The St. Louis Blues made multiple roster moves on the day after free agency opened (July 2). General manager Doug Armstrong made two trades and signed a free agent after trading for Alexandre Texier and moving Kevin Hayes last week. The club also agreed to terms on a six-year extension with Pavel Buchnevich.
Related: Blues Make Flurry of Moves & Draft Picks as Free Agency Looms
This piece will focus on how these additions will add depth to the lineup in 2024-25. If the Blues aren’t planning on truly contending next season, they will at least be harder to play against with an improved bottom six.
Blues Add Forward Depth in Faksa & Joseph
The Blues sent future considerations to the Dallas Stars for center Radek Faksa. They also sent future considerations to the Ottawa Senators for Mathieu Joseph and a 2025 third-round pick. Both of these deals will bring a great deal of experience and depth to the forward group.
Faksa played over 600 games in Dallas across nine seasons and was consistently solid as a two-way center. He won over 54 percent of faceoffs last season and scored seven goals in 74 games. He can be a really good fit as the fourth-line center on this team and Armstrong is likely thinking the same thing. His contract is up after the 2024-25 season and carries a salary cap hit of $3.25 million.
Joseph played two full seasons in Ottawa after being moved there from the Tampa Bay Lightning. He scored 35 points last season after tallying just 18 points in 2022-23. This deal was a cap dump for the Senators, who cleared $2.95 million over the next two seasons off their books. For the Blues, they get a solid bottom-six forward and a draft pick to take on the contract.
The Blues are operating like a team that doesn’t expect to be in the mix next season, which is the right way to approach things based on the mess of a blue line they have. Adding Faksa and Joseph makes sense in several ways, but it also creates an interesting situation at forward. They have a lot of forwards who can draw into the 2024-25 lineup, so that must be cleaned up a bit.
Blues Add Defensive Depth in Pierre-Olivier Joseph
The Blues signed defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph to a one-year deal worth $950,000. This came shortly after they traded for his brother Mathieu from Ottawa. Pierre-Olivier played in 52 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins and averaged over 15 minutes of ice time. The team will hope to re-capture the performance that he showed in 2022-23 with Pittsburgh. He scored 21 points that season and finished 13th in Calder trophy voting.
He is a solid depth piece for the blue line and could be a third-pairing defender on the left side when the season begins. The club might have an issue on their hands with the number of defensemen on the roster next season, but there is plenty of off-season to figure it out. I like the idea of a Joseph and Matthew Kessel pairing, but other young defensemen such as Adam Jiricek, Theo Lindstein, and others could push the competition.
What Else Will Blues Do This Summer?
I’d be surprised if the Blues didn’t trade at least one other forward and a defenseman. Players such as Brandon Saad, Torey Krug, and Nick Leddy could be moved soon. I don’t think Armstrong is done yet. They’re gearing up to be ready to contend again in the next couple of seasons and not committing a ton of long-term money outside of the Buchnevich deal is a decent way to approach it. They can’t get away from developing young players. The rest of the summer should be interesting.
