Blues Sign Brewer and Legace to Contract Extensions

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ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Blues President John Davidson announced today that defenseman Eric Brewer and goaltender Manny Legace have agreed to contract extensions with the club. Brewer has agreed to a four-year extension while Legace has agreed to a two-year extension.

“This is a big day for the Blues organization as we move forward,” said Davidson. “Both players have had an excellent season and we felt it was important to keep them in the fold as we continue to build.”

Brewer, 27, has played in each of the Blues 61 games this season, recording 18 points (three goals, 15 assists) along with 51 penalty minutes. He is tied for 14th in the NHL and second on the team with 132 blocked shots. Brewer averages 24:09 of time on ice which leads the team. In the last 20 games, he has nine points (two goals, seven assists), averages 25:21 of time on ice and has a +7 rating.

“Eric has been durable on the blueline and he is having one of the best seasons in his NHL career,” said Davidson. “He will play a big part of our defense now and into the future with the Blues.”

Brewer is currently in his eighth NHL season and missed the majority of last season due to injury while with the Blues. He played four seasons with the Edmonton Oilers (2000-01 through 2003-04) before being acquired by the Blues on August 2, 2005. Brewer averaged 24:38 of ice time per game to lead the Oilers in 2003-04 and led Edmonton defensemen in scoring with 29 points (eight goals and 21 assists) while earning a spot in the 2003 NHL All-Star Game. He tied for the team lead with a +15 plus/minus rating in 2000-01.

Brewer began his NHL career with the New York Islanders, spending two seasons with the club in 1998-99 and 1999-2000 after being selected in the first round, fifth overall, in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft.

Legace, 34, has played in 45 games with the Blues this season, posting a 23-15-5 record, a .907 save percentage along with a 2.59 goals against average. He is currently tied for fourth in the NHL with five shutouts this season. Since the second half of the season, Legace has recorded a 12-3-1 record which includes a .913 save percentage and a 2.35 goals against average.

“Manny has been putting up the numbers that we expected him to do when we signed him last August,” said Davidson. “He has done a terrific job for the club this season and has proven to be one of the top goaltenders in the NHL.”

Legace spent the previous six seasons with the Detroit Red Wings. Last season, he posted a 37-8-0 record and finished third in the NHL with a 2.19 goals against average, fifth with 37 wins and tied for second with seven shutouts. Legace captured the Stanley Cup as a member of the Red Wings in 2002.

Legace was originally Hartford’s eighth round selection, 188th overall, in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. The Toronto, Ontario native has appeared in 242 career NHL games, posting a 137-58-18-8 (.620) record along with a 2.28 goals against average and 18 shutouts.

[Isles4life]

The Brewer deal is pretty big. I figured there would have been some deadline interest for him definitely. Smart move by the Blues to lock him up I think.

[Snipes19]

Very good moves by the Blues. As a Blues fan, I'm very happy with BOTH of these deals. We have finally found a legit #1 goaltender in Manny Legace, and it's nice to know that we have him locked up for a couple more years. With the Blues, we could never find a legit starting goaltender. We went through Roman Turek, Brent Johnson, Fred Braithwait, Chris Osgood, Patrick Lalime, and Curtis Sanford all in the matter of just a couple years. None of them proved that they could be a great starting goaltender in this league, so we went through a long period searching for a good starting goaltender. Even Osgood and Lalime ended up to be busts with us. The Blues biggest problem is that they have never had a real solid goalie since the days of Grant Fuhr and Curtis Joseph. During the period when we made the Playoffs for 30 years in a row, we could never win the Stanley Cup for one major reason. And that reason was that we didn't have a solid goaltender. Now we finally found one in Manny Legace. Everybody in St. Louis loves Manny.

As for Brewer, I'm pretty happy about this deal too. Brewer had a rough year last year, and he got off to a bad start this year too. But that was when Mike Kitchen was the coach. Ever since Murray arrived, Brewer has been playing some of the best hockey in his entire career. And anyone in St. Louis can tell you that. He has a lot of size, and he's become a good defenseman. He uses that size to drive to the net sometimes, he pinches in on the point to keep the puck in the zone, he uses his big body to throw some big hits, and everything. I've been impressed with him under Any Murray. Brewer's not a bad defenseman. Murray has really helped this kid a lot. Brewer used to be a very good defenseman with Edmonton, and he even played on team Canada. Plus, a couple times he played in the NHL All-Star game. So he's good. He just got off to a rocky start here in STL, but now he's found his rhythm, and he's back to being a good defenseman. Plus he's young, so I think he will only get better. Good move by John Davidson to lock these guys up.