Blues sign Ross Johnston to three-year contract

A rugged winger is heading from the West Coast to the Gateway to the West.

On the opening day of NHL free agency, the St. Louis Blues signed forward Ross Johnston to a three-year contract. The deal will carry an AAV of $2 million through the 2028-29 season.

It’s a little bump in pay for Johnston, who is coming off a four-year contract that he signed with the New York Islanders as a free agent in October 2021. That deal had a cap hit of $1.1 million.

You won’t find Johnston’s numbers near the top of the leaderboard, but he brings toughness and experience to a team in St. Louis that is retooling under new general manager Alexander Steen. It’ll be interesting to see where he fits into the lineup come next fall.

The 32-year-old spent the first seven years of his NHL career bouncing up and down between the American Hockey League and the New York Islanders. He finally found some stable ground with the Anaheim Ducks, the team that claimed him off waivers just before the beginning of the 2023-24 season. After a couple of injury-riddled seasons, Johnston had the best performance of his NHL career in 2025-26. In 62 appearances, he scored three goals and 11 assists for a career-high 14 points. It was the first time he hit double digits in points. He also amassed 107 penalty minutes, marking the second time in his tenure in the league where he reached the century mark. Johnston also posted an even plus/minus while averaging 9:45 of ice time.

The P.E.I native was part of an Anaheim team that qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in eight years, pulling off a rather stunning upset of the two-time defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers in Round 1. The Quack Attack came short of beating the Vegas Golden Knights, losing the Pacific Division Final in six games. Johnston didn’t score a point in five games.

In 307 NHL regular-season games, Johnston has scored 14 goals and 32 assists for 46 points, appearing in a total of 10 playoff games.