Will the St. Louis Blues Ever Draft Inside the Top Five Again?
By Kyle Graden
Believe it or not, it's now been sixteen years since the St. Louis Blues drafted Alex Pietrangelo with the 4th overall selection in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Two years prior they took Erik Johnson with the first overall pick. One of those players was the captain for their Stanley Cup winning roster which begs the question: How long will Blues' fans have to wait for another chance at acquiring top talent via the traditional method of drafting?
The recent acquisitions of Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg were made by Doug Armstrong to try and bolster a roster that just missed the playoffs with 92 points. By all definitions this was the example of an average year as the Blues finished 16th out of 32 teams in league point standings.
The core of Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Pavel Buchnevich, Brayden Schenn, Colton Parayko, and Jordan Binnington is a solid one to be sure. Will the rise of young forwards, a solid goalie tandem, and an influx of blue line talent be enough to catapult St. Louis past this mid point yet to be seen, however there is no denying that an elite talent would dramatically improve these chances.
Historically, other than the mentioned Pietrangelo and Johnson, you would have to go all the way back to 1989 to see a selection by St. Louis with a single digit next to the selection slot. That was Jason Marshall who was picked at #9 and would only play in TWO games for the Blues ever (67 total points in over 500 NHL games). Of note is the draft in 1988 where I'm sure fans wish Rod Brind'Amour played more than two seasons for the Blues (he was the 9th pick in 1988 for St. Louis).
The only way to get into the possibility of drafting near the top is unfortunately by losing (obviously) as the bottom eleven teams all now have a chance to select 1st overall. Will the Blues in the near future be one of these teams? If you look at the St. Louis Blues' history, the answer is unlikely.