The St. Louis Blues made a trade during the first round of the 2026 NHL Draft, and it was a big one. In General Manager and President of Hockey Operations, Doug Armstrong, final draft in charge, they acquired Mason McTavish from Anaheim.
In doing so, the timeline for the retooling phase has been adjusted a bit. Did it go forward, or did it fall back a bit? The answer is quite simple, really.
Full steam ahead toward the Stanley Cup
Not to say that one move pushes this Blues team into the contender category, but it is hard to ignore the fact that they are closer than where they were before the trade happened. Both sides won in this deal, as the 23-year-old center needed a fresh start.
The last time we saw a move between the Ducks and Blues was with the Cam Fowler trade, which is hovering around a 50% success rate after last season's rough outing. But that should not deter the idea of this McTavish deal making complete sense.
He is an established player, that has four full seasons in the NHL and inside the new core's age group of under-25. McTavish was a steady high-40s to low-50s in point production, but there is a major chance for improvement with the solid group of wingers that the Blues have. It is all going to come down to where head coach Jim Montgomery decides to place him.
Down the middle, the Blues are going to have an interesting internal competition for who goes where. A lot of new faces, and that is a great thing to have.
With Justin Carbonneau potentially making his way to the Blues in 2026-27, as well as Otto Stenberg entering his second year in the NHL, that could be a line for next season, alongside the new guy.
The Blues' timeline back to the playoffs just got accelerated a good bit with McTavish coming over. It is not going to be a complete turnaround, but the championship window just got a little more open.
Add us as a preferred source on Google