St. Louis Blues Draft Day Live Blog

As we wait for the St. Louis Blues draft to begin, we’re going to live blog the day’s events.

Keep this page loaded and refresh periodically throughout the day. Ill be reacting to some of the rumors, potential trades and draft picks.

Be sure to join in in the comments section below.

8am

Not too much going on yet. Im on a plane to Salt Lake City. The big rumor going around is PK Subban to the Oilers.

I domt buy that for a second. Marc Bergivin has to consider all deals put to him, but even for one of the top 4 picks, i just dont kniw that it makes sense.

The downfall of the rumor is Kevin Shattenkirk’s name gets put to the back burner. Maybe that is Edmonton’s plan.

Ok we are going to take off soon. I’ll have an update when we land. Have a good morning Blues fans.

9am (from the plane)

God bless technology. I got an hour’s woth of free wifi on the plane.

Not a lot going on yet. It’s 10am in Buffalo where the draft is, so im sure everyone is up and having breakfast.

As the Blues go, the latest word is Shattenkirk and his agent are being allowed to talk extension with prospective trade partners. As far as who is included in that, its still the usual names.

Fans seem to be still leaning toward wanting an Edmonton deal. Shattenkirk would apparently prefer Boston and who would blame him since they at least have a shot at the playoffs.

There is also still a rumor about the Blues/Rangers trying to deal. On the surface, that’s fine but when Nash is in the mix, it makes zero sense.

His production is spotty and his contract is inflated. The Blues would really put themselves in a corner picking up the former Blue Jacket.

The only other rumor floating around is about Ben Bishop. The Flames are hot after him (no pun intended), however Tampa may wait until the Stamkos situation is settled to make a decision. So, Bishop may remain a Bolt through the draft.

9:30

I’ve seen a few tweets that throw Brian Elliott into the mix with Calgary and the Flames seem to want a goaltender coming out of the draft.

I can’t say I would be shocked, but i still believe the Blues filly intend to go into 2016-17 with Elliott and Allen. Im not sure what you’d even want in return either.

Backlund would be ok. Giordano is good, but the Blues dont need a defenseman if theyre tryimg to ship one out. Dougie Hamilton is too expensive.

Sam Bennett is cheap and could provide center depth. Couple him with the 6th oick and you might have a deal worth considering.

11:30

Greetings from Salt Lake. It appears as though the Blues and Boston have been busy.

BREAKING: The #stlblues and Boston #Bruins are in advanced trade talks about Kevin Shattenkirk I’m being told this is going to get done

That tweet was from @nhlrumorhub. As with anything that isnt a direct source, i take it with a grain of salt, but it looks as though our hopes of getting something out of the Oilers may be drying up.

Apparently, according to Tom Timmerman, Shattenkirk won’t sign an extension with teams in the west. So that may be what mucked up the Edmonton possibilities.

Nothing new on the Elliott front. Again, that deal would depend greatly on what came in return. Personally, I’d still rather have the Moose/Snake duo. We’ll see.

Noon

Last check in until I fly out to Portland, so there’s almost certainly going to be something happen while I’m up there.

Apparently Subban is going to about 10 teams. The Red Wings have put their name in the hat with Larkin going the other way.

I still doubt this trade happens. It doesnt make sense for the Canadiens. Stranger things have happened though (I am using my phone if I miss any typos).

2:40

Greetings from Portland. Nothing much to report other than a woozy head from being tired and flying.

Checking Twitter and it seems like theres some second guessing going on. Now that Edmonton seems out of the mix, there is a sense the Blues arent goinf to get the haul that fans had perceived.

Some are questioning why the Blues must even trade him. It comes down to Bouwmeester.

His contract, coupled with the fact that Shattenkirk will want a huge raise and will always be a second pairing defender eith St. Louis, makes it almost impossible for him to stay.

The problem becomes the trade partner. Almost everything says Boston. You’ll get a fine player with the 14th pick, but they aren’t likely to be ready for the NHL for a year or two.

Outside the STL, apparently Andrew Shaw wants $4.5 million per uear according to NBCSports and other outlets. Im sorry, I know he has value to Chicago, but if 30ish points is what gets you $4.5 million then I dont have a clue whay fair value is anymore.

3 pm

Reports are saying the Minnesota Wild have, or are close to buying out Thomas Vanek. If that is true, then David Backes could actually end up back in his home state since they would have over $14 million in cap space after that.

3:30

TSN’s Bob McKenzie is reporting the Flames have had talks about both Bishop and Elliott. However, he says they have only had talks of an extension with Bishop.

NHL Draft

Ok, I’m in Boise and done travelling for awhile. Draft started and the Blues haven’t done anything yet.

First two picks went as expected but Columbus shocked a few people by picking Dubois.

Andrew Shaw got traded to the Montreal Canadiens

Edmonton is up. We’ll see if the Blues have any last minute tricks or not.

Oilers take Puljujarvi, so the Blues didn’t work anything out with them. Matthew Tkachuk is still on the board, but not for long probably.

Wow, Vancouver skips over all the forwards and takes Juolevi. He’s a good defenseman, but just a bit shocking that they went that direction.

rumor patrol
The Blues and Oilers may be back in bed together. This is only a rumor, so don’t get overly hyped but there is new talk about Nugent-Hopkins coming to St. Louis, especially with the glut of forwards they have after taking Puljujarvi as a center.

More from St Louis Blues News

• St. Louis Blues Giving Nick Ritchie A Look Is No Lose Situation
• St. Louis Blues Torey Krug Already Injured Before 2023-24 Season
• Former St. Louis Blues Forward Going Into Hall Of Fame
• Can Hofer Upstage Binnington in Starting Goalie Spot for Blues?
• St. Louis Blues 2023-24 fourth line depth chart could be surprisingly strong

Tkachuk goes to the Calgary Flames. Brian Elliott was not going to be enough to move up to that spot, but there was always a little hope in my head that the Blues could swing Tkachuk into their sweater. Oh well.

Another hopeful for the Blues goes off the board. Clayton Keller goes to Arizona. He’s going to play a year in college, so it’s not a huge loss but he’s got plenty of skill.

TRADE
Darren Dreger is reporting that Brian Elliott is with the Calgary Flames. No word yet on the return. I’m shocked, to be honest. Even as someone firmly in Jake Allen’s camp, I’m shocked.

New report says the Blues get the 35th pick. That’s garbage. I’m sorry. I know you had to make a decision on them, but Doug Armstrong was just saying how they weren’t sold on the depth of this draft and you trade the best backup/1a goaltender in the league for a second round pick?

I’m still a little bit reeling from this trade. It was brought up on Twitter, and it makes sense when I calm down, but the Blues could very well be packaging that second round pick in a bigger deal. One can only hope so, because it just seems to cause a lot of problems in goal because none of the current guys seems NHL ready.

Ok, back to the draft. Tyson Jost goes to Colorado. There’s still good players out there, but the names that most Blues fans were interested in are going off the board quick. Bringing back a player in a trade may actually be more realistic than moving up in the draft at this point.

Another St. Louisan off the board. Logan Brown, Jeff Brown’s son, goes to the Ottawa Senators after the Sens traded up one pick. I guess they were that scared that New Jersey would take him that they offered up their pick and a third rounder.

7:45

The Boston Bruins are two picks away. I’m getting a sinking feeling that no deal is going to happen regarding draft picks. Hopefully the Blues have something up their sleeves.

Aaaaaand, I was right. Blues dont deal with Boston. They take McAvoy. Really wondering if all this talk was hot air or if the Blues can still pull something off.

A couple interesting notes from Andy Strickland. Apparently Elliott requested the Blues explore trade options if he was not going to be the top guy. He also says its looking like Shattenkirk will still be a Blue after the draft.

The Elliott news takes some sting out. The Shattenkirk puts more in. A lot of build up for mothing right now, it seems.

8:30

Ugh, Kunin falls only to get taken by the Wild. This has been a pretty disappointing day so far.

9:00

Doug Armstrong pretty much said Anders Nilsson will be the backup goaltender next season. That’s weird in and of itself, but it begs the question of who isn’t coming back?

Husso is signed and he’s almost certain to play in the AHL. So are they letting Binnington or Copely (both RFA’s) go?

Armstrong also said he will look at goaltenders in the free agent market. I understand wanting to honor Elliott if he wanted out, but are you going to get as good a netminder for the same price? Doubtful.

9:25

The Blues trade up to 26 for some reason. They give up 28 and a 3rd rounder. Let’s see who they take.

It’s Tage Thompson.  We covered him a week or two ago.  He’s a good player, but it’s going to be a few years before you see him in the NHL unless he blows all the prognosticators out of the water.

Draft Wrapup

Well that’s pretty much it. The Blues got us all hyped up and gave us nothing. In the end, maybe we should have seen it coming. All week, for some reason, I had a feeling nothing was going to happen and it didn’t.

Although Twitter is blowing up, I’m fine dealing away Elliott. People can kiss his behind all they want, but it doesn’t make sense to hold onto a 32 year old when you’ve got a younger goaltender that is as good or better behind him.

It just didn’t seem to make sense to get so little. The way other deals shook out, it was about on par. No trades were really made player for player. So expecting a prospect or even NHL player was on us as fans. It’s still disappointing, even if Elliott did ask for the opportunity to start elsewhere.

Not trading Shattenkirk makes sense but it doesn’t. It the Blues have a certain value for him then stick to it. However, there was so much chatter about moving up the draft and perhaps also acquiring a player in return too that it was just a bit shocking that he went nowhere.

Next: Blues Draft Profile: Tage Thompson

Maybe something will happen in round two, maybe not. It was a lot of buildup for little payoff in the end. Tage Thompson may well end up being a quality NHLer, but it’s going to be a long time before we know.

I hope you guys enjoyed this live blog. Maybe we’ll do it in the future, hopefully when I’m not travelling. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.