Predicting the St. Louis Blues selection at 16th: Michael Brandsegg-Nygård

With the NHL draft a little under a week away, the buzz of the St. Louis Blues first-round selection is louder than ever. Predicting the pick GM Doug Armstrong and newly-hired assistant GM Alex Steen will make on June 28th is almost an exercise in futility, but one option does seem more likely than most.

Norwegian forward Michael Brandsegg-Nygård checks a lot of boxes as a player the Blues may like and seems like he will be available and among the best choices if Armstrong and Steen do not trade their first-round pick.

A profile of Michael Brandsegg-Nygård

Michael Brandsegg-Nygård is an 18-year old Norwegian forward who played internationally in Norway and Sweden.

He will be a 19-year old prospect next year for whatever club selects him. At 6'1" and 207 lbs, he has good size for a forward and projects as a solid center.

Brandsegg-Nygård is an aggressive power forward who loves to throw around hits. His best performance came in the World Juniors, with a combined 17 points in 14 games between the two tournaments Norway played in.

As an aggressive, heavy-hitting center, Brandsegg-Nygård also showed off impressive discipline at the both international championships, only serving one minor penalty in 27 games.

Drawing the interest of Doug Armstrong and the St. Louis Blues

In an interview with Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic, St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong emphasized the interest in either a defenseman or center in the first round of this year's draft.

It seems likely that the consensus top-6 defensemen will not be available at pick 16, and the value beyond those top-6 is expected to not be equal to the 16th pick. Outside of the first 10 picks, the next defenseman selected will probably not get called until the late first round, somewhere in the 20s.

Therefore, if the Blues do not move their pick, a forward with the ability to play center is almost a guarantee for the Armstrong/Steen regime.

Why the St. Louis Blues could select Brandsegg-Nygård at 16th overall

With the top-10 picks having six defensemen among them, a lot of good forward talent will correspondingly be pushed further down the board towards the St. Louis Blues slot.

The next range of picks between 11-15 could go a number of ways, but I'd bet on teams drafting players with a higher upside than Brandsegg-Nygård's safer but lower ceiling profile.

I broke down some of these other players that you can learn about on the newest episode of the Note News podcast for more information.

It's hard to guarantee position at the NHL level for forward prospects and a lot of that depends on where these players get drafted, but with Brandsegg-Nygård's size and physical game at his young age, it is likely he will fit in as a center.

He checks all of the St. Louis Blues boxes as a power forward with a strong forechecking ability and willingness to play physical but not undisciplined.

Could this be the next Ivan Barbashev, Brayden Schenn, Patrik Berglund, etc.? Only time will tell, but I think it's likely Michael Brandsegg-Nygård will hear his name called with the 16th overall pick.