After the Montreal Canadiens eliminated the Buffalo Sabres last night, only four teams remain in the Stanley Cup playoffs; the Conference Final matchups are officially set. For the rest of the league, all eyes are on the NHL draft at the end of June--and that means a lot of mock drafts.
We've already recapped two separate first-round mocks from The Athletic's Scott Wheeler and Corey Pronman, and today they gave us a twofer: the pair combined to make picks for the the first and second round. In this format, they alternate picks and, because the Blues only own odd numbered picks, Wheeler ends up making all three decisions for the St. Louis Blues. The Blues have no second-round picks this summer (barring some sort of trade), which is why there are only three selections.
First up, at number 11, Wheeler has the Blues taking center Tynan Lawrence. This would be a homerun for the Blues, as Lawrence was in the top five conversation earlier this season--his offense just never came around as expected. Lawrence still projects as a second-line center (with upside!), and the Blues would have considerable depth at the position with Robert Thomas at the top and Lawrence splitting duties with Dalibor Dvorsky.
At 15th overall, with the Detroit Red Wings' pick, Wheeler gives the Blues another center in Alexander Command. Command had a solid draft year in Sweden and could be a very good middle-six center down the line.
Considering how dominant the Colorado Avalanche have been, they hold the 31st pick of the first round in this mock (the Ottawa Senators are guaranteed number 32, no matter who wins the Cup). Wheeler's final selection for the Blues is...another center, Jack Hextall, who seems likely to stick down the middle at the NHL level.
Between Lawrence, Command, and Hextall, that's three centers for the Blues. Sure, they've prioritized defense and wing in previous drafts, but selecting three pivots would be a bit strange. We'll just have to wait and see how things go on draft day.
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