The St. Louis Blues have quite an offseason ahead of them. Incoming general manager Alex Steen has to decide what direction the franchise is headed and whether that's a retool or a rebuild, and he'll have to navigate what to do with the team's core. Before we even get to free agency, there's the draft at the end of June--Doug Armstrong's swan song as general manager before he steps aside for Steen.
Armstrong, to his credit, hasn't shied away from bold moves now and then. Two years ago, he shocked the hockey world by signing Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway to dual offer sheets. He took advantage of the Edmonton Oilers' cap crunch, and it's worked out as well as one could hope for the Blues: Broberg and Holloway have both become top-of-the-lineup players in St. Louis.
While Armstrong won't be around at the start of free agency this summer, Steen should follow his example and try to take advantage of a division rival facing a cap crunch: the Dallas Stars. Barring some cap-shedding trades, the Stars are projected to have about $11 million to work with this offseason, which would barely be enough to cover Jason Robertson's next contract. Robertson isn't the player the Blues should be targeting, though--it's Mavrik Bourque, who could get lost in the cap chaos.
Bourque, 24, broke out last season with 20 goals, 21 assists, and 41 points while averaging 15:29 each night. Per Evolving Hockey, Bourque's next contract is projected to be a two-year bridge deal with an annual cap hit of a shade over $3.5 million--the Stars will be hard-pressed to give him that, while the Blues could easily afford it.
The wrinkle is that the Blues do not have their 2027 2nd-round pick, as they traded it to the Anaheim Ducks as part of the Cam Fowler package. To have the best chance at trying to get Bourque out of Dallas, Blues management would have to try and get that pick back--similar to how Armstrong swapped seconds with the Penguins to facilitate the Broberg offer sheet.
The best-case scenario for the Blues is that the Stars sign Robertson and leave no wiggle room to fill out their roster, meaning the Blues can try to sign Bourque to an offer sheet with a cap hit of just under $2.4 million, the compensation for which would be a 2027 3rd-round selection. That would be an incredible boon for the Blues and a huge loss for the Stars, fostering quite the rivalry within the Central Division.
Offer sheets rarely happen in the NHL, though, and Armstrong had the benefit of being on the clock when he signed Broberg and Holloway: it's tough to ice out a general manager who's already announced a succession plan. It would be quite a splash for Steen to attempt the same.
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