Post by St. Louis Blues on Aug 17, 2019 22:21:02 GMT -5
On a bored, Saturday night in a new city, I'm in a reflective mood following my recent trade and latest draft selection which will conclude my picks for the 2019 draft.
I'm in the midst of a full on rebuild after taking over St. Louis midseason last year and damn, the team is drastically different than the team I inherited. From the get go, I didn't like the outlook of the team and decided a full blown rebuild was in order and I believe I'm headed in the right direction now. From the original group of 45 players I inherited, only 11 remain. I've completed close to 40 trades to reshape my roster, to add countless picks and prospects that set me up nicely for the future. To see the difference from my present roster to my original roster, reference the below picture.
I wanted to highlight some of the notable moves I've made in my tenure as Blues GM and review the two drafts I've completed.
2018 Draft
With some lottery luck, I moved up from 6th to 3rd and selected Filip Zadina. Although he didn't play the full season like a couple guys I passed on (Brady Tkachuk, Jesperi Kotkaniemi), I still firmly believe Zadina will be a prolific scorer in the league and I am excited to see him develop further. I then packaged a couple picks to move up and select Foudy at 24 which I feel was a steal at that position. Then in the second round, I drafted three defensemen that I'm confident will all develop into solid NHL regulars with high ceilings.
2019 Draft
As part of my rebuild, I've collected as many 1st round picks I could acquire and tried to move up in the draft wherever I could to select higher end talent to accelerate my rebuild. I made the tough decision to flip my own 1st round pick (4th Overall) to LA for his 2020 pick; in hopes of lottery luck next season in a stronger draft class. From there, trading a package of picks to move up to 6th allowed me to select Dylan Cozens who I had been following all year and was thrilled to select. Seider may have been a controversial selection but I felt I shouldn't doubt the NHL scouts, and I am more than happy to add him to my exciting group of defense prospects. Krebs I felt was a top 10 talent so I was excited to grab him at 14. I traded up to select Soderstrom at 17 which I felt was great value given he was selected 11 in reality. Then I traded DAL 2020 1st for 33rd overall and 2020 EDM 3rd, which I then flipped for 76th Overall. Getting to select two forwards I highly coveted in Holmstrom and Legare who I thought would be drafted earlier, I was ecstatic to add them to my prospect pool.
I have seen quite a bit of turnover in my roster and some notable players who were temporarily St. Louis Blues (not on original roster) include Kris Letang, Brayden Point, Jeff Skinner, Zach Parise, Tomas Tatar, Bobby Ryan, Mattieau Perrault, Thomas Vanek, Antii Ranta, Philip Grubauer, Thomas Greiss. Additionally, some of the notable prospects I have acquired via trade include:
Here's hoping to some lottery luck next season and that my prospects take huge leaps in their development. Good luck to everyone next season; I hope you all beat me every game! #TankForLafreniere
Also, big shoutout to San Jose Sharks for recommending I join OG from the former Topshelf League. I'm hooked and I have wasted countless hours checking my laptop when I should have been studying my courses...thankfully I graduated and can now waste time at work instead!!
I'm in the midst of a full on rebuild after taking over St. Louis midseason last year and damn, the team is drastically different than the team I inherited. From the get go, I didn't like the outlook of the team and decided a full blown rebuild was in order and I believe I'm headed in the right direction now. From the original group of 45 players I inherited, only 11 remain. I've completed close to 40 trades to reshape my roster, to add countless picks and prospects that set me up nicely for the future. To see the difference from my present roster to my original roster, reference the below picture.
I wanted to highlight some of the notable moves I've made in my tenure as Blues GM and review the two drafts I've completed.
2018 Draft
- 3rd Overall-Filip Zadina
- 24th Overall-Liam Foudy
- 32nd Overall-Nicolas Beaudin
- 34th Overall-Bode Wilde
- 46th Overall-Calen Addison
With some lottery luck, I moved up from 6th to 3rd and selected Filip Zadina. Although he didn't play the full season like a couple guys I passed on (Brady Tkachuk, Jesperi Kotkaniemi), I still firmly believe Zadina will be a prolific scorer in the league and I am excited to see him develop further. I then packaged a couple picks to move up and select Foudy at 24 which I feel was a steal at that position. Then in the second round, I drafted three defensemen that I'm confident will all develop into solid NHL regulars with high ceilings.
2019 Draft
- 6th Overall-Dylan Cozens
- 8th Overall-Moritz Seider
- 14th Overall-Peyton Krebs
- 17th Overall-Victor Soderstrom
- 33rd Overall-Simon Holmstrom
- 76th Overall-Nathan Legare
As part of my rebuild, I've collected as many 1st round picks I could acquire and tried to move up in the draft wherever I could to select higher end talent to accelerate my rebuild. I made the tough decision to flip my own 1st round pick (4th Overall) to LA for his 2020 pick; in hopes of lottery luck next season in a stronger draft class. From there, trading a package of picks to move up to 6th allowed me to select Dylan Cozens who I had been following all year and was thrilled to select. Seider may have been a controversial selection but I felt I shouldn't doubt the NHL scouts, and I am more than happy to add him to my exciting group of defense prospects. Krebs I felt was a top 10 talent so I was excited to grab him at 14. I traded up to select Soderstrom at 17 which I felt was great value given he was selected 11 in reality. Then I traded DAL 2020 1st for 33rd overall and 2020 EDM 3rd, which I then flipped for 76th Overall. Getting to select two forwards I highly coveted in Holmstrom and Legare who I thought would be drafted earlier, I was ecstatic to add them to my prospect pool.
I have seen quite a bit of turnover in my roster and some notable players who were temporarily St. Louis Blues (not on original roster) include Kris Letang, Brayden Point, Jeff Skinner, Zach Parise, Tomas Tatar, Bobby Ryan, Mattieau Perrault, Thomas Vanek, Antii Ranta, Philip Grubauer, Thomas Greiss. Additionally, some of the notable prospects I have acquired via trade include:
- Quinn Hughes
- Cody Glass
- Erik Brannstrom
- Timothy Liljgren
- Jared McIssac
- Isac Lundestrom
- Taylor Raddysh
- Tyler Benson
Here's hoping to some lottery luck next season and that my prospects take huge leaps in their development. Good luck to everyone next season; I hope you all beat me every game! #TankForLafreniere
Also, big shoutout to San Jose Sharks for recommending I join OG from the former Topshelf League. I'm hooked and I have wasted countless hours checking my laptop when I should have been studying my courses...thankfully I graduated and can now waste time at work instead!!
