3 NHL buyout candidates the St. Louis Blues must keep an eye on
The St. Louis Blues could remain on the cusp of returning to the playoffs in the 2024-25 season, and signing an NHL buyout candidate could be the way to go.
The St. Louis Blues could take advantage of the 2024 offseason by either getting better, getting younger, or perhaps engaging in some sort of combo. If general manager Doug Armstrong wants to take the team he has and use the assets he has to try and build a contender around it, maybe he’ll take a chance to scan who may be available during the NHL buyout period that will occur shortly after the Stanley Cup Final.
For a team that needs help offensively, Armstrong will more likely focus on who could be available at forward, and a trio of players could be helpful in that regard. No, not all of the three players listed are outstanding scorers or points producers, but there is at least one aspect of their respective games that could work in the Blues favor.
So let’s check out three players who could be looking for a new home in 2024-25 via a buyout and why, despite their respective ages, they would make sense for the Blues to at least keep an eye on during the buyout period.
Ryan Johansen could be better than advertised
Few had fallen off more than Ryan Johansen, who hasn’t had a decent season from a points perspective since 2021-22, when he was in his penultimate year with the Nashville Predators. That season, Johansen finished with 26 goals and 63 points, but he’s combined for just 25 goals and 51 points since.
For a team that needs help scoring, why would Johansen be a good fit in St. Louis, especially if Doug Armstrong seems to be trying to bump up some of his higher-end prospects into full-time roles?
Something that jumps out at me regarding Johansen is his ability to win faceoffs, and that means more potential scoring opportunities for the Blues. His career faceoff win percentage is 53.4, and if anything went right during his 63 NHL contests last season, it’s that he won 53.1 percent of those faceoffs with the Colorado Avalanche.
That was nothing compared to the 59.6 percent of wins he recorded in 2022-23 with Nashville, but it shows that Johansen, even if he may inevitably find himself stuck on the lower lines from here on out, could be a sleeper for a team that takes a chance on him if he’s bought out.
While with Colorado, more of his draws were also coming in the defensive zone while at even strength, with 54.7 percent of his starts on his team’s side of the ice. That was just barely a career-high, and it shows us where Johansen’s career is likely heading. So if the Blues want to generate more scoring chances next season, bringing Johansen on board if he’s available makes sense, even if his presence wouldn’t make the roster any younger.
A change of scenery could more than benefit Josh Anderson
You can look at Josh Anderson’s points total across his four seasons and Montreal and ask why he’s even on this list. But look at his number of goals scored, and you’ll see why he would be an asset for the Blues if Doug Armstrong wishes to upgrade the team’s scoring units. He scored 66 times over the previous four seasons, good for between 16 and 17 per year, a number that would have been higher if he didn’t struggle in 2023-24.
Take out the previous year (everyone has an off-year at some point, right?) and measure his output between 2020-21 and 2022-23: He finished with 57 goals, good for 19, on average, over those three seasons, and a 13.0 shooting percentage.
But scoring isn’t the only reason Josh Anderson would make a good fit for the Blues should the Canadiens buy out his contract later this month. He’s also someone who will disrupt plays and provide insurance in the defensive zone.
Anderson made a lot of defensive zone starts at even strength, and he averaged 150 hits per season while in Montreal, not to mention the fact he was trusted enough to play primarily top-six minutes throughout most of his time in Quebec. Yeah, Anderson fell short of expectations, but he wouldn’t be a half-bad pickup if he ended up in Gateway City for the 2024-25 season.
As mentioned in the previous slide, all three of the buyout candidates listed would be good fits if Doug Armstrong opted to sign experienced players. If he wanted to keep retooling and trying to make this team younger, then neither Anderson, Johansen, nor Player No. 3 on this list would be coming.
Jeff Skinner would immediately upgrade the Blues scoring
You can make all the claims you want about Jeff Skinner’s contract, but if the last three seasons serve as any indicator, Skinner has moved past a deal that many scoffed at following a pair of awful seasons after he signed it. Yeah, 21 goals and 37 points in 112 contests would be enough to say, in hindsight, it was one of the worst contract signings of the 21st century, if not longer, but the previous three years have told a different tale.
Between 2021-22 and 2023-24, Skinner landed 191 points and 92 goals in 233 games, which may lead you to ask why the Buffalo Sabres may even think buying out his deal is a good idea. For one, Skinner is heading into his age-32 season, so he wouldn’t fit into this team’s long-term plans to the same degree as some of the prospects who are more than NHL-ready.
Then-18-year-old Zach Benson played in Buffalo all season, and he looks like a front-runner to play winger on the top-six, but there’s also Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, Dylan Cozens, Jack Quinn, and JJ Peterka, all of whom are younger and also have the potential to stick around much longer - Tage and Cozens are already signed to long-term deals.
It would also be a cost-cutting measure for the Sabres as they, even with a buyout of a contract that large, would still save money, allowing them to allocate the funds to sign someone like JJ Peterka or goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to a long-term deal.
Should a buyout occur and Skinner wound up in Gateway City, the Blues would get a solid forward who would upgrade their scoring units quickly. While Skinner’s presence would keep the overall roster from getting younger, this team is still playoff-caliber, and Skinner would bring them closer to a postseason return.
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