The Biggest Draft Mistake The St. Louis Blues Ever Made

[DawgDad]

1983, everything else pales in comparison. Worst (most wasted) pick might have been Scott Campbell in 1977.

[STL fan in MN]

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

Datsyuk was drafted 9 years after Bure. The Russians had been coming over for a while by then. It was still a risk but the main reason Datsyuk didn’t get drafted sooner was because he played for a far remote team in Yekaterinburg, Russia (his hometown) and he was around 5’9” 145 lbs at the time. His team stunk too winning only 6 games that season and his 7 pts were 1 off the team lead that season.

Rumor has it the Wings were the only team to get a scout to see him. There was another team that was planning on going to see him but there was a big snowstorm and the flight got canceled so that team never got to see him play. That team is the St. Louis Blues.

[Phil Roberto fan]

Eric Johnson

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

+1 Blown chance to move the franchise forward. I was screaming “Take Toewes” when they announced EJ.

[blues2112]

1983, everything else pales in comparison. Worst (most wasted) pick might have been Scott Campbell in 1977.

Double whammy is that the Blues traded Paul MacLean to get him back.

My bad memory is that Campbell had bad headaches. Is that correct? If so, what was the cause? He was still a young guy.

[MikoTython]

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

Datsyuk was drafted 9 years after Bure. The Russians had been coming over for a while by then. It was still a risk but the main reason Datsyuk didn’t get drafted sooner was because he played for a far remote team in Yekaterinburg, Russia (his hometown) and he was around 5’9” 145 lbs at the time. His team stunk too winning only 6 games that season and his 7 pts were 1 off the team lead that season.

Rumor has it the Wings were the only team to get a scout to see him. There was another team that was planning on going to see him but there was a big snowstorm and the flight got canceled so that team never got to see him play. That team is the St. Louis Blues.

Never knew the team that missed out was the Blues ! Here is a nice doc on Daysyuk's career, end to end :

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

[seattleblue]

I don't know about EJ as the top mistake. Time unfolding / opportunity missed is what made us question that one. At the time EJ was consensus #1. A handful wanted someone else (offense is always sexier), but over the years many more people have discovered who they really wanted instead, but at the time and for a year or so after it looked like a very reasonable way to start a franchise. They literally tried it again two years later and it worked to perfection, they got precisely what they wanted out of the top of the draft, an absolute cornerstone defenseman. His injury doesn't go back and make the draft analysis worse, because you could say what if the other four all hurt their knees while EJ didn't. It clearly became a missed opportunity later ... something people only realized after he was effectively supplanted by a player who gave us the a Cup foundation as was hoped for from EJ, so the franchise itself was just delayed a couple years. It was the right concept, and the NYI absolutely crushed this past draft, it was a spooky good draft for them. If Schaefer blows out his knee in two years they still made the right pick at the time they had the info. The EJ situation is like poker where the turn card just smokes your hopes and dreams but you had something going before the flop and on the flop. You don't go back and say getting involved in the beginning was the worst decision, most of the time the turn card isn't the worst possible card.

1983 is obvious, but in terms of some others. I would agree with 1977. That was just a brutal pick in a first round where literally everyone else hit better. 1987 is also very bad. 1981 is pretty ugly at the top. We could have had Arniel in the first (kind of joking) and Chelios in the second. I pretty much can't choose any year where they did not have a first round pick because really, the worst pick is a second rounder who missed?

(HM to Rundblad, who sucked)

[Hooking]

Talking about hindsight for decision making in any aspect of life, let-alone a pro sports team's draft selection, will make you go crazy.
If only everyone could predict the future and had a crystal ball.

Got to see the Blues win a cup in 2019 and everything else is just gravy right now. Hopefully I get to see them win another but going back to old drafts talking about what they got wrong based on what we know now and how it all turned out is just silly. EJ might have been great on a different team, Toews might have sucked if we drafted him. Who the hell knows. Who cares. What happened happened.

[dr0zombie]

I have to agree on the choice of Robby Fabbri. He always seemed small an fragile to me. By that draft Schwartz was showing who he was and he had looked good in Peoria. Just seemed like an odd pick given what he brough and his size.

While not hating on EJ at the time I thought Jordan Staal was a better fit for the Blues. Obviously when you look back at that draft EJ was probably one the biggest slips from expectations to reality. Not that he had a bad career. Just didn't live up the pick and a lot of others around him did. I would go with EJ.

Runner up there with Marek Schwarz. I recall Schwarz having some flashes of looking amazing in Peoria, and then just crashed completely.

[seattleblue]

Did we violate the rules around July 30 hockey talk? we're always screwing up!

[Boomac]

2003, we selected Shawn Belle with the last pick of the first round.

Before we picked David Backes in the 2nd, Patrice Bergeron, Shea Weber and Louis Eriksson were off the board.

[Hockey Pete]

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.

Have to strongly disagree with you on the EJ comment (completely agree on the other two).

I look at EJ as the before and after his knee injury, which to this day is the ONLY NHL player that I know of that continued his NHL career (100+ games) after tearing both the ACL and MCL in the same knee, so my assessment below will be that.

As a Gopher he was the top WCHA Rookie (I attended every home game and all away games within driving distance of the Twin Cities), and by the end of the season he replaced Vannelli as Goligoski's pairing mate 5v5. While ND was everyone's bane in the WCHA, EJ had some very memorable shifts against Oshie/Toews, holding them pointless 5v5 in the Frozen Four that year (although they each got an assist on the big PP goal).

His rookie year as a Blue (he was 19) was just as impressive, finishing the season as the top scoring rookie defender (ppg) over names like Niskanen, Yandle, Letang, etc... and he was younger them all of them AND on a terrible team.

Of course AFTER the knee injury, his mobility was greatly compromised and his career would be plagued by countless knee and groin injuries (the latter synonymous with a severe knee injury). But even with that said, the guy played 1000+ games in the NHL, which in IMO is flat out STUD for a player with that initial ACL/MCL injury, and why I will always respect the HELL out of EJ.

My assessment is GREAT pick, the right pick, but just stupid bad luck...

[Absolut]

1977. Campbell ahead of Bossy
1979 Turnbull over borque,Vaive, Gardner, Lowe and Goulet. Ouch.
1987 Osborne over sakic


Could rewrite some history!

[Natl20]

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

Yup look at my all time fave Pavel Bure...another 6th rounder

[DawgDad]

1977. Campbell ahead of Bossy
1979 Turnbull over borque,Vaive, Gardner, Lowe and Goulet. Ouch.
1987 Osborne over sakic


Could rewrite some history!

Turnbull was a very good player almost immediately. Got derailed by injury for the 80-81 playoffs. It's akin to ragging on Jake Neighbours, though one could argue Turnbull was a better player.

[seattleblue]

Perry Turnbull was a good power forward but at #2 overall given who else in 1979 was on the board (Bourque at 8?) ... yeah that was a missed opportunity for sure

[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

Datsyuk was drafted 9 years after Bure. The Russians had been coming over for a while by then. It was still a risk but the main reason Datsyuk didn’t get drafted sooner was because he played for a far remote team in Yekaterinburg, Russia (his hometown) and he was around 5’9” 145 lbs at the time. His team stunk too winning only 6 games that season and his 7 pts were 1 off the team lead that season.

Rumor has it the Wings were the only team to get a scout to see him. There was another team that was planning on going to see him but there was a big snowstorm and the flight got canceled so that team never got to see him play. That team is the St. Louis Blues.

No kidding.. interesting