The St. Louis Blues have a great team, and their future is shining bright right now. There is absolutely no need to try to put an unnecessary strain on what they built in 2024-25.
The top free agent target this offseason is Mitch Marner from the Toronto Maple Leafs. He will be getting calls from just about every team in the league, but he will undoubtedly sign with the highest bidder that is contending.
The Blues cannot be one of those teams calling him. Here is why.
Salary cap lock up
With the Salary Cap getting a $8.5 million increase this season, expect the contracts to skyrocket. The agents of these pending free agents are likely chomping at the bit to raise the opening offers, simply due to the fact that there is more room to pay more. Marner will be no exception.
Some projections say Marner will hit a ceiling of a little over $14 million. Others say it will be even more. In either case, that amount of money for one player would cripple the Blues into a salary cap crisis.
Currently, the Blues have 20 players under contract, and even with the increased cap, they have $7.752 million left to play with. Signing one player north of $14 million is not gonna work. There are too many positions left to fill, and the Blues cannot entertain the fact that they will be placing anyone cheap enough into the lineup, as it will throw all order out of whack.
Disruption in top-six
The Blues top-six forwards comprising of Robert Thomas, Pavel Buchnevich, Jordan Kyrou, Brayden Schenn, Dylan Holloway, and Jake Neighbours, allong with Jimmy Snuggerud, are a fantaistic unit. They work so well together and the chemsitry between them is growing with each passing game. That was evident in the 12-game win streak and the first-round of the playoffs against the Winnipeg Jets.
Throwing another player, especially a near point-per-game player like Marner, could disrupt a good thing. Obviously, Marner would still be a fantastic addition and would likely boost the goal and point production from some of his linemates. But as a whole, he could cause a major disruption that causes both lines to falter. Having too much firepower upfront is not necessarily a good thing, both financially and in terms of balancing the lines.
Marner place on the Blues should remain only a dream. He would be a fantastic addition if the Blues were in an all-in situation with a rebuild looming. This team is not in that position and is coming out of a rebuild.