5 free agent forwards the St. Louis Blues can take from the Pacific Division
Let’s play the what-if game and speculate St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong will make a splash in free agency this July.
Ordinarily, it’s best to concoct lists of pending free agents who play a variety of positions, but if the St. Louis Blues want to return to the NHL Playoffs, they need to focus primarily on finding a forward or two. This doesn’t mean they shouldn’t go after blueliners, but the sense of urgency to find the right centers and wingers must take center stage, and the Pacific Division has quite a few of them.
None of the names you’ll find below are big-time scorers or players who would turn the Blues into a team that would be guaranteed to make the 2025 NHL Playoffs. But they are all solid forwards who were either in high demand in the time approaching or at the 2024 trade deadline or they put together good seasons to where they would play a significant top-six role if any of them signed in St. Louis.
Warren Foegele, W/Edmonton Oilers
Warren Foegele is one of a few mid-tier players who could be in high demand this summer, and he would make an excellent upgrade to forwards like Kasperi Kapanen and Samuel Blais. He would be a particularly good successor for Kapanen since the two logged similar ice time throughout the regular season, but Foegele proved to be a much more productive player.
This past season, we saw Kapanen put up just 22 points and six goals as the entire St. Louis Blues team struggled through a rough scoring odyssey that contributed to them missing the playoffs for the second straight season. Meanwhile, Foegele helped turn around the Edmonton Oilers as part of their depth scorers, and he ended up with 41 points and 20 goals.
Better yet, Foegele figures to be more physical than Kapanen, and he also has a penchant for stealing pucks, so the Blues would be getting similar players who are even identical in size. The only difference is that Foegele comes with more upside in the offensive zone.
If there is one issue, it’s that the Oilers will try and do all they can to keep Foegele in Edmonton. But if general manager Ken Holland can’t keep him with the organization, Doug Armstrong must come calling.
Adam Henrique, C/Edmonton Oilers
Suppose Oilers general manager Ken Holland manages to extend Warren Foegele and leaves teams like the Blues without a chance to bring him in. Not all hope is lost since it would be tough to see a player like Adam Henrique returning. An older player, Henrique won’t likely cost the Blues as much to bring to the Midwest, so if they were looking for a cheaper signing, Henrique wouldn’t be a bad bet.
Further, if the Blues wanted a rather productive stopgap who wouldn’t get in the way of future prospects who will inevitably make their respective debuts for the Blues over the next few seasons, Henrique also makes sense. He will be entering his age-34 season in 2024-25, and Henrique can still be productive, something we saw when he logged 51 points and 24 goals this season.
Henrique is also more physical than Kapanen and Foegele, and he’s been that way for most of his career. So, not only will he bring more productivity offensively, but Henrique will also pitch in time and again when the Blues don’t have the puck if they are fortunate enough to sign him.
The only real concern is that Henrique hasn’t looked as effective offensively in Edmonton, but we also have to remind ourselves that he didn’t need to be with so much scoring prowess on the team.
Viktor Arvidsson, W/Los Angeles Kings
Few players came back as strong as Viktor Arvidsson this season, as back surgery and a lower-body injury limited him to just 18 regular season games. But it’s always a good sign when a player returns and enjoys quite a productive stint. Arvidsson made that ultimate return in March, and in the final 14 games of the year, he put up 13 points and six goals, with four of those points coming on the power play.
There’s a reason why I mentioned the power play - The Blues were awful on special teams, and Arvidsson would at least help fix the man advantage. Arvidsson would also further balance the Blues scoring attack overall, as when he was healthy in 2022-23, he put up 26 goals - and 10 occurred at 5-on-4.
So really, do we need to say more about at least reaching out to Arvidsson when unrestricted free agency begins if Kings general manager Rob Blake doesn’t keep him around the City of Angels?
Overall, Arvidsson is a versatile player who would help the Blues not only in most situations; but most situations in which they need help. While I’m a big fan of Foegele and Henrique, if there is one free agent forward from the Pacific Division who should be non-negotiable in at least trying to bring to Gateway City, it’s Arvidsson.
Elias Lindholm, C/Vancouver Canucks
Elias Lindholm may surprise you here because he impressed nobody since his trade to the Vancouver Canucks back in January. However, he was excellent during his time with the Calgary Flames, and that spilled over into this season when he had 32 points and nine goals after 49 contests.
He went to British Columbia and couldn’t even log half a point per game, but it’s also worth noting that he wasn’t competing for the puck as often in Calgary. With the Flames, he was one of their top points-producers until the trade, but with the Canucks, Lindholm had players like J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, and blueliner Quinn Hughes scoring most of the goals along with Brock Boeser and Dakota Joshua.
We would most likely see the version of Lindholm who played for the Flames if Doug Armstrong brought him to the Midwest. The Blues need scoring help, Lindholm could fit easily into their top-six, and since he would have something to prove, it would be tough to see him signing a long-term deal, whether it’s in Gateway City or somewhere else.
Lindholm is also one of the better players in the league at the faceoff dot, if not one of the best, and his presence would also give the Blues more scoring chances. He may not be an impressive signing early should he come to St. Louis, but he’s productive when in the right situation.
Anthony Mantha, W/Vegas Golden Knights
Much like Elias Lindholm, Anthony Mantha was a solid points producer for his former team before he went to the Vegas Golden Knights via trade. Mantha scored 20 goals for the Washington Capitals, and he put up an additional three in Vegas, but he also wasn’t contributing from a scoring standpoint at the same rate.
Yet, thanks to what was already a strong scoring cast in Vegas, Mantha also didn’t need to be one of the top goal-scorers with the Knights. Depth was all he needed to provide, and he did an outstanding job in the role.
In a place like St. Louis, Mantha would likely have a similar job, but his scoring could edge closer to what it was in Washington as opposed to Vegas. He could play middle-six minutes easily, and as with a player like Adam Henrique, among others, Mantha wouldn’t get in the way of many prospects working into the NHL ranks.
He could come in and play a full season in the middle-six in 2024-25, and if someone like Dalibor Dvorsky or Jimmy Snuggerud were deemed ready for the NHL in 2025-26, Mantha could then take on exclusively a bottom-six role. In the meantime, you could expect serviceable numbers from the 29-year-old.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)