The St. Louis Blues are in the thick of the offseason, with the Stanley Cup Playoffs still raging on. Up next is the NHL Draft at the end of June, and then a few days later opens the free agency market.
With that said, there are a number of Unrestricted Free Agents hitting the market that could potentially come to the Blues. The Athletic recently put out a fantastic piece on all 32 teams' must-haves from free agency, and the Blues got a pretty good one.
Let's talk about it.
That pending free agent is...
Nobody.
That's right, absolutely nobody. Not Darren Raddysh from Tampa Bay, or Mario Ferraro from San Jose. Nobody.
And it makes complete sense, as Blues senior writer for The Athletic, Jeremy Rutherford explains.
"The club doesn’t need to spend now on free agents who don’t fit," Rutherford said. "If anything, it needs to replace a couple of core players via trade, not through a poor free agency class."
The Blues have an influx of top-draft picks coming up the ladder, and many should be making their mark next season. Let those guys grow and develop, and get rid of the baggage that is blocking their way.
Bringing on more proven, but potentially unreliable talent puts the Blues in a rut, once again. This team has to learn to grow, so a dynasty-like roster can form. There is no reason to try and test the waters, but in terms of looking for trades, that is another conversation.
This free-agency period is going to be good, but not as historic as years past. Only if the situation in Edmonton with Connor McDavid and Toronto with Auston Matthews gets resolved, which both have to be moved via trade, then July 1 could have some fireworks.
Blues General Manager-to-be Alexander Steen takes over when the market opens up for free agency. He has to hold fast and trust the process. If not, the Blues' momentum could fall back down.
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