Anatomy Of The Draft 2026 Premieres At 10 AM Right Here

[TBone]

I'll be sliding down to the Triple Rock for a little churchin' up, but here's the link if you want to watch it live.

Disclaimer: The video above is hosted on Youtube, and has not be reviewed by the staff of the Post-Dispatch.

[Boomac]

Thank you for sharing; it had not popped up in my YouTube feed.

[John Cocktoastin]

Thanks, TBone!

Big Walt with the 40 goal bomb for Maddox Dagenais.

Also they were curious about mocks and their ranking for him. That surprised me.

Look forward to this every year. So cool.

[Bluesfan1978]

I found it interesting that the Devils were willing to move the 12th pick and. a 2nd rounder for picks 15 and 29. Also Keith saying it's a good day if they land McTavish. Feltrin is a hard guy to get a read on. I assume it was Cullen they were discussing being a jumper at the start of the meetings?

[TheHighHat]

That was very interesting.

I'm assuming they were talking about Cullen very early in the video because of the mention of growth spurt.
It seems that Feltrin was talking about Cullen having star potential.

I'm sure Tony was on board for Lawrence once Cullen was selected the pick before the Blues.
I would have loved to see more of the internal debate between those 2 players, but they have to edit that kind of stuff out for obvious reasons.

Either I heard it wrong or Army misspoke regarding the timeline of last years draft and the Mailloux acquisition.

Before the McTavish trade, it appears NJ was offering 12 & 35 for 15 & 29.
Feltrin didn't seem to have a player he loved at 12 so they passed.

They knew they were reaching a bit for Dagenais at 16 but a handful of guys loved him.
Again, there had to be other players that were debated but we'll never know their names.

Army was prepared to trade both 15 & 16 for immediate NHL help.

I wish we would have heard Cronin's view of McTavish before the trade.
It's impossible to know how much discussion Army had with Cronin and his pro scouts once McTavish was in play.

[Pierre McGuire]

Sounds like that second pick was between Dagenais and Suvanto and they preferred Dagenais by a wide margin.

[a smell of green grass]

My observations:

1) Everyone in the room agrees with me that TOP5 and TOP10 picks are easily a cut above. After that, it is dart throws for 3rd-liners.

2) Army obsesses about "age group". I hope that now that Army is "upstairs", I never hear that again.

3) I hope that the Blues have the good sense to NOT RECORD these meetings going forward. It stifles the conversation. Dumb, dumb move. I don't care to hear this chit chat. Instead, tell me how the 2023 prospects are doing every month.

[The Average Gatsby]

I found it interesting that the Devils were willing to move the 12th pick and. a 2nd rounder for picks 15 and 29. Also Keith saying it's a good day if they land McTavish. Feltrin is a hard guy to get a read on. I assume it was Cullen they were discussing being a jumper at the start of the meetings?

It was definitely Cullen they were discussing. Army didn’t seem convinced.

[Bluesfan1978]

That was very interesting.

I'm assuming they were talking about Cullen very early in the video because of the mention of growth spurt.
It seems that Feltrin was talking about Cullen having star potential.

I'm sure Tony was on board for Lawrence once Cullen was selected the pick before the Blues.
I would have loved to see more of the internal debate between those 2 players, but they have to edit that kind of stuff out for obvious reasons.

Either I heard it wrong or Army misspoke regarding the timeline of last years draft and the Mailloux acquisition.

Before the McTavish trade, it appears NJ was offering 12 & 35 for 15 & 29.
Feltrin didn't seem to have a player he loved at 12 so they passed.

They knew they were reaching a bit for Dagenais at 16 but a handful of guys loved him.
Again, there had to be other players that were debated but we'll never know their names.

Army was prepared to trade both 15 & 16 for immediate NHL help.

I wish we would have heard Cronin's view of McTavish before the trade.
It's impossible to know how much discussion Army had with Cronin and his pro scouts once McTavish was in play.

Feltrin also thought there was 60% chance Nashville would take Lawrence.

[UMR-alum-05]

First of all thanks for posting.

I'll throw some unordered random thoughts out.

I was shocked at how much influence big Walt seems to have. Not that I don't think he deserves it. I just didn't realize that was the case.

Sounded to me like some scouts raved about Cullen but Armstrong was never quite convinced, and he seemed concerned about the rapid jump. Feltrin was clearly pro Cullen IMO.

Everyone seemed to be pro Lawrence. Feltrin. All the other scouts questioned.

I don't think the scouting team and Feltrin were too happy to trade two of the picks. Definitely not to trade 15. But hey that's life in the big city. I was kind of shocked at how quickly they blew off doing the 12 and 35 for 15 and 29 option. They obviously were never high of Gustaffson or Command or they'd have made that trade. In fairness, after already taking Lawrence maybe there were high on Command but didn't see the need to double up. My comment on Gus I think rings true. They easily could have had him and didn't want to do it whatsoever.

Seemed like Armstrong wasn't sure on Dagenais, but Feltrin and Walt seemed to believe in his upside potential so they seemed to push that issue despite scrutiny from Doug.

Didn't hear Steen speak much in the video. Maybe once or twice at most.

Interesting watch

[Jobafish]

I found it interesting that the Devils were willing to move the 12th pick and. a 2nd rounder for picks 15 and 29. Also Keith saying it's a good day if they land McTavish. Feltrin is a hard guy to get a read on. I assume it was Cullen they were discussing being a jumper at the start of the meetings?

It was definitely Cullen they were discussing. Army didn’t seem convinced.

I actually don’t think they were talking about Cullen. They mentioned the player had let his team in scoring as a 16yr old in the ushl. Lawrence played for the lumberjacks as a 16yr old and led the team in scoring. Then they mentioned the player being hurt and then going to BU and it seemed like they thought since he played better at the end of season that it was because he was finally fully recovered from the injury at end of season. Just my take on it. I felt like Lawrence was their guy, but I’m sure Cullen was in the mix. I honestly wanted Cullen, but now I am glad they got Lawrence. The more I read about him the more I love. I also think dagenais ends up a top 6 winger who can fill in at center as needed. Love what they did this year at the draft.

[Phil McCrakin]

Thanks, TBone!

Big Walt with the 40 goal bomb for Maddox Dagenais.

Also they were curious about mocks and their ranking for him. That surprised me.

Look forward to this every year. So cool.

About Big Walt. If you remember on the TAOTD 2024 Army calls Walt over and basically says if the next 4 go bang, bang, and we're sitting at 16 and our guys not there we'll look like idiots (i believe he's talking Jiricek not being there at 16). Walt tells him " it's not going to get to that. I promise you." Then 2 days before the 2026 draft Big Walt says it's pretty much a guarantee Blues get Lawrence at 11. I know it's not anything earth shattering but I think Army takes stock in Big Walts opinion and thats why he is senior advisor to Army. Just my take.

[STL fan in MN]

I found it interesting that the Devils were willing to move the 12th pick and. a 2nd rounder for picks 15 and 29. Also Keith saying it's a good day if they land McTavish. Feltrin is a hard guy to get a read on. I assume it was Cullen they were discussing being a jumper at the start of the meetings?

It was definitely Cullen they were discussing. Army didn’t seem convinced.

I actually don’t think they were talking about Cullen. They mentioned the player had let his team in scoring as a 16yr old in the ushl. Lawrence played for the lumberjacks as a 16yr old and led the team in scoring. Then they mentioned the player being hurt and then going to BU and it seemed like they thought since he played better at the end of season that it was because he was finally fully recovered from the injury at end of season. Just my take on it. I felt like Lawrence was their guy, but I’m sure Cullen was in the mix. I honestly wanted Cullen, but now I am glad they got Lawrence. The more I read about him the more I love. I also think dagenais ends up a top 6 winger who can fill in at center as needed. Love what they did this year at the draft.

They were 100% talking about Cullen at the beginning. Tbey referenced a physical growth spurt, a rapid rise up the rankings and how a blowout win against the Swedes was a throwaway game for the player they were discussing, ie. they didn’t really want to count his performance in that game since the other team didn’t really show up to play. It was Team USA that blew out the Swedes in that game (even though the Swedes went on to win the Gold). Cullen played for USA, Lawrence played for Canada. It was 100% Cullen that Feltrin was raving about and said had star potential. And I agree with him. I had Cullen higher than Lawrence as well.

That said, Lawrence was also a good pick and also has a bright future. But I think this clearly showed Feltrin preferred Cullen. Whether the rest of the scouting staff held the same opinion wasn’t really covered

[skilles]

I found it interesting that the Devils were willing to move the 12th pick and. a 2nd rounder for picks 15 and 29. Also Keith saying it's a good day if they land McTavish. Feltrin is a hard guy to get a read on. I assume it was Cullen they were discussing being a jumper at the start of the meetings?

It was definitely Cullen they were discussing. Army didn’t seem convinced.

I actually don’t think they were talking about Cullen. They mentioned the player had let his team in scoring as a 16yr old in the ushl. Lawrence played for the lumberjacks as a 16yr old and led the team in scoring. Then they mentioned the player being hurt and then going to BU and it seemed like they thought since he played better at the end of season that it was because he was finally fully recovered from the injury at end of season. Just my take on it. I felt like Lawrence was their guy, but I’m sure Cullen was in the mix. I honestly wanted Cullen, but now I am glad they got Lawrence. The more I read about him the more I love. I also think dagenais ends up a top 6 winger who can fill in at center as needed. Love what they did this year at the draft.

They were discussing 2 different players Cullen and Lawrence.

[Bluesfan1978]

I found it interesting that the Devils were willing to move the 12th pick and. a 2nd rounder for picks 15 and 29. Also Keith saying it's a good day if they land McTavish. Feltrin is a hard guy to get a read on. I assume it was Cullen they were discussing being a jumper at the start of the meetings?

It was definitely Cullen they were discussing. Army didn’t seem convinced.

I actually don’t think they were talking about Cullen. They mentioned the player had let his team in scoring as a 16yr old in the ushl. Lawrence played for the lumberjacks as a 16yr old and led the team in scoring. Then they mentioned the player being hurt and then going to BU and it seemed like they thought since he played better at the end of season that it was because he was finally fully recovered from the injury at end of season. Just my take on it. I felt like Lawrence was their guy, but I’m sure Cullen was in the mix. I honestly wanted Cullen, but now I am glad they got Lawrence. The more I read about him the more I love. I also think dagenais ends up a top 6 winger who can fill in at center as needed. Love what they did this year at the draft.

The part you’re referring to they were discussing Lawrence. The part about the growth spurt and how the player did against Sweden in n the 10-1 game was about Cullen. The game was actually 9-1 and Cullen had 3 points.

[John Cocktoastin]

Thanks, TBone!

Big Walt with the 40 goal bomb for Maddox Dagenais.

Also they were curious about mocks and their ranking for him. That surprised me.

Look forward to this every year. So cool.

About Big Walt. If you remember on the TAOTD 2024 Army calls Walt over and basically says if the next 4 go bang, bang, and we're sitting at 16 and our guys not there we'll look like idiots (i believe he's talking Jiricek not being there at 16). Walt tells him " it's not going to get to that. I promise you." Then 2 days before the 2026 draft Big Walt says it's pretty much a guarantee Blues get Lawrence at 11. I know it's not anything earth shattering but I think Army takes stock in Big Walts opinion and thats why he is senior advisor to Army. Just my take.

Good call. Walt is so prophetic. And knowledgeable.

The Blues know it and Army called it out to the whole room how lucky they are to have those types of people within the Organ-I-zation.