LA Kings: Three UFA wingers to pursue on bridge deals

3. Jaden Schwartz

The Blues will be an interesting team to watch this offseason. They’re two years removed from winning their first Stanley Cup, but they were just cleanly swept to the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the 2021 NHL playoffs.

Heading into the offseason, they have under $15M in cap space, but they have a laundry list of players to re-sign this summer. One player that could be a cap casualty is Jaden Schwartz, who made $5.35M this past season.

Schwartz, 28, tallied eight goals and 13 assists in 40 games this year. He missed the last 15 games of the year with a lower-body injury, but he played in all four postseason games. He’s a year removed from a 22-goal, 57-point campaign, one that saw him shoot the puck at a 13.6% clip.

While his numbers on the man advantage took a dip this season, Schwartz has proven himself to be an asset on the powerplay, tallying nine goals and 20 points in 2021.

Evolving Hockey projects his next contract to be a three-year deal at a $4.8M AAV cap hit. Like the two others, he’d plugin immediately with the LA Kings while a few more projects get some extra seasoning.