The St. Louis Blues are in a perplexing spot for the upcoming 2025 NHL Entry Draft. Right now, the club sits 11th in the Western Conference and 5th in the Wild Card with 55 points on the season. The organization could find themselves on the couch watching the postseason for the third consecutive season, potentially drafting inside of the top 10 selections for the first time since 2008 when they drafted defenseman Alex Pietrangelo fourth overall.
To make matters worse, the front office has only one pick in the first four rounds and three selections in the seven-round draft.
With the Blues on a break due to the Four Nations Tournament, there will be no movement in the standings until the Blues take on the Winnipeg Jets and the Colorado Avalanche in a back-to-back weekend against Central Division opponents.
This coming draft leads to many possibilities and scenarios, such as drafting high-end prospects Victor Eklund, Roger McQueen, and Jackson Smith to help bolster their prospect pool.
The Blues could find themselves drafting higher than eighth overall, with the NHL lottery doing its thing and pushing the team higher on the draft board, leaving them with potential options like Porter Malone, James Hagens, and Michael Misa if the lottery pushes them into the top-five selections. It is unlikely, but certainly a scenario, but one that could happen.
General Manager Doug Armstrong and soon-to-be General Manager Alexander Steen could opt to go with the best player available or draft from a position of need to help balance their club's depth chart. They could even trade down and add more draft picks throughout the draft if they feel a trade is a better option for the organization.
With up-and-coming top forward prospects like Dalibor Dvorsky, Jimmy Snuggerud, and Otto Stenberg, along with defensemen like Theo Lindstein, Adam Jiricek, Lukas Fischer, and others who could find themselves scattered throughout the lineup on any given night, the Blues have reinforcements coming. The question becomes how foundational the Blues believe these players will be to their organization.
St. Louis is in an interesting transitional spot within their organization that will need to determine who the future of their organization will be, not only with the upcoming prospects but also with the players in their nightly lineup. Recent player acquisitions in Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway have provided hope for the organization's future. They join the likes of Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, and Jake Neighbours as the next generation of Blues stars and cornerstone pieces. With a wide range of prospects in the organization, not every prospect will make their way to the NHL wearing a Blues uniform.
The coming draft can provide the Blues with another star-studded potential player joining their ranks, or multiple, depending on how the front office approaches their first-round selection. However, the team may be in a better spot than many believe, especially on draft day.