Blues add David Perron on two-year, $7.5M contract

David Perron has decided to return to the place where he started his NHL career.

The 28-year-old winger signed a two-year contract worth $7.5 million with the St. Louis Blues. The team picked Perron in the first-round of the of the 2007 NHL Draft. He spent his first six NHL seasons with the club before he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in the 2013 offseason.

Perron spent his first 43 games last season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he had 16 points. After a January trade to the Anaheim Ducks for Carl Hagelin, Perron notched 20 points in 28 games.

In his first 20 games he notched 17 points and helped captain Ryan Getzlaf get his game back. But after suffering a shoulder injury in late March, Perron struggled to find his groove when he returned for the playoffs.

He had three points in the Ducks’ seven-game loss to the Nashville Predators. Perron provides somewhat of a replacement for captain David Backes, who signed a free agent contract with the Boston Bruins. Backes is a natural center, but played mostly wing last year.

With Backes gone and Perron in the mix, the Blues, who also signed backup goaltender Carter Hutton to a two-year $2.25 million contract Friday, have $8,629,582 of salary cap space. The team still needs to sign restricted free agent scorer Jaden Schwartz to a new contract.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper