St. Louis Blues Mock Draft Analysis: Mattias Samuelsson

The St. Louis Blues are rumored as part of some draft day trades. However, if they hold onto the pick, things keep pointing to the blue line for the selection.

The St. Louis Blues never seem to do anything you might expect them to. For many years, they kept drafting goaltenders even though there was never really a need.

The Blues seemed to take the NFL approach that you can always use an extra body in that position, so if a good one was the best available, they would take them. Defense seems to be taking that mantle in the Blues mock drafts.

St. Louis does not have a pressing need for a defender, but the majority of mock drafts we have seen so far have the Blues selecting a defender when their name gets put on the clock.

Our friends over at St. Louis Gametime did their own mock draft. They have the Blues taking the son of a former NHL player with Mattias Samuelsson.

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You can’t really argue with Gametime’s reasoning. Samuelsson has the pedigree and is fairly high rated by all the scouts. His only problem is there are enough players in front of him that he could fall to the Blues.

Mattias’ father, Kjell Samuelsson, had a 14 year career between the Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins. He even helped the latter win a Stanley Cup as a trade acquisition.

The younger Samuelsson is going to get plenty of comparisons to his dad, even if that is not completely fair. He did earn high praise from the 2017 Future Consideration NHL Draft Guide.

Samuelsson is a monster-sized blueliner who takes after his father, former NHL’er Kjell Samuelsson … not a flashy offensive guy by any means, but someone who just plays the game the right way with smarts and instincts … keeps his head up and always adapting to the play … has a decent stride that generates speed but could use more power and quicker feet … uses his vision and skilled puckhandling to distribute the puck with crisp, accurate passes … powerful snap shot with a quick release and accuracy … is physical and punishes his checks either along the wall of if they invade the crease … gets his frame into shooting lanes and blocks shots … great reach to defend, getting his stick on pucks, closing off lanes before the opposition can make an offensive play … has the size, strength and bloodlines to get a scout’s attention but also has two-way upside … has solid potential to develop into a two-way, top-four defender at the NHL level.

He is currently ranked 38 by Future Considerations. ISS Hockey has him at 31 and he is ranked 21 among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting.

Samuelsson is never going to wow anyone with his offense, but he’s a solid blend that would fit in well with today’s NHL. He’s no slouch offensively though. He did score 11 goals and 31 points in 58 games with the US National Development team.

As Gametime points out, it would be quite some time before we’d see Samuelsson in a Blues uniform. He has several players in front of him in the pecking order, including as many as six prospects.

Additionally, Samuelsson is going to spend at least a season in college. He was orginally committed to Michigan, but pulled his name out from there and will play with Western Michigan and his brother Lukas.

It is interesting how certain names just fit with our own sensibilities. Though Samuelsson might be the furthest off from playing with the Blues, he’s one of the few names we have covered this summer that actually excites me.

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He’ll never be the missing piece for the Blues winning a Cup, but he has the talent to be a solid top-four defender. He seems like a player in the mold of Carl Gunnarsson, but being less of a ghost than Gunnarsson can be.

We all know that not all sons of former NHL players turn into great players. That said, Samuelsson would be a very solid pick if his name is still there when the Blues pick comes up.

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