The St. Louis Blues have a critical off-season ahead of them. After a major midseason turnaround and nearly winning a round in the playoffs, a lot of the same cast are poised to return next year to take another crack at it. It's clear they need some reinforcements in critical areas, but doing so may be difficult.
According to PuckPedia, the Blues will have just over $5 million in cap space for the 2025-26 season--and that's before Torey Krug is likely placed on Long-Term Injured Reserve, freeing up another $6.5-million AAV. However, with the cap going up, free agents are going to expect quite a raise--and while this class is underwhelming, there are a few places the Blues could look for solutions. Unfortunately, $11.5 million in cap space may only be enough for one splashy signing and filling out a few depth roles.
Unless the Blues are willing to do something major, like buyout one of their overpaid defensemen.
Who should be bought out?
The most obvious candidate is Nick Leddy. At 34 years old, Leddy is in the final year of a contract that carries a $4 million average annual value (AAV). In an injury-shortened season, Leddy posted two goals and five points in 31 games--certainly not worth that cap hit. If the Blues were to buy him out, they would have $2 million against the cap in 2025-26 and $1 million in 2026-27. Would saving $2 million this year help the Blues land a major free agent? Quite possibly--and a paltry $1 million against the cap in 2026-27 shouldn't be an issue.
The next best choice would be Justin Faulk, who has two years remaining on his $6.5-million AAV deal. In 78 games with the Blues last season, he had four goals and 32 points. Not bad, but he gave back a fair bit due to underwhelming play, which drove down numbers. At 33-years-old, there may not be much left in the tank to justify such heavy cap hit, though a buyout comes with its own problems: a $3.5-million AAV hit the next two seasons, and a $1.5 million hit the following two seasons. A Faulk buyout would keep him on the cap--albeit in a reduced capacity--for four seasons total.
In an ideal world, General Manager Doug Armstrong finds a way to navigate the cap without lengthy buyouts: the Blues have all three of their retention slots for example, if a trade could be had, or the Blues could ship Leddy or Faulk out for the ever-valuable "future considerations" that we've seen defensemen (Shayne Gostisbehere and Jake Walman, to name a couple) bring back on the market. Whatever course Armstrong charts this summer, the option to buy out a contract or two should be on the table.