ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The St. Louis Blues were rather quiet to start free agency, with the only move having been re-signing forward Kasperi Kapanen to a one-year deal.
But the Blues have been rather busy on the trade market to begin the offseason, with Tuesday being the latest example, acquiring two players in separate deals to help shore up their bottom-six depth.
On Tuesday, the Blues announced they have acquired forward Mathieu Joseph and a 2025 3rd round pick from the Ottawa Senators and center Radek Faksa from Central Division rivals Dallas Stars.
In return, the Senators and Stars both received "future considerations" from the Blues, making both deals effectively a salary dump by the Stars and Senators
Joseph, 26, had a good year with the Senators, amassing a career-high 35 points. Joseph still has two-years left on the four-year, $11.8 million deal he signed back in July 22. Joseph's cap hit is $3.3 million.
Faksa dressed in 74 regular-season games posted 19 points with the Stars. Faksa has never quite been a valuable player offensively, posting only 200 points though 638 games through his career, but has been quite valuable defensively, posting a defensive point shares of 11.2 in his career, compared to only 2.2 point shares offensively. Faksa is entering the final year of a five-year deal worth $16.25 million, with Faksa cap hit in 2024-25 at $3.25 million.
The moves to acquire Joseph and Faksa is among the latest moves by the Blues to improve up their bottom-six depth, which has looked like a priority to begin their offseason. Right before the NHL Draft, the Blues acquired forward Alexandre Texier from the Columbus Blue Jackets and re-signed Kapanen to a one-year deal.
