The Biggest Draft Mistake The St. Louis Blues Ever Made

[TBone]

It's the dog days of the off-season and real Blues news is scarce.

Just something to spark a little debate or conversation.

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The biggest draft mistake the St. Louis Blues ever made

Sometimes it's picking the wrong player, sometimes it's trading up or back, but this was the worst decision the Blues ever made regarding the draft.

By Joe DeMarini
Jul 28, 2025

Earlier this month, we looked at the worst draft pick in Blues franchise history--and to be honest, it's hard not to pick the same thing for this broader exercise.

The good news: the Blues don't make many mistakes at the draft, whether it's the picks themselves, swapping picks in the order, or moving players on and off the roster in larger transactions. The bad news: not everyone gets it right all the time, and this is one instance the Blues sorta whiffed.

Honorable mention goes to the 2009 draft, where the Blues selected David Rundblad 17th overall, and Chris Kreider went two spots later; on the bright side, Ryan O'Reilly (who went 33rd that year) wound up on the Blues at the right time.

That means we're going to look at the 2014 draft as the organization's worst draft mistake--at least in recent memory.

https://bleedinblue.com/the-biggest-dra ... -ever-made

[steve li]

Thinking 1983 might lead the list...

[BobbyOrr]

Eric Johnson

Nothing puts a franchise behind like Wiffing on a # 1 pick in the draft, Nothing.

[MrPostman01]

Eric Johnson

Nothing puts a franchise behind like Wiffing on a # 1 pick in the draft, Nothing.

Don't blame me. I would have drafted Phil Kessel.

Look at round 1!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_NHL_entry_draft

[BalotelliMassive]

Eric Johnson

Nothing puts a franchise behind like Wiffing on a # 1 pick in the draft, Nothing.

The only whiff involved was telling the team to get hammered and play golf...

[mlbensinger]

Thinking 1983 might lead the list...

That's my thought as well.

[Old_Goat]

First place -- 2006 with the one chance in 5 of making a bad choice... Eric Johnson. We needed an impact Centerman real bad and passed on Jordan Stahl, Jonathan Toews and Nicklas Backstrom, followed by pure scorer Phil Kessel. And yes, you just cannot miss so bad in picking #1 overall. You have to assess their overall emotional maturity and decision-making, as well as giving attention to their approach to preparation, training, development and mentoring. Big body, small brain.

Second place -- 1973 with Gene Carr at #4. He looked cool, that was about it.

Emotionally 1983 may seem like a miss, but the reality is the Blues had traded away their first 2 Rounds draft picks. After pick #48, which would have been the Blues' first opportunity in the 3rd Round, about the only players of significance taken in later rounds were Marc Bergevin and Essa Tikanen, whom both eventually made it to the Blues, as well as Rick Tocchet...but he was so late that you really can call it luck rather than a fail.

[Nublues69]

Eric Johnson

Nothing puts a franchise behind like Wiffing on a # 1 pick in the draft, Nothing.

The only whiff involved was telling the team to get hammered and play golf...

That was a cover up story, He was hammered and stepped off a curb at the strip club and damaged his knee. I knew the equipment managers assist at the time.

[SRV1990]

Eric Johnson

Nothing puts a franchise behind like Wiffing on a # 1 pick in the draft, Nothing.

The only whiff involved was telling the team to get hammered and play golf...

Johnson was literally the consensus #1 by just about every low-level, mid-level and top hockey "expert" who covered the draft at the time. It's fine to judge how everything played out, post-golf outing. But the pick at the time was the right pick.

[TheJackBurton]

Robby Fabbri doesn't come close to our biggest draft whiff.

He was headed for top 6 winger who would get about 60 or so points regularly until his knee injury.

It's easy to say you whiffed on Pastnak because of what he has become, but there's no definitive proof he would have been that with us, being in that Boston lineup with Bergeron helped him a ton.

I'd say modern age the worst 1st round pick we made was Jordan Schmaltz. We got absolutely nothing from that pick and he played a grand total of 42 games in the NHL. Hell our 3rd rounder was our best pick in that draft.

Now the 2012 draft overall was a bad one, but Brady Skjei went 3 picks later which would have been a far better selection.

[netboy65]

Drafting Keith Osbourne over Joe Sakic.

We’d have been better off drafting Ozzy Osbourne

[blues2112]

Eric Johnson

Nothing puts a franchise behind like Wiffing on a # 1 pick in the draft, Nothing.

The only whiff involved was telling the team to get hammered and play golf...

Johnson was literally the consensus #1 by just about every low-level, mid-level and top hockey "expert" who covered the draft at the time. It's fine to judge how everything played out, post-golf outing. But the pick at the time was the right pick.

100 percent.

[leedog68]

Yes, passing on Sakic. For that matter, how many times did they (and everyone else) pass on Datsyuk?

[SRV1990]

Yes, passing on Sakic. For that matter, how many times did they (and everyone else) pass on Datsyuk?

Datsyuk was drafted in the 6th round, 171st overall. So not only did every team make a huge mistake not drafting him, every team including Detroit, did it five times over! Unbelievable.

[moose-and-squirrel]

Yes, passing on Sakic. For that matter, how many times did they (and everyone else) pass on Datsyuk?

Datsyuk was drafted in the 6th round, 171st overall. So not only did every team make a huge mistake not drafting him, every team including Detroit, did it five times over! Unbelievable.

not so unbelievable when you consider the chances a russian would actually make the trip at the time

[STL fan in MN]

Worst draft pick was EJ. Worst draft mistake was not attending the 1983 draft. Fabbri really shouldn’t belong anywhere near the top of either list.