The St. Louis Blues are getting an early jump on some behind the scenes business with no games to play. They have begun signing some of their draftees.
The St. Louis Blues might not be in action on the ice, with the current uncertainty surrounding covid-19, but that does not mean there is not business to attend to. The players might be off, but the work of a general manager almost never ends.
Doug Armstrong and his staff of scouts and assistants are always on the move and looking to improve the team’s standing for the present and the future. As things stand, with no on-ice product to worry about, Armstrong is only looking to the team’s future.
With that in mind, the Blues made a signing, getting one of their recent draft picks officially into the Blues system. St. Louis has signed Hugh McGing, who spent the last four seasons with the Western Michigan Broncos. It’s a two-year, entry level deal.
McGing was one of two players that remained unsigned from the Blues 2018 NHL Entry Draft. Now, Scott Perunovich is the only player that has yet to ink an entry deal with St. Louis, not including Dominik Bokk, who’s rights were traded away as part of the Justin Faulk deal.
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When you have the talent to potentially turn pro, you’ll play for almost anyone. Just making it that far is a testament to the talent, skill and work that has been put in. Still, you wonder if it might be surreal for McGing to be in the Blues system since he’s from Chicago.
McGing is definitely not your prototypical NHL player. He’s listed at 5’9, though at 175 lbs, he’s pretty solid for his height.
McGing got his first taste of upper-level hockey with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders of the USHL. Things started slow, as he only had 11 goals and 19 points his first season, but he was only a teenager at the time, not even out of highschool. The second season in the USHL, he had 23 goals and 51 points in 60 games.
McGing had a gradual progression in his college years too. He averaged around a point per game his first two seasons, but became a leader both in scoring and in the locker room the second two.
He was an alternate captain in 2018-19 and then team captain in 2019-20. McGing had 29 goals and 65 points in 72 games over his final two collegiate seasons.
What St. Louis does with him from here is anyone’s guess. You rarely see much upward movement from the ECHL, so if the Blues put him in Tulsa (assuming they still have them as an affiliate), it might not be the best of signs for him.
With the current focus on growth as opposed to winning, the Blues could easily place him with the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL in 2020-21. He would get a chance to play and learn while being thrown into the fire a bit.
Where he is in the Blues pecking order is unknown too. Even if he turns pro, he’s only in a mix with guys like Dakota Joshua and Tanner Kaspick. Nikita Alexandrov could very well turn pro after this season as well and the team seems high on him as their second round pick in 2019 and signed quite early.
For now, this is just an exciting time for McGing. Any time a player signs their first contract, it has to be a momentous occasion.
Maybe he never suits up in an actual Blues uniform other than preseason action. Maybe he becomes a sleeper player and surprises us all in the NHL.
We’ll have to wait and see. For now, congratulations to him and his family and all the best in his future hockey career.