Top 5 defensemen prospects the St. Louis Blues to consider in the 2024 NHL Draft
The St. Louis Blues have a glaring need for blueliners, and the 2024 NHL Draft is a perfect spot for general manager Doug Armstrong to find future stars.
The 2024 NHL Draft will be here soon, and the St. Louis Blues have a guaranteed pick in the top half of the first round. General manager Doug Armstrong could go with the best player who falls to him with what is presumably the 16th pick pre-lottery. But thanks to a big need for defensive prospects, rolling with the best blueliner here could be the most logical option.
If he takes what should be the most sensible route, the next question is obvious: Which blueliner would be an ideal selection with the 16th pick (or sooner)? There are quite a few prominent names to get excited for, and prospects like Henry Mews, Carter Yakemchuk, and Adam Jiricek could be there when Armstrong makes the pick.
St. Louis Blues would fare well with a defense-first 2024 NHL Draft
Carter Yakemchuk could be the most intriguing name of the three players mentioned, as he comes complete with sensational size (6’3, 194 lbs), and his 71 points and 30 goals in 66 games provides head-turning productivity. But someone who produces that well and already has the size to play in the big league sooner rather than later probably won’t be there when the Blues pick unless they luck out and draw a higher slot than 16th overall.
You can also make the same argument for Henry Mews and Adam Jiricek, so let’s refrain from talking about the ‘what-ifs.’ This doesn’t mean someone from that trio won’t be available, but it’s hard to imagine they will when it’s time for Armstrong to make his selection.
Instead, let’s discuss five blueliners Armstrong and the front office would do well to consider in the first round who have a higher probability of being available when it’s time for them to pick. And let’s start with an undersized yet intriguing blueliner.
Aron Kiviharju, LD/HIFK
Aron Kiviharju clocks in at just 5’10 and between 165 and 172 lbs and such lack of size means there’s a chance he falls out of the first round. So maybe he will be there when Armstrong is ready to make his second (or third) pick of the draft, as the Blues GM will have multiple second-round selections to make that happen.
But Tankathon’s mock draft has Kiviharju slated to go 23rd overall as of May 1st, so if Armstrong thought highly of him, he needs to take the 18-year-old with that 16th pick or sooner.
Kiviharju is one of a few blueliners on this list who brings prowess to the offensive zone, something he’s shown in international play this season and even last year. He hasn’t reached that productivity in Liiga, but at age 17 and 18, few should expect that. That said, he’s produced exceptionally well against those his own age, clocking in 20 points and two goals in 28 contests over in U20 SM-sarja before putting up seven assists in five games in the World Junior Championship-18 last season.
However, he is an injury-prone player, as Alex Chauvancy of The Hockey Writers points out, and it’s why he played in just a handful of games this past season. But if he can put the injuries behind him, someone’s getting a high-IQ player who can handle pucks like a forward but still provide a sound defensive game.
Cole Hutson, LD/USDP
Fun Fact: Cole Hutson will celebrate his 18th birthday on Day 1 of the 2024 draft, and perhaps Doug Armstrong will gift him with a phone call, where he will become part of the Blues system. Like Kiviharju, Hutson is undersized, with decent length at 5’10. However, he’s also just 159 lbs.
That said, give him a few seasons at Boston University, where he will play starting in 2024-25, and there it’s all but a guarantee that he will grow into his frame. Hutson hasn’t suffered injuries the same way Kiviharju has, and that could make him the overall better pick here.
This has allowed him to provide a greater sample size, and it’s something we saw in full force this season in the NTPD when he logged 46 points and 13 goals in 48 games. Through 19 USHL matchups, Hutson also produced 12 points with a trio of goals, and he also put up two points per game for Team USA at the World Juniors-18.
But don’t let his overall scoring fool you. There are plenty of quirks to Hutson’s game, as Tony Ferrari of The Hockey News pointed out in November, and it’s clear that he must master smaller areas like winning puck battles and reading the game better before he’s even remotely ready for the pro ranks. But that’s what you will see him working on with the Terriers for up to four seasons.
Charlie Elick, RD/Brandon Wheat Kings
Charlie Elick is the first player on this list with better-than-average size, at 6’3, 198 lbs, but he also doesn’t produce points in the same way as Aron Kiviharju (when healthy) or Cole Hutson. But players who fare well in their own zone don’t need to be major scorers. They can also be game-changers and even show two-way potential, as Adam Kierszenblat of The Hockey News reminds us.
So you don’t need to worry about Elick producing just 27 points and four goals in 65 regular season games for the Brandon Wheat Kings, though it was a substantial increase from the 11 he contributed in 56 contests during the 2022-23 season.
That plus-16 improvement in points productivity shows off Elick’s overall potential, and it will be fun to see whether he keeps that trend going in 2024-25, regardless of which system he finds himself in. This is a player whose work ethic will at least construct a sound foundation in the offensive zone, and it’s also important to remember that he can always set up a play as well, and that won’t always reflect on the stat sheet.
Elick is, overall, a prospect Blues fans would be very glad to see in their system should Armstrong take the high-potential blueliner in the middle of the first round.
Leo Sahlin Wallenius, LD/Vaxjo Lakers
One of the better scorers at the blue line in the 2024 draft, Leo Sahlin Wallenius also boasts decent size at 6’0, 183 lbs. And wow, did his productivity make a leap this past season, or did it make a leap? Sahlin Wallenius produced just eight points and two goals in J20 Nationell in 2022-23 across 30 games, and he was shut out in the postseason for Vaxjo.
He returned and saw 43 contests in 2023-24, scoring 11 goals and contributing 42 points in the regular season, plus a trio of assists in five playoff games. The leap Sahlin Wallenius made was incredible, to say the least, and it should leave us wondering what he will do in both Sweden and at the international level next season.
Okay, so his play in the offensive zone is good, but what about his defensive game? Defense remains a work in progress, and it’s something sources like Cap Friendly imply in their brief scouting report.
If nothing else, Sahlin Wallenius could at least turn into a player with high-end offense and perhaps serviceable defensive ability that will play to his strengths. It’s not ideal, but for a team like the Blues that has struggled to score, Sahlin Wallenius would make for a welcoming addition to the system, and when he’s deemed ready, the pro ranks.
EJ Emery, RD/USDP
And finally, we got EJ Emery, whose 6’3 frame also stands out, and at 185 lbs, he’s closer to filling out his frame than many prospects who could go in the middle of the first round or even the early second round of the draft. Much like Charlie Elick, Emery isn’t a dynamic points producer, and when his efforts are displayed on the stat sheet, they are almost always in the form of assists.
This past season, Emery scored zero goals across his time in the NTPD (58 games) and the USHL (27 games), and 20 assists. But with such little production in the offensive zone, it’s nothing more than a development opportunity for a player who’s got his defensive game trending in the right direction.
But finding open teammates and letting them go to work in the offensive zone while on the ice could be Emery’s niche. A catalyst for big plays, in other words, and Stefano Rubino of The Hockey Writers provides a phenomenal account of what he does well in the neutral and offensive zones. Overall, it means that players like Emery don’t need to light up the basic stat sheet to show that he’s effective in the offensive zone.
In a way, he reminds me of Ryan Johnson, who has split time between the Buffalo Sabres and Rochester Americans. Johnson never put up the points in college, and that trend has continued to this day, but he creates, and Emery may end up as the same type of player.
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(Statistics provided by Elite Prospects as of May 1st)