St. Louis Blues: Three Toronto Maple Leafs Free Agents To Consider
The St. Louis Blues will need to look outside of their own franchise to improve their chances of returning to the top of the mountain in 2021-22. While they have some decent prospects, we are starting to figure out that the currently constructed team is not up to snuff with some of their rivals.
Whether it’s teams that will be in the Central Division next season, or simply in the Western Conference, the Blues have to figure out a way to keep pace. That does not automatically mean they need to up their pace, as so many will suggest. It does mean they need to make moves that improve this team in the near and mid-term.
Due to the Blues proximity to the salary cap ceiling, trades might be more likely to alter the upcoming roster. That does not mean you do not look at the free agent market at all.
In fact, looking at teams that crashed and burned out of the playoffs might be the perfect spot to see who might be available. Toronto is a great opportunity to look at just that.
The Toronto Maple Leafs go into every season hoping this will be the year they end their over-50-year Stanley Cup draught. 2021 was high on that list due to the mixture of top-end talent and veteran presence.
After a heart-breaking first round exit at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto might be looking to make serious changes. If they do, some talented players could be available.
With that in mind, here are the three pending free agents from Toronto that the Blues should investigate more.
Nick Foligno
Some fans will see this name and wonder what I am smoking. Why would the Blues want to bring in a 33-year old Nick Foligno?
It is a fair question. His offensive years are almost certainly behind him.
He makes the roster older, unless his inclusion was part of Tyler Bozak leaving. It’s almost a certainty that he would not improve the team speed either.
So, what does he bring? Well, it depends on what the Blues want to shape their roster toward.
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If St. Louis opts to copy the likes of Colorado or Tampa, then bringing in Foligno probably doesn’t make a ton of sense. It’s not as though he’s slow, but anybody at 33 isn’t going to catch Nathan MacKinnon.
However, if the Blues elect to find players that fit Craig Berube‘s style instead of forcing the coach to change, Foligno fits the bill. The guy will hit people.
Even during his best offensive years in Columbus, Foligno came close to 200 hits. He surpassed 200 hits a couple times in his career.
With all his physicality, he stays out of the penalty box. Foligno has only gone over 100 penalty minutes once in his career and is regularly down in the 50’s.
Foligno can help out in the faceoff circle. He’s not a true center, but is good enough to fill in for a spell if someone is injured or still secure a key faceoff win if his own line’s center gets booted out of the circle.
Foligno doesn’t cure the Blues scoring problems, but he can chip in offensively. While his one 30-plus goal season is clearly an outlier, he’s still capable of giving you double-digit goals.
Zach Bogosian
The inclusion of Zach Bogosian might also seem a bit strange. The defender is not a youngster, checking in at 30.
This one boils down to price and style. Basically, he’s not going to cost a lot and fills a role the Blues might need and a hole they might have.
St. Louis has plenty of talented defenders on the roster and in the pipeline. The problem is many are undersized and offensive minded.
Nikko Mikkola has some size and a little grit, but he’s still an unknown quantity. You don’t want to thwart his growth, but 2021 proved you need depth and you need guys you know you can count on.
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Bogosian could be just that. He’s defensive minded and has won before.
Nobody is going to say that Bogosian was a key component of the Tampa Bay Lightning winning the 2020 Stanley Cup, but he was on the team and contributed. He averaged just under 18 minutes in 20 games played for the Bolts.
Bogosian also fits Berube’s style a little better. He’s a big body, checking in at 6’3 and 221 lbs.
The 2021 Blues lacked someone that would clear out the front of the net and make players pay for trying to screen their goaltender. That could be his role with this team.
Bogosian isn’t a fantastic puck mover, but the Blues have plenty of those to make up for it. He will turn the puck over on occasion, but he’s also good for close to 100 blocks and hits when healthy.
Zach Hyman
Zach Hyman doesn’t wow people, but he’s a worker with skill. That’s somewhat similar to what Jaden Schwartz provides the Blues, though Schwartz still arguably has a higher upside.
Schwartz gets you more points by quite a bit, but he only gets you about four to five extra goals per season at his high end. In terms of averages, Hyman only scores two fewer goals per season, but you’re sacrificing on the assists.
Hyman is more physical, registering a lot more hits, with three-straight 100-plus hit seasons prior to the pandemic. Schwartz’ high is 71.
The difference would mainly be the price. There is no telling what Hyman wants in free agency, but coming off a contract that only paid him $2.25 million, it would be a stretch to see him doubling that. So, you’re talking in the $3-4 million range for a guy that can score you 20 goals. That’s not terrible. Contrast that with Schwartz who never lives up to his offensive potential and might want something closer to Brayden Schenn money on his last, big contract.
Yet, none of this is to say the Blues should pick one over the other. In fact, adding Hyman to a team that included Schwartz might alleviate some of the scoring woes. It would not cure the Blues shallow scoring, but it would be a cost-controlled addition.
If anything, the comparison should be between Hyman and Zach Sanford (there’s a lot of Zach’s in this article). Sanford has not justified being in the top-six at all, yet he’s been given chance after chance to grab the proverbial brass ring.
I could easily see Hyman slotting into a second-line wing spot, with his contract not being large enough that you’d hesitate to drop him to the third line if other players step their game up.
Hyman actually averaged over 19 minutes per game the last two seasons, which is more than Schwartz (just saying for comparison sake). Like Schwartz, Hyman is only 28, so he still has plenty of productive years in front of him.
In an ideal situation with these players, you give up on Sanford, sign Hyman to a reasonable contract, bump Schwartz to $5.5 million, give Robert Thomas a small raise for a bridge contract and you would still have money left over to look into a higher end free agent. Of course, that’s assuming all those players accepted reasonable deals.
Nevertheless, while Hyman is not a game changer, he would fit the Blues well.