St. Louis Blues re-sign Agitator Steve Ott

#487199639 / gettyimages.com

Minnesota Wild fans, you can breath a sigh of relief, Steve Ott was re-signed by the St. Louis Blues. According to Michael Russo,  the Minnesota Wild were interesting in signing the agitator to a free agent deal. This is one player I am glad that the Wild didn't sign.

ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Blues President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Doug Armstrong announced today the club has re-signed forward Steve Ott to a two-year contract.

Ott, 31, joined the Blues via trade from Buffalo last season on Feb. 28 and went on to post three assists and 37 penalty minutes in 23 regular season games, as well as two assists and 14 penalty minutes in six postseason appearances.

Prior to his acquisition, Ott produced 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) and 55 penalty minutes in 59 regular season games as Buffalo’s captain in 2013-14.

The 6-foot, 189-pound forward is a veteran of 11 NHL seasons, including stints with Dallas, Buffalo and St. Louis.

Top-10 UFA's?

#478263087 / gettyimages.com

According toLuke Fox of Sports Net, these are the top-10 available UFA players.

10. Andre Benoit, Age: 30, 2013-14 team: Colorado Avalanche
9. Devin Setoguchi, Age: 27, 2013-14 team: Winnipeg Jets
8. Martin Brodeur, Age: 42, 2013-14 team: New Jersey Devils
7. Mike Ribeiro, Age: 34, 2013-14 team: Arizona Coyotes
6. Lee Stempniak, Age: 31, 2013-14 team: Pittsburgh Penguins
5. Derek Roy, Age: 31, 2013-14 team: St. Louis Blues
4. Michael Del Zotto, Age: 24, 2013-14 team: Nashville Predators
3. Tomas Vokoun, Age: 38, 2013-14 team: Pittsburgh Penguins
2. Steve Ott, Age: 31, 2013-14 team: St. Louis Blues
1. Daniel Alfredsson, Age: 41, 2013-14 Team: Detroit Red Wings

Minnesota Wild: Say no to Steve Ott

#487318047 / gettyimages.com

The Wild need toughness, and I agree that they need to get tougher. However, let's hope the Wild don't sign this piece of dog excrement. I am not in favor of this move whatsoever.  Ott is one of those players that you would definitely hate, and don't ever want to see him on your team, either.

Russo's Rants -- Here’s a look at how the Wild is shaping up to look like next season. This will change undoubtedly throughout the summer as the Wild add and delete players.

Remember, at some point, the Wild’s expected to acquire a physical defenseman to replace Clayton Stoner. It may also look to replace the gritty element up front of Cody McCormick. ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun -- the great Pierre LeBrun, I may add -- reports the Wild has shown interest in Steve Ott, the former Dallas Stars agitator/smack talker and Sabres captain who was dealt with Ryan Miller to St. Louis last season. He once fought Cal Clutterbuck twice in the same game after Ott ran Josh Harding either that game or the game before, I can't remember (video of that incident on bottom of blog). Ott can play center and wing and kills penalties.

Toronto has also shown interest in Ott, I have heard.

In my opinion, the Wild already have an agitator in Matt Cooke. They need a forward that can kill penalties, chip in offense and stick up for teammates. Ott has played in 696 NHL games for three different teams, he’s scored (103g-164a—267pts) and has accumulated 1,355 penalty in minutes.

Disclaimer: Of course my opinion on this matter is going to be jaded, I am both a Wild and Bruins fan and I wasn't impressed with his antics when he was with the Buffalo Sabres. I admit that.

UPDATE: Steve Ott and Ryan Miller being traded to St Louis...

Ryan Miller in his first #Sabres preseason game (9-21-02) still wearing his Michigan State mask. The silly season is about to begin.
pic.twitter.com/HUUEtg3sqp
— Bill Wippert (@BWipp) February 28, 2014

One of my favorite college hockey goaltenders of all time, former Michigan State Spartan Ryan Miller. The All-American was fun to watch during the NCAA playoffs. According to the St. Louis Blues twitter feed, Miller has been traded to the St. Louis Blues along with teammate, forward Steve Ott. In my opinion, the Blues are getting a very good All-World goalie for the playoff stretch. It's kind of weird to see the Buffalo Sabres decline this far.

The Sabres get forward Chris Stewart, goalie Jaroslav Halak, forward William Carrier, 1st round pick (2015) and a 3rd round pick (2016) - See more at: http://thehockeywriters.com/thw-trade-tracker-halak-for-miller/#sthash.93JJa3zE.dpuf. In my opinion, the Sabres got a really good deal.

The "Silly Season" is upon us.

BREAKING: The Blues have acquired Miller & Ott from Buffalo for Halak, Stewart, Carrier & two picks. INFO >>> http://t.co/NGLbm5mwxT
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) March 1, 2014

Steve Ott was kicking soccer ball with teammates in Sabres' arena when coach Ted Nolan called him to back room to tell him he was scratched.
— John Vogl (@BuffNewsVogl) February 28, 2014

I'm told there is another goaltender dressing downstairs....Amerks are on road in the Midwest...hmmmm.. #Sabres
— Mike Harrington (@BNHarrington) February 28, 2014

Before every start, Ryan Miller comes to Sabres' bench to lean on his stick and think about the game. He has not shown up. Not playing?
— John Vogl (@BuffNewsVogl) February 28, 2014

Source says expect the Sabres to make official trade announcement tonight, likely soon.
— John Vogl (@BuffNewsVogl) February 28, 2014

Buffalo's Steve Ott demonstrates textbook embellishment

Speaking of clowns. This is a textbook embellishment. You can't tell me that a big guy like Steve Ott who is 6'0" and 193 pounds, should be able to be knocked over this easily, no way, it's not possible. This should be a penalty on Steven Ott for embellishment. I also believe that it's probably not a smart play by Flyers defenseman Oliver Lauridsen because he fell for the bait as well. Not a good day for the Flyers defender.

(Video) Steve Ott and Tyler Seguin embellishment

It's nice to see that the NHL "finally" gets this, and it's about time that the NHL starts calling the embellishment, fans are tired of watching players diving and flailing all over the ice. Diving is unsportsmanlike behavior and if the refs call this stuff, eventually the players will get the message and stop doing it. Now, it's time for the NCAA on-ice officials to get the message and start calling the embellishment. So hats off to the NHL officials for giving both Tyler Seguin and Steve Ott penalties for their embellishment.

Finally, the last thing the Boston Bruins players want to look like is the Montreal Canadiens and the Vancouver Canucks, who embellish up and down the ice. Think about this, especially, after Claude Julien complained about the Habs diving to the Boston media. If Julien's players are diving and flailing up and down the ice like the Hab's and the Canucks players, then he really doesn't have the moral high ground anymore. Does he?

Brandon Prust vs. Steve Ott

Nothing makes me happier, than watching Hab's tough guy Brandon Prust work the Sabres tough guy wanna be Steve Ott like a clown. I guess if Steve Ott wants to continue getting pounded on a regular basis, more power to him. Last season, Prust had 20 fighting majors playing for the New York Rangers. This season, Prust already has eclipsed the four fight mark in a little over two weeks.

Buffalo Pylon John Scott works Shawn Thornton

The Sabres John Scott is 6'8" and 270 and plays about 3:30 minutes a hockey game and has no other value other than he's a goon, some might refer to him as an insurance policy.

On the other hand, Boston Bruins forward Shawn Thornton is a role player that sticks up for his teammates and is also known to chip in goals. Thornton definitely took one for the team here.

For comparison sake, Thornton has scored (31g-43a—74pts) in 456 games, while John Scott has scored (1g-4a—5pts) in a 152 games.

Steve Ott is at it again

First off, Dallas Stars hack Steve Ott is a jerk and if he never played another game in the NHL, it wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit. Second, there was no reason for Steve Ott to engage or say anything to Peter Laviolette, so what he walking down the tunnel to the locker room. If you look at the video you will see that Laviolette isn't wearing a uniform there is no reason for Ott to engage the coach of the Flyers.

After the end of the first period on Wednesday night, the Versus telecast showed Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette having some words with Dallas Stars center Steve Ott in the entrance to the tunnel. After Ott appeared to have blocked the coach's path back to the dressing room, wanting the coach to allow the Stars to go off first, Lavy gave Ott a bit of a shove to get out of his way. [The700Level]

To top it all off, during the second period of tonight's game Steve Ott continued to the be the jerk that he is. Ott was running his big mouth and chirping the whole Philadelphia Flyers bench. I mean, no one should be shocked by this, it's his modus operandi. Then when the bill came due, Ott was challenged to a fight in the second period by the Flyers defenseman Marc-Andre Bourdon, and of course Ott turtled and wouldn't fight Bourdon.