Should The Blues Consider Trading Back at the NHL Draft?

[TBone]

Should the Blues consider trading back at the NHL Draft?

By Joe DeMarini
June 14, 2025

Yesterday, we looked at ways the St. Louis Blues could move up in the draft order, if any teams were willing and the Blues could find the right mix of assets to make it happen. We've also talked about which prospects might be available at 19th overall, and that the Blues would likely get a good prospect there, too. Today, we're going to assess whether trading back would make sense for the Blues.

As we all well know, the Blues used their 2025 2nd- and 3rd-round picks last summer to offer sheet Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway; they also used their 2025 4th-round pick to acquire Alexandre Texier from the Columbus Blue Jackets, and their 7th-round pick was used to acquire Jakub Vrana two years ago. All told, the Blues have picks in the first, fifth, and sixth rounds of the 2025 draft.

Dropping down a few slots in the draft order to get an extra pick in the second or third round could be a way to fortify the pipeline with more prospects and still get a promising young player. So, which teams could the Blues talk to?

https://bleedinblue.com/should-the-blue ... jxn48pcwt8

[moose-and-squirrel]

Should the Blues consider trading back at the NHL Draft?

By Joe DeMarini
June 14, 2025

Yesterday, we looked at ways the St. Louis Blues could move up in the draft order, if any teams were willing and the Blues could find the right mix of assets to make it happen. We've also talked about which prospects might be available at 19th overall, and that the Blues would likely get a good prospect there, too. Today, we're going to assess whether trading back would make sense for the Blues.

As we all well know, the Blues used their 2025 2nd- and 3rd-round picks last summer to offer sheet Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway; they also used their 2025 4th-round pick to acquire Alexandre Texier from the Columbus Blue Jackets, and their 7th-round pick was used to acquire Jakub Vrana two years ago. All told, the Blues have picks in the first, fifth, and sixth rounds of the 2025 draft.

Dropping down a few slots in the draft order to get an extra pick in the second or third round could be a way to fortify the pipeline with more prospects and still get a promising young player. So, which teams could the Blues talk to?

https://bleedinblue.com/should-the-blue ... jxn48pcwt8

why spend assets to get more pics in a meh draft? think some forget that we had a lot of picks last year in a good draft year. we're not hurting for prospects

[Old_Goat]

Should the Blues consider trading back at the NHL Draft?

By Joe DeMarini
June 14, 2025

Yesterday, we looked at ways the St. Louis Blues could move up in the draft order, if any teams were willing and the Blues could find the right mix of assets to make it happen. We've also talked about which prospects might be available at 19th overall, and that the Blues would likely get a good prospect there, too. Today, we're going to assess whether trading back would make sense for the Blues.

As we all well know, the Blues used their 2025 2nd- and 3rd-round picks last summer to offer sheet Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway; they also used their 2025 4th-round pick to acquire Alexandre Texier from the Columbus Blue Jackets, and their 7th-round pick was used to acquire Jakub Vrana two years ago. All told, the Blues have picks in the first, fifth, and sixth rounds of the 2025 draft.

Dropping down a few slots in the draft order to get an extra pick in the second or third round could be a way to fortify the pipeline with more prospects and still get a promising young player. So, which teams could the Blues talk to?

https://bleedinblue.com/should-the-blue ... jxn48pcwt8

We don't need more fodder. We need to try and get the best skilled big RHD available at 19th pick.

[STL fan in MN]

It’d have to be a very narrow set of circumstances for it to make sense to trade back IMO. This draft is already relatively shallow so most of the better players will be gone by 19 anyway. Moving back would pretty much guarantee we miss those guys and have to take someone a tier or two lower.

We also have a very deep prospect pool currently. We need to be focusing on quality, not quantity. I’d just keep the 1st as is…or maybe even look to move up if possible if someone like Reschny is falling.

[JoshInFenton]

Trading back is interesting. I would be OK trading back 1 or 2 picks if we feel like the tier of players we want at the pick are gone, and we have 2 or 3 guys that we are equally comfortable in or are close enough to equally comfortable with that we can live with not getting to pick which one of them it is. We would also need to find a partner for that deal that would want to give us at or above the value of that pick in compensation. I would be ok as well with trading it for an asset directly, as i am not really convinced that someone we really like that make sense for the club will be there by that pick.

I don't quite share the same opinion of our prospect depth. While it is very strong in 1 or 2 positions, it's more moderate or perhaps even kinda poor in other spots, so i'm not of the opinion that there are zero circumstances in which trading back makes sense. However, i do agree that we are probably looking to make that turn into a push for a deeper playoff run and that the quantity of assets doesn't necessarily as much sense as the quality.

[seattleblue]

Three spots are strong, LW, LD, RW

Scoring center - 1 excellent prospect + 1 excellent roster player
Defensive center - 1 prospect who was injured most of the year

RHD there's a 1st round pick there who has years to go and question marks. Meanwhile the roster RD isn't good enough to be a Cup contender and getting older.

You would only trade back in the draft or trade the pick entirely if you could use it to make yourself immediately better on the roster at one of the weaker spots. Also I agree the Blues are sitting toward the end of a prospect talent ledge in the first round.

[Bluesfan1978]

With the amount of prospects the Blues currently have I’d like to see them starting to trade up each draft to grab a 10-15 first rounder from whatever their current position is.

[MandatoryDenial]

No we shouldn’t consider this at all, I could see us drafting or trading the pick away in a package in order to fit a team need. Those in my opinion are the only two likely, realistic options.

[hockey jedi]

We should be considering all possibilities. Until you know who you can draft, how can you make a determination?

[dhsux]

We should be considering all possibilities. Until you know who you can draft, how can you make a determination?

Agree....everything should be on the table and I bet DA is doing just that.

I agree with a lot of the logic as to how it might go (not likely) but that's different than "should" the Blues consider trading back.

Yes, they should if a good upside deal for this franchise is there for them.

[skilles]

Three spots are strong, LW, LD, RW

Scoring center - 1 excellent prospect + 1 excellent roster player
Defensive center - 1 prospect who was injured most of the year

RHD there's a 1st round pick there who has years to go and question marks. Meanwhile the roster RD isn't good enough to be a Cup contender and getting older.

You would only trade back in the draft or trade the pick entirely if you could use it to make yourself immediately better on the roster at one of the weaker spots. Also I agree the Blues are sitting toward the end of a prospect talent ledge in the first round.

I'd be looking to combine LW and our 1st for a high quality RD prospect

[TheJackBurton]

Problem with trading up is we don't have the picks to trade up since we don't have a 2nd or a 3rd this year, or a 2nd rounder for the 2 years after that.

If you are trading up it's going to involve a prospect most likely.

Who do we have that a team would be willing to trade for to move say 5 spots up in the draft? No one we want to give up really.

I would much rather if we are trading a prospect use it for a current NHL player that we want and need.

[Pierre McGuire]

We should trade the pick to try and upgrade our roster

[stanw]

I saw on another board the Rangers were open to maybe moving Braden Schneider -- 23 years old right d-man// 6.4 214lbs
was a 1st round pick in 2020 .already has four years in the NHL under his belt -- a good match ? this year's Broberg.
Would you trade this years 19 overall for him ?

[STL fan in MN]

I saw on another board the Rangers were open to maybe moving Braden Schneider -- 23 years old right d-man// 6.4 214lbs
was a 1st round pick in 2020 .already has four years in the NHL under his belt -- a good match ? this year's Broberg.
Would you trade this years 19 overall for him ?

He doesn’t have Broberg potential but he himself was a 19th overall pick. A solid 3rd pairing guy. Probably worth about that same amount today. But not sure he’s the right fit though. But worth a thought.

[TBone]

We should be considering all possibilities. Until you know who you can draft, how can you make a determination?

Agree....everything should be on the table and I bet DA is doing just that.

I agree with a lot of the logic as to how it might go (not likely) but that's different than "should" the Blues consider trading back.

Yes, they should if a good upside deal for this franchise is there for them.

Philadelphia has a ton of picks and is supposed to have their eyes on 6'5" G Joshua Ravensbergen. I've seen him going shortly after the Blues at 19, sometimes to Carolina at 20. If there are two players we love I wonder if DA could get Philly to move up two slots to take him?

Otherwise the Blues haven't played games on draft day if their targets are there.