Blues general manager Doug Armstrong wasted no time addressing team needs this summer. His big move came on the blue line, where the unit is evolving to a younger group.
Adding Philip Broberg via a free agent offer sheet last summer started the transformation. Trading for right-shot defenseman Logan Mailloux this week was another big step, albeit at the high cost of emerging winger Zack Bolduc.
Extraneous veteran Nick Leddy landed on waivers as a result. Given the high prices being paid for veteran Bottom Four defensemen in free agency, Leddy’s $4 million cap hit and $3 million actual salary should not be onerous for another team at some point.
The Blues are better aligned with Broberg. Mailloux, Tyler Tucker and Matt Kessel in the mix with Cam Fowler, Colton Parayko and Justin Faulk. Drafting Theo Lindstein, Quinton Burns, Adam Jiricek, Colin Ralph and Lukas Fischer during a two-year span created potential long-haul solutions.
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Armstrong also added Pius Suter as potential No. 3 center and Nick Bjugstad as the possible No. 4 to replace the departed Radek Faksa.
Blues goaltender Joel Hofer stops a shot as Red Wings center Pius Suter watches for a rebound as Justin Faulk, right, defends in the second period Thursday, March 23, 2023, in Detroit.
Given the high prices for supporting cast players in this marketplace, Suter’s $4.125 million salary cap hit for next season doesn’t create sticker shock for those who have been paying attention.
Suter was a crafty two-way, 30-point forward in his career until injuries and upheaval in Vancouver gave him the opportunity to put up 25 goals and 21 assists with a bigger role last season.
In other words, he suddenly became Tyler Bozak.
His job in ӣƵ is to add depth scoring and buy top forward prospect Dalibor Dvorsky developmental time in the AHL. Getting Suter on a two-year deal fits the franchise’s developmental timeline perfectly.
Writing for The Athletic, Harman Dayal gave Suter glowing reviews:
He’s . . . an excellent penalty killer, as he was a first-unit fixture on Vancouver’s, which was ranked third league-wide. Suter thrived as a middle-six center in Vancouver, but also has high enough offensive intelligence to complement star players on the wing.
In 2023-24, for example, he played as a top-line winger with J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser. Suter was by far the best third-wheel option on that line, with Miller and Boeser’s underlying numbers improving significantly when sharing the ice with him.
Suter is a low-maintenance, do-it-all top-nine forward who can reliably play anywhere in a team’s lineup, at center or wing.
Here is what else folks have been writing about the marketplace:
Matt Larkin, Daily Faceoff: “(The Florida Panthers) are simply breaking the game right now — and I mean that as a compliment. Yes, they seemingly have every advantage in their favor to help them woo or keep players, from no state income tax in Florida to a warm climate that offers its players relative anonymity. But we can’t sell GM Bill Zito short. The man is a virtuoso. He understands his team has plenty of prime-year stars still at the peak of their powers, from Matthew Tkachuk to Aleksander Barkov to Gustav Forsling, and that goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky enters the final season of his deal. The Panthers’ have propped their contention window open by retaining Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, and Brad Marchand for below market value. None of those contracts will age well; Bennett and Ekblad have already been nicked up throughout their careers, and Marchand will surely ride off into the LTIR sunset halfway through his pact. But who the hell cares? The Panthers have kept their wagon together and look like the Stanley Cup favorite for 2025-26.”
Ryan Dixon, Sportsnet: “The chance to land needle-moving players like Marner is rare and Vegas disproportionately finds ways to get it done when one emerges. The Knights did it again, making themselves the preferred landing spot for a pending UFA coming off a 102-point season. Since the start of 2019-20, only seven players have posted more points than the 517 put up by Marner. What’s more is Vegas had a throbbing need for help on the flanks and managed to grab Marner without having to sacrifice the salary of centers Tomas Hertl or William Karlsson, as some speculated the club might have to do. The news that Alex Pietrangelo is likely done playing hockey hits hard — especially due to his universally respected status — but Vegas will soldier on and Marner is a major boost to this team’s attempt to regain its 2023 championship form.”
Shayna Goldman, The Athletic: “Montreal had taken a lower-key approach throughout this retooling process. Instead of taking big swings, management prioritized drafting and developing a core and finding reclamation projects for support. But after last year’s post-4 Nations turnaround and push to the playoffs, the Canadiens are making moves. Sometimes, a playoff appearance can give a team the wrong idea about its trajectory. It can inspire big-name free agent signings to accelerate the process, instead of finding players whose timelines actually align with the team’s. That isn’t the case in Montreal. The Canadiens have taken two measured swings: Noah Dobson and Zachary Bolduc. The team is in the right position to start flipping future assets for players that will help now and in the long run. Dobson is exactly that: a difference-maker from the back end. And Bolduc is a savvy addition to the middle-six; he really found his footing in the Blues’ post-4 Nations run with 13 goals and 18 points in 26 games.”
Greg Wyshynski, : “Turns out, (Mikael) Granlund had 21 million reasons to leave the ‘Finnish Mafia.’ Still, it’s hard to comprehend how a veteran forward would want to leave both the Stars, a perennial contender in the West, and the chance to play with Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz for a Ducks team that’s still probably another year away from real contention. Granlund was acquired by the Stars last season from San Jose, and had 21 points in 31 games, before notching 10 points in 18 playoff games. Dallas wanted to retain him. Granlund saw a free agent forward pool that was wafer-thin. And now he’s a Duck. Don’t focus on the cap hit for Granlund. The Ducks have a preposterous amount of salary cap space for next season, and have a ton of cap flexibility for the second year of his deal. They had the ability to overpay for a forward. That they chose to do so with Granlund is the sticky part. For a team trying to improve its overall defense, Granlund is anything but a 200-foot player. He was negative relative to his teammates across the board defensively in Dallas, from shot attempts to scoring chances against. For some players, the offensive upside is high enough that the defensive liability is mitigated. I’m not sure if that’s the case for Granlund and I’m not sure — given how terrible the Ducks were defensively at 5-on-5 analytically last season — that he’s a free agent whom Anaheim necessarily needed to add.”
Megaphone
“You want to be in a place where you can win. That’s the whole goal of why we do this. You want to hoist a Stanley Cup. This team has shown that they can do it. I’m lucky enough to now hopefully help bring it back here.”
Mitch Marner, on landing in Vegas.
