The St. Louis Blues surprised a few people with their day one draft pick. Day 2 was spent restocking the cupboard in almost all spots.
The St. Louis Blues spread the grass seed all over the yard, so to speak, with their selections on day two of the NHL Entry Draft. If you look at all seven draft picks taken over the two days, there was only one position left unselected.
Interestingly, right wing was the position that was not taken. It is interesting because even at the NHL level, the Blues are somewhat thin on true right wingers.
Nevertheless, day two of the 2020 draft was spent restocking the cupboard. The Blues took two forwards, three defenders and the obligatory goalie pick.
The first pick of the day was in the third round. With the 86th overall pick, the Blues took Dylan Peterson, a center.
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Peterson spent the last two years in the US National Team program. He will attend Boston University to play for the Terriers.
Peterson compared his game to that of Joe Thornton, which won’t endear him to many fans in St. Louis. However, that statement was made prior to the draft, so we won’t hold it against him.
The next pick for the Blues, a 3rd-round 88th overall pick, was Leo Loof. Loof is a solid, two-way defender who can contribute on the power play but is also solid in his own defensive zone and sticks his nose in the dirty areas.
Loof is more of a project since he has yet to play in North America or professionally in Sweden. He is currently playing for Farjestad BK in the Swedish equivalent of the Canadian Hockey League, which are all juniors.
The team’s fourth-round pick was used on another center. This time it was Tanner Dickenson.
Dickenson is another player that is likely a long ways off, coming in at 169 lbs and that might be generous. The intrigue for him is his speed as EliteProspects marveled at his “explosive skating”.
Right now, Dickenson is a playmaker more than anything. Only nine of his 40 points last season were goals.
In the fifth round, St. Louis picked Matt Kessel from UMass-Amherst. He already has a year of college under his belt after two seasons in the USHL.
The interesting thing about Kessel is he found a scoring touch in college. In two seasons in junior hockey, Kessel scored just two goals. In one year with UMass-Amherst, he netted seven goals in just 34 games.
The sixth round had the Blues select another goaltender. I have nothing against Will Cranley himself, but it seems like the Blues take a goalie every single year.
I get that you don’t want to be that team that passed on the next Hall of Fame goalie, if they were available. However, at this point if you’re a goalie, I wouldn’t even be that excited being drafted by the Blues. There are so many guys in the system, you’re almost sure to turn pro with someone else.
That said, Cranley posted a solid 2.81 goals against with the Ottawa 67’s. His save percentage was not great, but with junior goalies you can’t worry about that as much. The shot totals they face varies so much game to game that it’s hard stat to judge at that level.
The Blues final selection of the NHL Draft was another defender, Noah Beck. Beck, a Canadian, spent the 2019-20 season with the Fargo Force of the USHL, where he collected four goals and 27 points.
Subconsciously, it gives me pause when a Canadian has to come to the US to play junior hockey, but the Blues believe the talent is there. They are not alone as Beck was recruited to play for Clarkson University, where he will play his first collegiate season in 2020-21 (assuming there is one).
All in all, it was a decent draft with some interesting talent to keep an eye on. Peterson seems to be a bigger player that is still coming to grips with his own size.
The player that intrigues me the most was Dickinson, due to the speed. But, he’ll have to prove that he’s more than just fast if he hopes to make it in the NHL.
All three defenders were over 6′ tall, which is good because the Blues best, current defensive prospects are on the smaller side. What is more, all three have enough of an offensive side to make them viable while not sacrificing on the defensive side as we see with some.
With all that said, Cranley will likely become the best NHL player simply because I poked fun at the Blues taking another goalie.
Let us know your thoughts on the Blues draft picks in the comments or social media.