NHL enforcer gets 3 year deal just days after attacking teammate in practice.

The St. Louis Blues announced a signing on Saturday but the context in which it comes is almost more interesting than the signing itself. 

The Blues have announced that they have come to terms on a new deal with veteran National Hockey League enforcer Robert Bortuzzo, and this is a longer term deal for an enforcer type of player. According to the official announcement from the Blues, the team has given Bortuzzo a 3 year contract extension and one that will pay him an average annual value of $1.375 million over each of those 3 seasons. It's a big deal for the kind of player that is rapidly disappearing in today's modern NHL and it comes off the heels of a rather controversial event. 

Less than a week earlier Bortuzzo was involved in a rather ugly looking altercation in practice with teammate Zach Sanford, an altercation that was originally reported as a fight between the two men. That being said though, based on the short video that was provided of the incident it appeared a lot more like it was a straight up mugging from Bortuzzo with Sanford playing the role of victim in this particular scenario.

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Now you would think that this escalation of violence between 2 team mates would result in one or both of the players involved receiving some form of discipline from the team, and certainly not a 3 year contract worth over $4 million total. That being said though we did not know what the motivation for the altercation was when it occurred and we still do not know now, but from an outsider's perspective this contract would seemingly suggest that the Blues were fine with the incident that went down in practice on that day.

Some of the very top Blues players' organization have begun to make public comments about the current state of their team, none of them positive, and you have to wonder if a comment like the one that came from forward Brayden Schenn may not speak to what may have really gone on here.

"We’re a fragile group," said Schenn. It comes with losing."

Some curious timing to be sure, but perhaps a message behind it from the top of the Blues organization as well.