NHL free agency always quiets down after Hour 1 on Day 1, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still someone out there who could help the St. Louis Blues fare better than expected in 2024-25. Talking someone like Joe Pavelski out of retirement would be the ideal scenario here, but he would likely only start skating again if a contender reached out to him.
Either that, or if injuries hit the Dallas Stars hard next season and they need a forward to fill in for a while. Translation: the best available free agent remaining per SpoTrac won’t come to Gateway City - and you can’t even call him a free agent at this point if he doesn’t plan on playing in 2024-25.
But there is one player who caught my eye, and they can at least stick around on the lower lines for the 2024-25 season. Dominik Kubalik may be a forgotten name at the moment, and he could even be on his way back to Switzerland following what was an awful season with the Ottawa Senators.
Despite his lack of productivity - 15 points and 11 goals - you would think a team that could use one more depth scoring option, be it the Blues or someone else, would be more than happy to take a chance on Kubalik.
Dominik Kubalik is worth the St. Louis Blues signing to a prove-it deal
Could it really hurt to sign Dominik Kubalik to a prove-it deal to bring in someone who has been a solid scorer in the NHL? Five seasons ago with the Chicago Blackhawks, he burst onto the scene and enjoyed a 30-goal season, and he never put up fewer than 32 points until his much-maligned 2023-24 outing.
Sometimes, a player just doesn’t fit well with a specific team or in a particular system, and maybe that’s what went wrong with Kubalik. Remember, he was traded to the Senators in 2023, so it wasn’t like he chose to sign with them as a free agent, and he also didn’t have any clauses attached to that contract that he chose to waive.
Kubalik also scored 20 goals and played in a career-high 81 contests in 2022-23, the year before he went to the Senators, putting up 45 points and solid middle-six minutes. He was also a physical depth forward with 89 body checks, but far from being the fourth-liner who put up just over 12 minutes of average total ice time in Ottawa.
Should he look to stay in North America, Kubalik would make for a great stopgap on a St. Louis Blues team that added experience to both their forwards and blueliners. One more piece to the puzzle with their forwards group, like a potential depth scorer that is Dominik Kubalik, and the Blues could boast at least a trio of solid lines.
(Statistics powered by Hockey-Reference)