The St. Louis Blues have found a new stride thanks to last season's conslusion. A team that was not supposed to be anywhere close to playoff contention nearly took out the Presidents' Trophy winners in seven games. One thing became abundantly clear when they were eliminated, the Blues cannot afford to waste the 2025 NHL Draft with a bad decision.
Let's talk about what bad decision's that could be.
Outlandish draft pick
The first way that the Blues can spoil this draft on June 27 is by choosing a player that is nowhere close to being picked. For instance, nearly every writer and contributor to the great sport of Hockey has completed a mock draft or 12, going over the plethora of prospects and "guessing" where they will land at each pick.
The Blues cannot deviate from the pack and pick a player that is supposed to go in the second or third round with their selection at #19. Searching for a diamond in the rough can sometimes bring good fortune, but most of the time, it is a sense of false hope.
Trade away the pick
With the nineteenth pick, it is entirely possible for the Blues to either try and trade up or down in this draft. Should they choose to move it for either an established NHLer or to get rid of a player of their own in hopes of drafting at a lower position to grab a big-name star, the Blues have to be careful it does not come back and bite them.
Moving down makes so much more sense, as the Blues should not be trying to move any of their core players around for a better prospect. This organization has a solid prospect pool at the moment, and the nineteenth pick has generated some fantastic NHL players in the past.
The Blues must stick-and-pick where they are, and keep their core players intact with a potentially great draft pick at the current position in the draft. Sure, they can profit from trading down, but their next addition very well could not work out, and the Blues are out of a draft pick.
This nineteenth pick, much like Dalibor Dvorsky and Jimmy Snuggerud from years past, will have an impact on the future of this Blues team. Right now, they have a chance to compete night in and night out for a chance to make the playoffs at the end of the year. Which means that if they want to have more cracks at lifting the Stanley Cup, they need to have young up-and-comers ready in the prospect pool to replace the current aging Blues.
This draft cannot go astray, and it must be a very successful one.