St. Louis Blues Have Clear Buyout Candidate This Summer

The St. Louis Blues took nice steps this season, not only getting into the playoffs, but because a lot of their young players improved and contributed. There isn't a whole lot of space in the lineup for all of their players, and with more young talent pushing for spots, some guys have to go.

The easy route is not re-signing free agents, but that may not be enough. The team also has to cut some dead weight and I believe that to be Mathieu Joseph. He played 60 games this season and only scored four goals. He logged under 12 minutes per night on average and after playing one game in the playoffs, has been on the sidelines.

Alexander Texier has proven to be more useful and not only is he four years younger than Joseph and cheaper, he has more upside at 24 years old. Texier isn't the only player that has surpassed Joseph in the deep Blues lineup though. Jimmy Snuggerud came in for the last seven games of the season and put up a goal and four points while also scoring a goal and an assist in four playoff games.

Zack Bolduc took major steps, Alexei Toropchenko is a better bottom-6 option with more upside than Joseph, and the Blues have Dalibor Dvorsky and Nikita Alexandrov ready to break in. This is all without mentioning Dylan Holloway and Jake Neighbours, who have clearly solidified themselves as top-6 players for the Blues and are 22 and 23 years old respectively.

Joseph is going into the final year of his four-year deal with a cap hit of $2.95 million AAV. Usually, a team would either eat the hit and even get some cap relief back by playing a player like this in the minors, or try to move off of him by dumping his contract, but the Blues have the space to buy Joseph out as it will only extend two years and free up a roster spot for the next wave.