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

The St. Louis Blues won’t have much cap space for the upcoming offseason, but that shouldn’t lead us to assume they will make minimal moves once the free agent frenzy begins in July. We can assume that general manager Doug Armstrong won’t bring in any “prize free agent” unless he’s willing to make some serious roster transactions, but you can’t mortgage the present or even the near future for a short-term window of success. 

That said, don’t expect Armstrong to trade any top prospect for anyone who would also require the 59-year-old to make subsequent movements just to create cap space. It would be a reckless endeavor if Armstrong decides to take such a route, but luckily, that won’t, or at least it shouldn’t be the case.  

Instead, Armstrong should look to transform the Blues chances in 2024-25 from the borderline wild card contender we saw this season to a team that can compete for a top-three spot for a year or two without running the risk of going over the cap. Fortunately for Armstrong, there are quite a few pending free agents who will bring solid play at either a modest or near-minimum deal. 

The St. Louis Blues need another serviceable free agent or two

None of the free agents you will see in the following slides will be long-term fixtures, but that’s why you hang onto young players easing their way into the system. What we should see here is something reminiscent of the “Yzerplan” in Detroit: Sign solid yet affordable players who can at least make a team competitive while the younger players develop their way into full-time roles. 

So, which pending unrestricted free agents fit the mold of helping the Blues stay competitive while simultaneously helping them retool their lineup and transform back into a top-three contender? Here are five names Armstrong must seriously consider adding and ultimately signing one or two of them to a short-term deal. 

Patrick Kane will be in high demand but at a moderate cost

Convincing Patrick Kane to come would take a major sales pitch on Doug Armstrong’s part because Kane isn’t joining a team that he doesn’t feel is in a good position to win a Stanley Cup. But then again, he also signed a one-year deal with the Red Wings, who proved they aren’t much better than the Blues. So perhaps Kane isn’t as stringent as we initially thought. 

Detroit will be a better team next season, no doubt, so there is a good chance Kane signs a multi-year extension at a reasonable price. But the Blues have shown us this season that they also have more than enough potential to be a better team next year.

If Armstrong gets that point across to someone like Kane, the former Chicago Blackhawk may be just fine playing for a team he once considered a rival. 

Kane may be an aging player, but the Blues could use a winger of his caliber, especially following a resurgent season. So far in Detroit, Kane has 38 points and 15 goals in 38 games, meaning if he stays healthy next season and keeps up this same pace, he is still an 80-plus-point player. 

But he wouldn’t even need to be that productive to help transform the Blues scoring woes that we are seeing this year. 

Ilya Lyubushkin has outplayed his value this season

It’s not only offensive-minded players like Kane who could help transform the Blues at a reasonable rate next season, as Ilya Lyubushkin wouldn’t cost much to help St. Louis in the defensive zone. While the Blues are currently 15th in the league with 209 goals allowed, there isn’t a team in the NHL who couldn’t use a physical presence like Lyubushkin to help mitigate the number of chances an opponent can get. 

Lyubushkin would play third-pairing minutes, something we have often seen throughout what has become a journeyman career. 

He is currently showing his prowess in Ontario right now, helping the Maple Leafs battle for the best possible playoff spot. Through seven games with the Leafs, Lyubushkin has 28 hits and has blocked 10 shots, but you can get a better sample size through his time with the Anaheim Ducks. He logged triple-digits in blocks and hits through 55 games, and that was on a far-less-than-stellar team. 

Give him halfway decent talent to work with in St. Louis, and Lyubushkin will reward a team like the Blues on the third-pairing. The more chances he helps stall, the more scoring opportunities for the Blues. 

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.

Ian Cole would immediately cut the number of shots on goal

Like Patrick Kane, there is a good chance Ian Cole re-signs with his current team, the Vancouver Canucks. If Vancouver wins the Cup or even makes a deep playoff run, look for Cole to stay in British Columbia, but for a ‘way too early’ preliminary list like this one, he’s worth mentioning. 

Unlike everyone else in this slideshow, Cole is no stranger to the Blues organization, having played for St. Louis between 2010-11 and 2014-15 before they traded him to a mighty Pittsburgh Penguins team. Cole then bounced around the league before he wound up in Vancouver this season and has primarily played second-pairing minutes. 

His ice time would drop if he returned to the Blues for a second stint, and he would bring a physical presence similar to what we would see from Lyubushkin. But Cole is less of a hitter, just 70 in 68 games so far this year, and primarily a blocker, as seen with his 2.16 per game at the moment. 

St. Louis could use a player like Cole in the defensive zone, as they have allowed the eighth-highest number of shots on net this season. Cole would be second on the team at the moment only to Colton Parayko, who has blocked 182 so far, and his presence could at least decrease the number of total shots reaching the net to somewhere under 30.