St. Louis Blues Free Agent Frenzy: Minnesota Wild

As the second round of the playoffs continues, certain free agents are stepping up for their current clubs and reminding armchair General Managers (and hopefully the actual GMs as well) that they are not only assets to their teams, but soon-to-be-available assets. And with the upheaval we are certain to see in the St. Louis Blues club come this summer, the Blues are likely to bid goodbye to a number of players themselves in an effort to free up enough cap space for Tarasenko, as well as a shake-up amongst Blues leadership after that early-round playoffs exit.

This series selects one free agent (restricted or unrestricted) from each team currently still in the race for the Cup and examines how they would fit on the St. Louis Blues, both play-wise and cap-wise.

What’s Available

While the Wild only have a few coming up on unrestricted free agency, the majority of those players are not worth another look considering the state of the St. Louis Blues, who are looking for strong building pieces for the future, or players with complementary skill sets at the very least.

Kyle Brodziak, Joe Rechlicz, Stephane Veilleux, Keith Ballard, Stu Bickel and Nate Prosser are the only skaters up for grabs as UFAs this offseason, and while I have a soft spot for Beef Stu Bickel from his time on the Wolf Pack, none of them really capture my attention. Brodziak would make a good journeyman centerman on the Blues, but he’d do so pretty much anywhere, and most of the rest run the gamut between AHL and injured at the moment.

The cream of the crop of free agency that Minnesota has to offer comes in the form of RFA Mikael Granlund, a left-handed center.

Mikael Granlund

Granlund finished the MIN-STL series with one goal and four assists and has since scored once against Chicago. While Granlund’s goal against St. Louis was an empty-netter, his Game 1 goal against the Blackhawks was more indicative of his kind of play – aggressive and opportune.

Granlund and his teammates confused Chicago on the cycle by crashing the net and making use of quick passes and stickwork. Granlund always performs better when Parise’s on his wing, but who wouldn’t? What this tells us is that Granlund works well with a dominant player on his wing such as Tarasenko. (The fact that the Blues don’t have another dominant winger is another issue we’ll address later.)

Granlund is not a high-scoring center, netting only eight goals this season to his 31 assists. He is, instead, a team player who is strong on positioning. At only 23 years of age, Granlund would be a great pick-up for the Blues, who need a few more young faces on a team with an average age of almost 28, according to NHL Numbers. He hit nearly the same numbers this season as last, and pumps up his performance in the postseason on a regular basis, something the Blues don’t currently have an excess of among their roster.

He would be a strong third-line center, or a second-line forward if he’s flexible in his play.

With Granlund only entering restricted free agency this year, the Blues would be able to pick him up for less than a UFA with similar numbers. His cap hit for the 2014-2015 season was $2.1 million but he earned only $900,000 this season. While it looks like Tarasenko might go for something around $6 million/year over four years or so, Granlund could easily be had for somewhere between $2.5 and $3.5 million/year over three or four years, making him a good, relatively cheap get for the St. Louis Blues, signing bonus aside.

Next: Ian Barbashev One Step Closer To NHL

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