Article: St. Louis Blues’ Goals for 2025 Offseason

[TBone]

St. Louis Blues’ Goals for 2025 Offseason

May 13, 2025
by Anthony Testaguzza

- clip -

Draft Another Right-Handed Defenseman

Last offseason, the Blues selected 16th overall in the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft, in which they selected right-handed defenseman Adam Jiricek, brother of Minnesota Wild defenseman David Jiricek. This year, the Blues will draft 19th overall, which is still a good spot to find some quality players. Most importantly, the target in this draft should be a repeat of last year: to get another right-handed defenseman in the first round. The Blues need one more right-handed defenseman in their system to balance out their defensive core.

Of course, solid right-handed defensemen are tough to come by, and finding one in this draft with the 19th pick is going to be difficult, but there is one player who fits the category that the Blues could pick: Blake Fiddler. In a previous article about three players the Blues could draft, I mentioned Fiddler as one of three candidates, and that is because he is also a great shutdown defenseman who knows how to play physical.

https://thehockeywriters.com/st-louis-b ... e_vignette

[netboy65]

Draft BPA, not for current need

[LGB73]

Draft BPA, not for current need

I usually agree with you but this team desperately needs RD prospects that have the potential to be top 4. That current need is only going to rise to crisis level need in the next 3-4 years.

[DawgDad]

Draft BPA, not for current need

I usually agree with you but this team desperately needs RD prospects that have the potential to be top 4. That current need is only going to rise to crisis level need in the next 3-4 years.

These separate objectives don't have to be mutually exclusive. If a top-half 1st round RD falls to 19 take him, otherwise BPA.

[netboy65]

Draft BPA, not for current need

I usually agree with you but this team desperately needs RD prospects that have the potential to be top 4. That current need is only going to rise to crisis level need in the next 3-4 years.

Oh I get you, just saying that’s how you get in trouble, reaching for need. Like DD said, if a guy is there, grab him otherwise look later in draft (Parayko was a 3rd remember) or there’s always trade, fa, etc

[seattleblue]

St. Louis Blues’ Goals for 2025 Offseason

May 13, 2025
by Anthony Testaguzza

- clip -

Draft Another Right-Handed Defenseman

Last offseason, the Blues selected 16th overall in the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft, in which they selected right-handed defenseman Adam Jiricek, brother of Minnesota Wild defenseman David Jiricek. This year, the Blues will draft 19th overall, which is still a good spot to find some quality players. Most importantly, the target in this draft should be a repeat of last year: to get another right-handed defenseman in the first round. The Blues need one more right-handed defenseman in their system to balance out their defensive core.

Of course, solid right-handed defensemen are tough to come by, and finding one in this draft with the 19th pick is going to be difficult, but there is one player who fits the category that the Blues could pick: Blake Fiddler. In a previous article about three players the Blues could draft, I mentioned Fiddler as one of three candidates, and that is because he is also a great shutdown defenseman who knows how to play physical.

https://thehockeywriters.com/st-louis-b ... e_vignette

Anthony is not very good at this. I would be embarrassed to have come up with this, whether it's the fixation on picking for need over BPA, the belief that an 18 year old drafted now will help the Blues this offseason, or that Fiddler is the player who deserves to be picked at 19 given that this same writer also wrote about Fiddler earlier and declared he NHL a good place to learn how to stop making bad decisions or how to handle the puck. There are at least three terribly poor efforts here. Stop writing about the Blues, Anthony you are badly overmatched by the task. "Great shutdown defender?" If you write that does it make it true? This is nowhere near the BPA at 19, nowhere near

[82birds]

St. Louis Blues’ Goals for 2025 Offseason

May 13, 2025
by Anthony Testaguzza

- clip -

Draft Another Right-Handed Defenseman

Last offseason, the Blues selected 16th overall in the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft, in which they selected right-handed defenseman Adam Jiricek, brother of Minnesota Wild defenseman David Jiricek. This year, the Blues will draft 19th overall, which is still a good spot to find some quality players. Most importantly, the target in this draft should be a repeat of last year: to get another right-handed defenseman in the first round. The Blues need one more right-handed defenseman in their system to balance out their defensive core.

Of course, solid right-handed defensemen are tough to come by, and finding one in this draft with the 19th pick is going to be difficult, but there is one player who fits the category that the Blues could pick: Blake Fiddler. In a previous article about three players the Blues could draft, I mentioned Fiddler as one of three candidates, and that is because he is also a great shutdown defenseman who knows how to play physical.

https://thehockeywriters.com/st-louis-b ... e_vignette

thanks for the link

[JoshInFenton]

I mean, if you would ask me if we should take a 18th ranked RD or a 15th-16th Ranked Winger, i'd probably be willing to listen. The problem i see with these sorts of projections is the people writing them are chasing what i would argue are guys 10ish picks behind (some have Fiddler slightly higher up than that). You don't take a need before the best pick available unless they are pretty much level or the RD is ever so slightly behind. You take the best asset, hope that it converts, and trade it if you need to.

I see some interesting options for RD in the 2nd and 3rd round, plausible maybe they move back in for some of those options using other assets if they feel like they are deep enough. I still think that they'll look to solve with other options via talent-for-talent type trades though.

[STL fan in MN]

Draft BPA, not for current need

100%. Always take BPA. And if there’s a tie, then you can lean towards organizational need.

But if folks are fixated on RDs, there’s 3 of them in this draft I like more than Fiddler.

Radim Mrtka - huge 6’6” Czech that played in the Dub this season. Solid skill. So so stickhandling. Near zero chance he’s available at 19 though.

Logan Hensler - 6’2”, played for Wisconsin. Sort of a jack of all trades, master of none type. Solid, not flashy. I’d say about a 40% chance he’s still available at 19.

Henry Brzustewicz - 6’2” righty for London. Their team is absolutely loaded (they just won the OHL Championship last night 4 games to 1) so he plays more of a secondary role for them but he has a lot of translatable skills. One thing I noticed is when their #1 Sam Dickinson was out of the lineup earlier this season, Brzustewicz really stepped up and shined. He’s buried in that lineup a bit and underrated IMO. He wouldn’t be my top pick at 19 but I could absolutely see him being a top-4 NHL. Likely to go in the back 1/3 or the 1st or slip to the 2nd but I could easily see him being one of the better players from this draft. It’s hard to judge London players sometimes as they tend to be super conservative with their 16-17 year olds. Of course, the Blues have already benefitted from this once. Robert Thomas was a London Knight in his draft season and put up 66 pts in 66 games. Good but not eye popping numbers for a 17 yr old in the OHL. My guess is Brzustewicz has a pretty big pop next season of at least his 19 year old season. He has the skills. Probably around a 90% chance he’d be available at 19.

[skilles]

BPA for me and if its a tie I'm going most valuable position, I might stray very slightly for more valuable position but never organizational need.

In this case at least the position of topic is what I would consider "more valuable position" (RD and Center)

BPA
RD/center
RD/center
RW
LW
Organizational needs

[TBone]

Draft BPA, not for current need

100%. Always take BPA. And if there’s a tie, then you can lean towards organizational need.

But if folks are fixated on RDs, there’s 3 of them in this draft I like more than Fiddler.

Radim Mrtka - huge 6’6” Czech that played in the Dub this season. Solid skill. So so stickhandling. Near zero chance he’s available at 19 though.

Logan Hensler - 6’2”, played for Wisconsin. Sort of a jack of all trades, master of none type. Solid, not flashy. I’d say about a 40% chance he’s still available at 19.

Henry Brzustewicz - 6’2” righty for London. Their team is absolutely loaded (they just won the OHL Championship last night 4 games to 1) so he plays more of a secondary role for them but he has a lot of translatable skills. One thing I noticed is when their #1 Sam Dickinson was out of the lineup earlier this season, Brzustewicz really stepped up and shined. He’s buried in that lineup a bit and underrated IMO. He wouldn’t be my top pick at 19 but I could absolutely see him being a top-4 NHL. Likely to go in the back 1/3 or the 1st or slip to the 2nd but I could easily see him being one of the better players from this draft. It’s hard to judge London players sometimes as they tend to be super conservative with their 16-17 year olds. Of course, the Blues have already benefitted from this once. Robert Thomas was a London Knight in his draft season and put up 66 pts in 66 games. Good but not eye popping numbers for a 17 yr old in the OHL. My guess is Brzustewicz has a pretty big pop next season of at least his 19 year old season. He has the skills. Probably around a 90% chance he’d be available at 19.

You see MN... this is what I'm looking for!

Great post.

[dhsux]

Draft BPA, not for current need

100%. Always take BPA. And if there’s a tie, then you can lean towards organizational need.

But if folks are fixated on RDs, there’s 3 of them in this draft I like more than Fiddler.

Radim Mrtka - huge 6’6” Czech that played in the Dub this season. Solid skill. So so stickhandling. Near zero chance he’s available at 19 though.

Logan Hensler - 6’2”, played for Wisconsin. Sort of a jack of all trades, master of none type. Solid, not flashy. I’d say about a 40% chance he’s still available at 19.

Henry Brzustewicz - 6’2” righty for London. Their team is absolutely loaded (they just won the OHL Championship last night 4 games to 1) so he plays more of a secondary role for them but he has a lot of translatable skills. One thing I noticed is when their #1 Sam Dickinson was out of the lineup earlier this season, Brzustewicz really stepped up and shined. He’s buried in that lineup a bit and underrated IMO. He wouldn’t be my top pick at 19 but I could absolutely see him being a top-4 NHL. Likely to go in the back 1/3 or the 1st or slip to the 2nd but I could easily see him being one of the better players from this draft. It’s hard to judge London players sometimes as they tend to be super conservative with their 16-17 year olds. Of course, the Blues have already benefitted from this once. Robert Thomas was a London Knight in his draft season and put up 66 pts in 66 games. Good but not eye popping numbers for a 17 yr old in the OHL. My guess is Brzustewicz has a pretty big pop next season of at least his 19 year old season. He has the skills. Probably around a 90% chance he’d be available at 19.

Round 1 BPA yup

Round 2 or after....I can give a little. Not a lot.

[STL fan in MN]

Draft BPA, not for current need

100%. Always take BPA. And if there’s a tie, then you can lean towards organizational need.

But if folks are fixated on RDs, there’s 3 of them in this draft I like more than Fiddler.

Radim Mrtka - huge 6’6” Czech that played in the Dub this season. Solid skill. So so stickhandling. Near zero chance he’s available at 19 though.

Logan Hensler - 6’2”, played for Wisconsin. Sort of a jack of all trades, master of none type. Solid, not flashy. I’d say about a 40% chance he’s still available at 19.

Henry Brzustewicz - 6’2” righty for London. Their team is absolutely loaded (they just won the OHL Championship last night 4 games to 1) so he plays more of a secondary role for them but he has a lot of translatable skills. One thing I noticed is when their #1 Sam Dickinson was out of the lineup earlier this season, Brzustewicz really stepped up and shined. He’s buried in that lineup a bit and underrated IMO. He wouldn’t be my top pick at 19 but I could absolutely see him being a top-4 NHL. Likely to go in the back 1/3 or the 1st or slip to the 2nd but I could easily see him being one of the better players from this draft. It’s hard to judge London players sometimes as they tend to be super conservative with their 16-17 year olds. Of course, the Blues have already benefitted from this once. Robert Thomas was a London Knight in his draft season and put up 66 pts in 66 games. Good but not eye popping numbers for a 17 yr old in the OHL. My guess is Brzustewicz has a pretty big pop next season of at least his 19 year old season. He has the skills. Probably around a 90% chance he’d be available at 19.

Round 1 BPA yup

Round 2 or after....I can give a little. Not a lot.

Oh absolutely. At the top of the draft, you can usually point to something that separates players in your eyes but later in the draft, the difference between the guy you have 75th on your list and 76th is miniscule. So yeah, you maybe skip a guy if the next guy is a much better organizational need.

[hockey jedi]

We need a safe pick this year. No high risk/high reward guys. We can trade for a RD or sign a free agent.

[a smell of green grass]

It's quite possible that Army will be drafting to address a NEED again in Round 1.

Last year, the need was to cover up the huge holes in the defense. It was a CYA move.

This year, the need will be to cover up the mistake that they made last year with Jiricek. Yet more, CYA.