The St. Louis Blues have three 1st-round picks in the upcoming NHL draft and, with the draft a mere few weeks away, we're going to take a look at the history of each of those picks. Sometimes, the best player in the draft doesn't go first overall; often enough, a gem is uncovered later on. How have the players selected where the Blues will pick (11, 15, and 29) panned out over the years, and can the Blues hope for a successful player at those spots? We're going to start with the 2005 draft, after the lockout and the start of the cap era--that's 20 years of drafts to pull from, so let's get into it, starting with the 11th-overall pick.
2005: Anze Kopitar (C), Los Angeles Kings
Talk about starting with a bang. Kopitar recently finished his final NHL season, but he's one of the best players of his generation. In 1,521 career games--all with the Kings--he registered 1,316 points, won two Stanley Cups, two Selkes, and three Lady Byngs; he'll be admitted to the Hall of Fame as soon as he's eligible. If the Blues get a Kopitar-level player at 11, it could alter the course of the franchise.
2006: Jonathan Bernier (G), Los Angeles Kings
The Kings picked 11th a second time, and drafted a goalie. Bernier had a fine career: he bounced around the NHL, played 404 games, and finished with a career .912 save percentage (SV%). It's rare to see goalies drafted this high in today's NHL, and there aren't any in this draft class that would warrant such a high pick (especially since the Blues have two more in the first round).
2007: Brandon Sutter (C), Carolina Hurricanes
This is more the standard for an 11th-overall pick. Sutter had a long career (770 games), but only scored 289 points and, in a pre-analytics NHL, should never have been averaging 16:21 of ice time--he was underwater in expected goals for every season of his career, per Natural Stat Trick.
2008: Kyle Beach (LW), Chicago Blackhawks
Beach never played a single game in the NHL. He did, however, come forward as John Doe in a lawsuit against the Blackhawks, and the message he delivered will be more impactful than anything he did on the ice: "I want everybody to know in the sports world and in the world that you're not alone, that if these things happen to you, you need to speak up."
2009: Ryan Ellis (D), Nashville Predators
Ellis had a very good career with the Predators, playing 562 games and scoring 270 points in Nashville. Then, in the summer of 2021, he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers, played four games (scoring five points!), and was forced to retire due to injury complications. The San Jose Sharks currently hold the remaining year of his contract.
2010: Jack Campbell (G), Dallas Stars
Will NHL general managers ever learn not to draft goalies with such high picks? Campbell had a rocky career, never fully embracing a starters role and currently without a contract. A rough pick when you see a few of the players taken after him (Cam Fowler, Jaden Schwartz, and Vladimir Tarasenko, to name three).
2011: Duncan Siemens (D), Colorado Avalanche
Siemens only played 20 games in the NHL and scored two points. This would be close to a worst-case outcome for the Blues.
2012: Filip Forsberg (LW), Washington Capitals
Another outstanding pick at 11, though the Capitals never got to reap the benefits of Forsberg's considerable talent. In 862 games--all with the Predators--Forsberg has tallied 358 goals and 756 points, cracking the 40-goal mark three times in his career.
2013: Sam Morin (D), Philadelphia Flyers
This was a poor pick the moment it was made, and Morin's NHL career never got off the ground due to injuries; he played 29 games and registered one point--a goal. Seeing the defensemen that went just after him (Josh Morrissey, Ryan Pulock, Nikita Zadorov) still stings a bit for Flyers fans.
2014: Kevin Fiala (LW), Nashville Predators
A lot of really good forwards have been taken at 11, it would appear. Fiala, now with the Kings, has had a strong career, playing 707 games and tallying 229 goals and 528 points. Hopefully, he has a good recovery after that scary injury he suffered at the Olympics.
2015: Lawson Crouse (LW), Florida Panthers
Crouse is a fine, if flawed player, and would be an acceptable outcome for an 11th-overall pick in a standard draft. However, the 2015 draft was not your average NHL draft; it is quite possibly the most loaded draft of all time. Take your pick of players that've outproduced and outplayed Crouse in the decade since.
2016: Logan Brown (C), Ottawa Senators
This pick was a dud, as Brown only played 99 games across six seasons with the Senators. You'd think GMs would learn not to fall in love with mediocre centers just because they're 6-foot-6, but no.
2017: Gabe Vilardi (C/W), LA Kings
The Kings appear for the third time at 11, though Vilardi is now on the Winnipeg Jets. He's dealt with injuries throughout his career, but he's been a success story, scoring 120 goals and 244 points in 352 games.
2018: Oliver Wahlstrom (RW), New York Islanders
It was the Islanders' 12th-overall pick, Noah Dobson, that was the real prize of the draft for them that year. Wahlstrom, meanwhile, isn't in the NHL after 236 career games.
2019: Victor Soderstrom (D), Arizona Coyotes
It's no wonder the Coyotes were so bad for so long--all these high picks and they kept whiffing. Soderstrom's never stuck as an NHLer, and the next player off the board was Matt Boldy. Ouch!
2020: Yaroslav Askarov (G), Nashville Predators
Yes, another goalie, taken in the first half of the first round. However, after the Predators signed Juuse Saros to a long-term contract, Askarov wanted out of Nashville to establish himself as a starter. His time with the San Jose Sharks hasn't been stellar (.886 SV%) but a) it's the Sharks, they don't play defense and b) he's still quite young by goalie standards.
2021: Nobody (but we'll go with Cole Sillinger)
Technically speaking, there was no "11th overall" selection in 2021, as the Coyotes were forced to forfeit the pick. As a result, the 11th player off the board was Cole Sillinger to the Columbus Blue Jackets, and he's had an up-and-down career to this point.
2022: Conor Geekie (C), Arizona Coyotes
We're firmly into the "jury's out" territory for these draft picks, and they can still be considered prospects in development. Geekie was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning as part of the deal for Mikhail Sergachev, and he looks like a rock solid, tenacious bottom-sixer.
2023: Tom Willander (D), Vancouver Canucks
Willander had a promising rookie season with the Canucks, tallying 21 points in 70 games while averaging 16:59 a night. Don't let the minus-23 goal differential disuade you, though: the Canucks as a team were minus-100.
2024: Sam Dickinson (D), San Jose Sharks
The Sharks traded up ahead of the draft to get the 11th-overall pick, and they picked Dickinson, a really good all-around defenseman. He should eat minutes for the Sharks for years to come.
2025: Benjamin Kindel (C), Pittsburgh Penguins
This pick was a steal. Kindel was projected to go much later in the round, but the Penguins made a savvy decision to select him this early; he became an integral part of the Penguins' surprising resurgence and playoff berth, scoring 35 points in 77 games as a teenage rookie.
On the whole, the Blues could get a pretty darn good player at 11th overall. The only word of caution? Maybe avoid the goaltenders this early.
