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He says that when St. Louis first approached him he let Vancouver general manager Jim Benning know what was going on. Upshall says that Blues general manager Doug Armstrong spoke with Benning before Upshall took the St. Louis offer.

As for the Canucks, Upshall believes he might have stuck with the big team.

“They gave me a great chance to show what I could bring,” said Upshall, who was averaging 11 minutes, 22 seconds of ice time through 20 games this season going into Saturday, with two goals and eight points in that span.

“I was there to push guys, work hard, be a good teammate. I think there might have been room for me, but you’d have to ask them.

“We had a really good exit meeting after I signed with St. Louis. It was a great experience.”

There’s loads to like about the Blues right now. They have scoring depth up front. They have grit and experience with guys like Upshall.

Upshall also pointed to the offence they’re getting from their defencemen. The Blues had 19 goals from blue liners going into Saturday, including seven from Alex Pietrangelo and five from Joel Edmundson.

The Canucks, by comparison, had three goals from their rearguards as of Saturday morning.

Edmundson, another former WHLer who played with both the Blazers and the Moose Jaw Warriors, had three goals in 69 games with St. Louis last season.

“It’s just the system that Yeosie (Blues coach Mike Yeo) has put in. He wants us to join the rush and the forwards are doing a good job of covering for us,” Edmundson said. “It’s a group effort.”

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