to a three-year entry-level deal late on Friday.
His base salary on the deal will be the standard $775,000. That does not include the possibility of bonuses. Those bonuses bring the AAV up to $950,000. Burns and the Blues agreed to a signing bonus of $95,000.
Also, there are performance bonuses which total up to $80,000. Burns was the 74th selection of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. The defenseman notched 68 points in 154 games with the OHL’s Kingston Frotenacs. He had 35 points in 58 games last year.
St. Louis needs defensemen and Burns has improved in his time in juniors.
It will be intriguing to see where Burns plays this season. More than likely, he starts out in the OHL again but after that, stay tuned.
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Sammy Blais Gets A Tryout With Vancouver
PuckPedia: Former St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers Forward Sammy Blais received a PTO with the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday. He also signed with the Abbotsford Canucks of the AHL.
Last season was a mostly down season for Blais who returned to St. Louis after being moved to the New York Rangers. He had a goal and six assists in 53 games with the Blues.
Blais has a habit of impressing in the minors and during the preseason with his two-way play. He does have 55 goals and 105 points in 148 career AHL games spanning Chicago, San Antonio, and Hartford.
Blais was a sixth-round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues in the 2014 NHL Draft.
Juan Copeland Takes Different Path To Maybe The NHL
Jon Paul Morosi: The elusive path to the NHL can be far from a straight one at times. Juan Copeland provides a glaring example. He is now a unique player in the sense that Copeland played in the OHL, USHL, and for Puerto Rico all in the same calendar year.
It has been quite an adventure for the player who can play on both wings and has a nose for the net.
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Again, Copeland thought he would go to Boston University. That did not happen. He thought after his first season at Niagra, things would be easy, they were not. It has been all about battles. Copeland can show other Caribbean players how and what it takes to get closer to their NHL dreams.
Maybe Copeland never comes close to the NHL but he will inspire plenty of hockey players looking to achieve that dream from non-traditional locales.