St. Louis Blues 2015 NHL Mock Draft: Round One

The 2015 NHL Draft may be two months away and the St. Louis Blues staring down the stretch at the postseason but it’s never too early to look at the possibilities the Draft brings. Where will the Blues deepen their talent pool in preparation for summer signings and contract renewals, or non-renewals, as the case may be? We’ll take a look in our 2015 NHL Mock Draft over the next few days.

2014 NHL Draft: Round One

Last year the Blues used their first-round pick on Robert Fabbri, a great two-way center who is often compared to Martin St. Louis in both his small stature and his lack of fear in going to the corners to fight for the puck. With appropriate development over the next few years, Fabbri will likely join the Blues at a critical juncture when Backes will be aging out of the 1C role he currently fills and Lehtera — or the 2C who takes Lehtera’s place, if his current two-year contract isn’t renewed — moves up.

Fabbri decided to continue his development in the OHL with the Guelph Storm for the season after he was drafted last June.

Jun 27, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Robert Fabbri puts on a team sweater after being selected as the number twenty-one overall pick to the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Fabbri is developing into a strong player who could be an asset for the Blues, but we are talking at least two or three years in the future. The most most recent of St. Louis’ draft picks who have ended up on the team is Dimitrij Jaskin, who has spent most of the year in St. Louis instead of with their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. Jaskin was drafted in 2011 and developed in the AHL on a pretty typical three-year curve.

The Buffalo Sabres..or the Winnipeg Jets?

While the Sabres originally got the first-round pick from the Blues and are likely looking forward to spending it, considering that they are one of the two contenders most likely to get the first or second draw in the first round, giving the team with the fewest points a 20% chance to win the first pick, the team with the second-fewest points 13.5%, the third-fewest with 11.5% and so on and so on.

Photo from

NHL.com

The Sabres’ weakness however may be the fact that they are in a rebuild. If the Blues can offer a tantalizing-enough option, giving Buffalo GM Tim Murray the option of Mr. Right right now, Buffalo could theoretically hand that first-round pick right back to St. Louis.

If that happens, St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong would likely have to give up a pretty hefty sum for the extra pick; given the Sabres’ position points-wise in the league their picks will be early in the first round. That would mean trading a strong points-producing player like Schwartz or a class-A defender such as Pietrangelo while retaining some of their salary. Murray would be foolish to look for less in return for a high first-round pick.

In that case, the Blues are likely to look to the Winnipeg Jets instead for a first-round pick.

First-round picks are in high demand, with a number of teams (NYR, CHI, LAK, NYI) having traded them for a guaranteed-good, already developed player. And Arizona, Carolina, Philadelphia, Toronto, Buffalo, Winnipeg and Edmonton all took advantage of that shortsighted view, each of them with two picks in the first round. This not only gives them trading power during the draft itself, but the opportunity to set a strong rebuild in motion over the course of one day.

Of those seven teams, only Winnipeg is in a strong enough position that they might be persuaded to give up a first-round for a pair of second-round picks, which would likely be more acceptable to St. Louis than losing a high-producing player off the roster.

And so assuming that the Blues are able to make a trade that Winnipeg finds satisfying, the Blues would do well to draft left winger Jordan Greenway. Greenway is what he himself has termed a “power forward,” using his size to his advantage and playing a very physical game. He’s also no stranger to scoring goals, as he put up 126 total points over 60 games during only his second year at Shattuck St. Mary’s. NHL.com’s Mike G. Morreale wrote about Greenway earlier this season in the below-quoted article, interviewing Greenway, his coaches, and examining his overall record.

"“He doesn’t have any idea how big, strong and athletic he is,” USNTDP U-18 coach Don Granato said. “It’ll be a process for him but that’s what you drool over. He’s got athletic ability, size and strength, and his potential is really high.”"

He’s cooled off a bit over the past two years, likely due to dividing his time between the USHL and the USDP. In the same article however Director of NHL Scouting Dan Marr attributed the downward trend in points to Greenway’s age and teenage maturity.

"“He’s been pegged as an A candidate, and as I’ve told him he can’t be playing any B-rated games,” Marr said. “The knock on him is that he has the A-rated talent but at times plays like a B player, and he can’t do that. He needs to consistently bring that A game to the table and he’s done that this year.”Marr said Greenway needs to take advantage of his physical attributes and exhibit good puck protection and good cycling while being hard to check and winning 1-on-1 battles.“He needs to play that game,” Marr said. “It’s not that he’s shy to get involved, but as soon as he treats hockey like it’s going to be his job, his occupation, then the sky could be the limit for him.”"

Greenway plans on attending Boston University and wouldn’t join either the Wolves or the Blues right away, giving the Blues time to outlast Steen’s overly-ample contract which will be up in 2018. He’d be an ideal candidate for the cap-burdened Blues as his time at B.U. would take care of at least some of his player development.

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