The St. Louis Blues have been around for quite some time--nearly 60 years! In that time, there have been dozens of drafts and numerous selections. Some prospects became players, some players became stars, and others are synonymous with parts of hockey history. Today, we're looking at the savviest draft selection the Blues have made since their inception, and the player to highlight falls in that latter category--even though he found most of his success outside of St. Louis.
If you haven't already guessed who it is, it's none other than Doug Gilmour.
Maybe we're reaching a little far back for this exercise (the '80s were quite a different time for hockey), but Gilmour had an iconic career relative to his draft slot: 134th overall, which in those days was the seventh round. Over a 20-year NHL career, Gilmour scored 450 goals, 964 assists, and 1,414 points in 1,474 games, winning one Stanley Cup with the Calgary Flames in 1989--Gilmour even scored the Cup-clinching goal in the third period of Game Six.
Though Gilmour may most often be thought of as a Toronto Maple Leaf (he had his best seasons there, including a Selke-winning 1992-93 season), he was drafted by the Blues and spent his first five seasons in St. Louis. In that time, he posted 149 goals and 354 points, but was traded in 1988 to the Flames for Mike Bullard, Tim Corkery, and Craig Coxe; with hindsight, it's pretty clear who won and lost that trade.
Still, there's no denying that the Blues were the ones that drafted Gilmour in the seventh round of the 1982 draft when so many other teams had passed on him. Different era or not, unearthing a Hall of Famer that late in the draft is still quite the feat, and that makes it the smartest draft pick the Blues have ever made.