5 low-cost free agents who can transform the St. Louis Blues in 2024-25

Anthony Duclair is a productive winger who won’t cost much

We can look beyond Anthony Duclair’s below-average production in San Jose, as we’re getting a better, albeit smaller, sample size when he’s playing for a team that boasts far more talent. Since the Tampa Bay Lightning traded for Duclair, he’s registered five points and three goals in just four contests, proving he’s still the same player he was in 2021-22. 

His 2022-23 season was a throwaway year thanks to an injury that limited him to just 20 regular season games, and you can say the same for his 56 contests with the Sharks. Another career journeyman, Duclair would have little issues signing a one-to-two-year deal. And as a middle-six forward, he also would have no problem signing for a modest salary. 

He has never spent over three seasons with a single franchise, so he makes for an outstanding stopgap while the likes of Zach Dean and Zachary Bolduc, among others, develop at forward. Should Armstrong sign a talented stopgap like Duclair, expect him to take more minutes early before slowly ceding them as the season progresses. 

This is assuming Duclair a) signs with St. Louis and b) produces like a role player. But if he came in and played the way he did in 2021-22 when he scored 31 goals, then it makes sense to keep him in a top-six role for the entire season if the Blues are in position to make a push.