Veteran forward Adam Gaudette has been red hot to start the AHL season and is more than deserving of a look from the NHL's St. Louis Blues. Fitting him into a crowded, cash-strapped roster is its own dilemma.
At only 27 years of age, Adam Gaudette has been to the big dance.
A 2015 fifth-round draft pick of the Vancouver Canucks, the Braintree, Massachusetts native has suited up for the Canucks, Blues, Blackhawks, and Senators, compiling 70 points across 218 NHL games.
Though his most recent run with the AHL's Springfield Thunderbirds, and the prolificness of his goal-scoring prowess to date may make a return to the NHL with St. Louis a 'when' instead of an 'if' proposition.
Gaudette has been red hot in his second turn in Springfield, putting up a league-leading 13 goals and 20 points in 16 games.
In 65 AHL games last season split between the Thunderbirds and Marlies, Gaudette put together 27 goals (a career-high as a pro) and 53 points, a marker he's on pace to eclipse dramatically if his tenure in the A continues.
“I’ve been in situations like this before, where I felt like I deserve a shot and it never really came," Gaudette shared in a recent interview with AHL.com's Ryan Smith.
"I’m not too focused on it; I just know when the time comes for me to go back up, I’m going to be a totally different player from when I was last in the NHL I’m excited for that, and I’m going to be a better player.”
And while his aptitude around the puck and ability to create chances for not only himself but also generate high-energy chances for his teammates are non-questionable at this stage, his road to ascending to the ranks of the NHL is a complicated one not of his own making.
According to Matthew DeFranks at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a lack of cap space for the Blues coupled with a solidly producing roster and little in the way of moveable two-way contracted players makes it difficult to squeeze the deserving Gaudette into the lineup at this time.
The Blues currently have just $281,071 in cap space available with a full 23-man roster on-board, according to Cap Friendly. Barring injuries or a fall-from-grace of a currently rostered player, Gaudette will have to keep plugging away, grabbing for the proverbial brass ring while putting up the most electric campaign of his pro-career.
“He’s a good player at this level,” Thunderbirds coach Drew Bannister said in an interview with the Post-Dispatch. “He can obviously score; he has a good scoring touch. Defensively responsible, and when he’s highly competitive, he’s a hard player to handle.”