Fantasy Impact: The St. Louis Blues have signed center Derek Roy to a one-year deal, pending a physical.

The Blues get: a former No.1 center who lost a step when he returned from a quad injury that wiped out the majority fo his 2010-11 season. He had 104 points in 115 games prior to that injury, but just 72 in 122 after it.

Fantasy Players Impacted: My initial thought was that Patrik Berglund was losing out here. But as you can see from the potential line combos, his linemates are still quite good. He’ll miss out on PP time though, so the wait on a big season from Berglund will continue.

As with many of these ‘free agent frenzy’ signings, the deep teams (like the Blues) who add even more depth really make it difficult for a prospect to crack the lineup. So that about shuts the door on Evgeni Grachev, and it looks like Dmitrij Jaskin and Ty Rattie will spend a season in the AHL – but they were likely doing that anyway.

Potential Line Combos:

Alex Steen – David Backes – T.J. Oshie

David Perron – Derek Roy – Chris Stewart

Jaden Schwartz – Patrik Berglund – Vladimir Tarasenko

Chris Porter – Vladimir Sobotka – Maxim Lapierre

Fantasy Players this helps, in order:

1. Tarasenko/Schwartz get a better centerman

Fantasy Players this hurts, in order: 

1. The prospects – Rattie, Jaskin, Grachev, etc.