The Blues entered the 2026 Draft with four first-round picks, and all expectations were that a deal was going to be made that sent anywhere from one to all of those picks out for another player.
With a ton of rumors leading up to the draft surrounding Matthew Knies, Elias Pettersson, or trading up to second overall, the Blues wound up making a mid-draft trade for the Ducks’ Mason McTavish.
Grading the McTavish trade
After a lot of speculation throughout the day, it took until halfway through the first round for the Blues to finally move the 15th and 29th overall picks for Mason McTavish. McTavish has a very high offensive upside, but his skating and defensive metrics also do raise concern.
Though McTavish has high upside, having been drafted third overall in 2021, admittedly it was frustrating to see the more proven Pavel Dorofeyev and JJ Peterka go for as much or less than McTavish.
McTavish certainly has the upside to fill what they wanted, but giving up two first-round picks for a project player could backfire, especially when there was talk about the Blues making a move for players like Matthew Knies or Jason Robertson. Though it's easy to be critical, it's also important to remember that the draft had majorly thinned out by the time it got to 15th overall and there wasn't an incredible prospect just sitting there waiting to be taken and their chances of finding a star or even and NHL contributor at 29th overall would've been very slim.
Grade: B-
Selecting Tynan Lawrence
Selecting Lawrence at 11th overall is a very typical pick for Armstrong: a high-floor center with a high hockey IQ. Seeing him drafted at 11th overall at least somewhat mirrors the Dalibor Dvorsky pick at 10th overall in 2023.
Lawrence is fair value at 11, and there’s no player who was far and away better left on the board. The Blues pretty clearly wanted to take a center in this draft, and they’ve done a lot of work this offseason upgrading that position.
I like Lawrence and, again, there was no major player they missed out on. I still would’ve liked to see them take a swing on a player with a higher ceiling and then maybe hope Lawrence was still there at 15 or 16, but overall I can’t complain too much.
Grade: B
Selecting Maddox Dagenais
The Blues made a pretty surprising move by taking another center at 16, but Dagenais is a very different prospect. Dagenais is a project pick for the Blues, but given the depth they’ve built at the position, they can likely afford that risk.
Dagenais has a very high-potential shot and a really good frame. He has a chance to be a very complete player and arguably has an even higher ceiling than Lawrence despite the added risk.
I like Dagenais as a prospect, but with the team now having Mason McTavish, Dalibor Dvorsky, Connor McMichael, and now Tynan Lawrence all hoping to be middle-six forwards for the Blues in the future, the room is crowded. Although this newfound depth is a good problem to have, the Blues completely neglected their need for an elite defenseman to pair with Philip Broberg.
Grade: B-
Overall, it was a day with a lot of optimism that the Blues would bring in a future star, and unfortunately, that didn’t happen. They still brought in Mason McTavish and two solid center prospects, but it was a steep price to pay for McTavish and it feels like with four first round picks there was potential to bring in a bigger star.
Because they needed defensive help and didn’t pick up a single defenseman via trade or the draft with their four first-round picks, they’ve attempted to close some holes by opening others, all while still likely failing to find their franchise guy.
Grade: B-
Add us as a preferred source on Google