With the first round of the NHL Draft taking place on Friday, the St. Louis Blues are bound to land a future star at No. 16 overall, but they also have the 48th and 56th picks, respectively. And since every NHL Draft has multiple first-round talents falling out of the Top 32 picks, there is an outstanding chance that not one but two more players who could easily go in the top 32 end up in the system.
Snagging such picks would make for an ideal situation for general manager Doug Armstrong, as one draft could parlay the Blues prospect pool from ranking somewhere in the middle of the league and into the top 10, if not higher.
So, which players could go in the first round this Friday but may also fall well into Round 2 this Saturday? Who would be in Armstrong’s best interest to target? There is one defenseman he shouldn’t hesitate to take, plus a pair of intriguing forwards.
Lucas Pettersson, C/MoDo Hockey
Signed through 2026-27, Lucas Pettersson wouldn’t be eligible to come over to North America until 2027-28 if he’s drafted in the second round, and that would be a dealbreaker for some. But Pettersson also won’t be NHL-ready for a while, and there’s also a chance he doesn’t start playing in the SHL full-time until 2025-26, so there should be no rush.
That would give Pettersson another year predominantly in J20 Nationell, where he was an alternate captain who finished the season with 27 goals and 57 points in 47 games. He was also one of Sweden’s most dominant players internationally, playing in 27 contests while scoring 12 goals and adding another 24 assists.
Someone like Pettersson can easily go toward the back half of the first round, which would allow him an earlier pathway to North America if he was drafted in the top 32 and chose that route, given the rules outlined in the current NHL-SHL Agreement. But even as a second-round pick, one more year in J20, two years in the SHL, and a season or two in the AHL before making his NHL debut would also work well for the 18-year-old, allowing him to hit the ground running with the big club toward the end of the decade.