The Blues spent the first night of the NHL Draft making their center issue their problem no longer - at least on paper.
After a year that saw Brayden Schenn shipped to the New York Islanders at the trade deadline and Jordan Kyrou dealt to the Washington Capitals this offseason, St. Louis went into the summer needing help down the middle.
They answered that need by swinging a big trade for Mason McTavish, sending the No. 15 and No. 29 picks to the Anaheim Ducks in return for the center. With four first-round selections in hand, the Blues chose to spend two of them on a player who had plenty of interest around the league.
That move puts McTavish in as the No. 2 center behind Robert Thomas, and it also comes with a fair amount of risk. The upside is obvious. The results, at least recently, have been less convincing.
The Athletic’s Harman Dayal recently ranked every NHL team’s top center duo and placed Thomas and McTavish in the fifth tier, labeled “middle of the pack.” Thomas drew praise, but Dayal was blunt about McTavish’s standing as a second-line center.
"McTavish, on the other hand, has a lot to prove next season," writes Dayal. "His pedigree and offensive tools are legit (he’s only a year removed from scoring 52 points as a 22-year-old), but he owns some of the worst defensive metrics in the NHL, is a very poor skater and is coming off a disappointing campaign in which he lost the 2C role. McTavish has the potential to take a meaningful step, especially because a contract dispute last fall forced him to miss training camp, which put him behind the eight ball, but for now he’s a below-average 2C."
That’s the tension with McTavish: the talent is there, but so are the concerns. He was productive in his best stretch under Greg Cronin, and his 2024-25 season stands as his strongest to date. In that campaign, he put up career highs with 20 goals, 30 assists and 53 points, while winning 50.7 percent of his faceoffs.
Once Cronin was replaced by Joel Quenneville, McTavish’s game slipped. This past season with Anaheim, he finished with 17 goals, 24 assists, a minus-15 plus/minus and a 48.6 face-off win percentage. He also ended up losing the No. 2 center job, which only added to the questions around his fit.
The Blues were not alone in chasing him. The New York Rangers were reportedly in the mix too, but St.
Louis landed the deal. The connection to Cronin likely mattered, since Cronin is now an assistant on Jim Montgomery’s staff in St.
Louis. That familiarity gives McTavish a built-in bridge as he tries to reset.
There is still plenty of runway for him to do that. He’s entering his age-24 season, and he has not yet reached his prime. If he can get back to the level he showed in 2024-25, that would give the Blues a workable baseline from their new second-line center.
Still, the pressure is real. McTavish is under contract for five more seasons at a $7 million annual cap hit, and St.
Louis is asking him to step into a major role right away. After finishing just four points out of a Wild Card spot last season, the Blues are betting that this offseason’s moves can push them over the line.
Whether McTavish becomes the answer or the gamble will be one of the biggest questions hanging over St. Louis when the season opens.
In Other News...
Blues MVP Debate Is No Longer Just About Robert Thomas
Robert Thomas has long been the obvious answer whenever the Blues most valuable player conversation comes up, and for good reason. He has been the sort of steady center around whom the roster has been built, but the outlook for 2026-27 suggests the debate could get a little more interesting if St. Louis younger core keeps taking shape the way the organization hopes.
Jimmy Snuggerud is expected to skate with Thomas and get first-line minutes, Joel Hofer is lined up to take over in goal, and Philip Broberg is moving into a bigger role on the blue line. Thomas still looks like a strong MVP candidate, but the point is no longer whether he matters most. It is whether the next wave of Blues talent can make a real case to share, or even steal, that spotlight. [Read more 🡒]
Pavel Buchnevich Enters A Make Or Break Year For The Blues
Pavel Buchnevich arrives at next season at something of a crossroads for the Blues, with his game no longer looking quite as sharp as it did before his move out of New York. St. Louis still views him as a candidate to anchor the second line, but the margin for error is getting slimmer as the club tries to sort out its forward mix and decide which players fit its long-term plan.
The pressure around him is only growing because the Blues have other options pushing for those same minutes, including younger forwards Mason McTavish and Connor McMichael. Add in the wave of prospects waiting in the wings, and Buchnevich is not just trying to hold a job, he is trying to re-establish himself as a player the Blues can trust in a meaningful role. [Read more 🡒]