Free agency is less than a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Blues.
Key Restricted Free Agents
G Joel Hofer – If the Blues play out Hofer’s trip through restricted free agency the right way, Hofer will have a two-year deal by the end of the summer. The expiry of a new two-year agreement would line up exactly with the end of Jordan Binnington’s contract, giving Hofer and St. Louis an avenue for him to assume the role of starting netminder should he continue to improve. Hofer is coming off an impressive two-year stint as the Blues’ backup, managing a 31-20-4 record in 61 games with a .909 SV%, 2.65 GAA, 11.0 goals saved above average.
Other RFAs: F Nikita Alexandrov, F Mikhail Abramov, F Tanner Dickinson, D Hunter Skinner, D Anton Malmström, G Vadim Zherenko
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
D Ryan Suter – There’s a decent chance the Blues won’t have a decision to make for Suter this offseason. The 40-year-old veteran recently completed his 20th season at the NHL level, and despite indicating in March that he’d like to continue his playing career through the 2025-26 season, there may not be a robust market for him this offseason. After finishing the 2024-25 campaign with a 43.5% CorsiFor% at even strength, Suter’s best bet will be to wait out the market through the offseason and sign a league minimum deal as a seventh defenseman on a competitive roster should he continue his playing career.
F Radek Faksa – There’s a decent chance the Blues will look to retain Faksa this offseason. He’s a quality fourth-line center, winning 57.0% of faceoffs while starting 73.4% of his shifts in the defensive zone. St. Louis has a few young players looking to crack the roster for the 2025-26 campaign, but none of them are likely to affect Faksa’s role with the team. In early May, a report from Lou Korac of NHL.com suggested that Faksa and the Blues had already begun negotiations on a new deal, but nothing has come of them so far.
Other UFAs: F Mackenzie MacEachern, F Corey Andonovski
Projected Cap Space
Because they are projected to lose a small handful of players this offseason, the Blues won’t have much cap space entering the summer months. The Blues have just over $5 million in cap space, ranking fourth-lowest in the league, according to PuckPedia. Aside from re-signing Hofer, St. Louis already has a full roster for the 2025-26 season, and they could bank on their prospects filling in the remaining gaps. However, the Blues could use the upcoming buyout window to release Nick Leddy from the roster, saving them an additional $2MM, since they won’t be able to buy out the injured Torey Krug.
Probably worth noting that after Krug goes on LTIR they have closer to $12m in cap space.
this
Definitely enough room to go after another dman! Wondering if a goalie desperate team like Edmonton goes after Hofer. Not sold on him as a starter, but it seems like something brash they’d do.
They absolutely will do that, but it doesn’t really help them during the offseason. They theoretically could place him on LTIR during the offseason, but most teams don’t do that with their injured players since it becomes incredibly challenging to maximize their LTIR pool throughout the regular season if they utilize it in the summer. The salary cap space opened up by Krug’s LTIR placement will likely only be realized at next season’s trade deadline.
I thought they were allowed to exceed the cap during the off-season, so they could spend up to $6.5m or whatever over the cap and then put Krug on LTIR at the beginning of the season to be cap-compliant?
They are Brennan is wrong. This is exactly what we did last offseason
They did this last season and used it in offseason for offer sheets lol
My understanding as well is players can’t be placed on LTIR in the offseason, but you can exceed the cap in the offseason. You just need to make sure you are cap compliant by opening night when Krug would be eligible for LTIR.