Of course, nobody in professional sports wants to say that they’re the lowest-paid player on any team, but somebody always needs to fill the bottom slot of the cap hit. For the St. Louis Blues, that player is…not one single individual.
As I noted in a previous piece, there are three players who hold the “honor” as the lowest-paid on the Blues. Two of whom, however, deserve the lower pay since they’re nothing but stopgaps for 2024-25 - Nathan Walker and Ryan Suter.
Walker is someone who never started a full season in the NHL, but he brought respectable physical play to Gateway City as a part-timer over the previous three seasons. Look for him to see ice time in every other game this season if he remains a member of the big club, or in a worst-case scenario, he’s playing a prominent role in Springfield.
Ryan Suter, Joel Hofer are also among the St. Louis Blues lowest-paid
Joel Hofer also ranks down there with Nathan Walker and Ryan Suter, the latter of whom will just be in town to serve a mentorship role for the youngsters who could find themselves playing in The Lou as opposed to Springfield.
Hofer, however, could be in St. Louis as the franchise goaltender if he enjoys another good year as part of one of the NHL’s best goaltender tandems. And yeah, if there’s one player on this list, you can expect to go from one of the lowest-paid to at least ranking somewhere in the middle, Hofer’s your guy.
Joel Hofer enjoyed steady improvement since he moved to a full-time role, with accolades that include the runner-up spot on the All-Rookie Team plus an 11th-place finish for the Calder. The latter of which you can easily argue he deserved a higher ranking on, considering his stellar 0.913 save percentage and 2.65 GAA, plus 0.593 quality starts percentage.
Of the three players, keep an eye on Hofer, and if he’s off to another outstanding start, he will get his pay raise well before the 2024-25 season ends. He’s younger, and with Jordan Binnington having just two years to go on his contract following 2024-25, he’s got the edge in succeeding who will become the Blues longtime netminder.
(Statistics powered by Hockey-Reference)