As the 2024 NHL Draft continues to rapidly approach, it's worth mentioning the Blues have drafted their fair share of star players, even in the last couple of rounds. One of them even became a Hockey Hall of Famer, even if a fraction of his legendary career was spent wearing a Blues sweater. But who else joins a 2011 HHOF inductee?
Doug Gilmour
Okay, time to get the obvious out of the way first. It's hard to believe an eventual Cup winner, Selke Trophy Winner, and multiple All-Star nominations player was taken with the 134th overall pick in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft. But that's exactly what St. Louis did with Doug Gilmour, who wore two separate numbers during his time in St. Louis from 1983/84-1987/88. Gilmour's career spanned an entire two whole decades, something almost unheard of in today's game unless you're a guy like Jaromir Jagr, who played 24 years in the league with 9 different teams. But that's just how good Gilmour was in his day, and despite only winning 1 Cup with the Calgary Flames in 1989, just a season after he left St. Louis, and also scoring just one other piece of league hardware in his career, it was still enough to earn him an eternal spot in Toronto in 2011.
Gilmour was a Kingston, Ontario native drafted from the defunct Cornwall Royals, and at the time Gilmour was selected, they had been in their 2nd season in the Ontario Hockey League after moving from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. His five seasons in St. Louis had him collect 409 points in 433 games, with his best performance in the 1986 postseason (21 points in 19 games, 9 goals, and 12 assists), according to many fans. In those playoffs, the Blues made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals, losing in 7 games to, what do you know, Gilmour's future buddies in Calgary. Gilmour was sent to Calgary after some off ice trouble, which cut his Blues career a bit unexpectedly short, but he still made an impact for the Blues with his play.
Cliff Ronning
Taken in the exact same spot as Gilmour, but instead, two years later, Cliff Ronning may have secretly been a clone of Gilmour since he also managed to catch fire in the 1985/86 postseason. A native of Burnaby, British Columbia, Ronning played 4 years with St. Louis from 1986/87 to 1990/91 before being sent to his hometown Vancouver Canucks, who'd he'd spend the majority of his 17-year career with among 6 other teams, including St. Louis. Ronning played 180 games in a Blues sweater, scoring 54 goals and 71 assists for 125 points, and had multiple 60+ point seasons. Now, he, like Gilmour, didn't win much hardware, but he still obviously shined, given his similar longevity even with being a fellow journeyman like Gilly.
Tyler Tucker
Now, for a more recent late-round selection that could turn into a star player in the coming seasons. 24-year-old Tyler Tucker, the 200th overall pick in the 2018 draft, has spent his first few professional years building up a playstyle that gets him on the Blues' top defensive lines. With veteran D Marco Scandella and other older Blues defensemen potentially on their way out given their current contract statuses, Tucker could be due for a sizably increased role in 2024/25, his 3rd since playing in 26 games in his first two NHL seasons. Sure, he only scored 1 goal each in both of those, but again- only 26 games, which is literally a quarter of an NHL regular season, and that he's a defenseman, who typically don't score much. He's played more in the AHL with Springfield than St. Louis, but with new openings for this season looking possible, now might be the perfect chance for Tucker to become the Blues' latest young superstar, just like the similarly aged Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, and others.
We'll see who the Blues select in the Las Vegas Sphere on June 28 and 29, where they hold pick number 16 for their first of 9 choices. That should be plenty of fresh legs for the Blues heading into 2024/25 for their continued quest to obtain a postseason spot.