The St. Louis Blues made a draft day splash when they traded two of their four first-round picks for then-Anaheim Duck Mason McTavish. The 23-year old center had been in trade rumors for a few months after a disappointing season in the first year of his six year, $7-million AAV contract extension, and had been a healthy scratch during the Ducks' run in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
As a Blue, McTavish must--at the very least--show he can be a dependable second-line center behind Robert Thomas. There's no one else currently on the roster, nor prospects close enough to NHL readiness, to suitably fulfill that role.
McTavish was the third-overall pick of the 2021 draft, and that pedigree is still important, even if his career hasn't taken in the way many had hoped. There are legitimate concerns about McTavish's skating and his ability to play defense. Add in a sub-50 percent faceoff win percentage, and McTavish may not profile as a center at all and could end up on the wing; two first-round picks for a middle-six wing is a steep price to pay and would be a major disappointment.
There are, however, reasons to be hopeful for a rebound. McTavish was locked in a contract stalemate to start the 2025-26 season, missing camp before finally inking a deal. The general manager of the Ducks, Pat Verbeek, is known for his hardball, penny-pinching negotiating style: he did the same thing to former Ducks Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale, and both of those players are now on the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers, not content with two former Ducks, attempted to add a third by signing Leo Carlsson to an offer sheet, as Verbeek once again attempted to lowball one of his restricted free agents.
With the Flyers, Drysdale and Zegras (him in particular) have developed much more in line with expectations from when they were drafted. Zegras, in particular, bounced back with career highs in goals in points in his first season in Philadelphia; Drysdale, meanwhile, has become a legit top-four defenseman and seems to be improving every day. There's plenty of reason to believe that a fresh start in a new place will put McTavish back on the development path he needs to be on. Joining a veteran team should help McTavish, too.
The second-line center job is there for the taking, and it's McTavish's to lose at this point. Tynan Lawrence is still probably a couple years away, and Dalibor Dvorsky hasn't seized the 2C role yet, either. If the Blues want to have any chance of making the postseason in a crowded Central Division, they'll need McTavish to start living up to his draft slot.
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