The Blues didn’t just use their draft capital to add another name to the organization. They went out and got Mason McTavish, and they did it with real urgency.
St. Louis started the NHL Draft with four first-round picks, a stash that had people around the league wondering whether the team would move some of that capital for an established player.
That’s exactly what happened in the first round, when the Blues sent two of those picks to the Anaheim Ducks for McTavish. New York was in the mix, too, with reports saying the Rangers were making a serious push.
For a Blues team that moved on from Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou this year, the logic is obvious: they needed more punch in the top six, and McTavish is being counted on to help provide it. He has never topped 52 points in a season, but St. Louis is betting on the version of him that still hasn’t fully arrived.
That belief isn’t coming from nowhere. Two of McTavish’s former coaches in Anaheim think the Blues may have landed a player ready to take off.
Greg Cronin, who was behind the Ducks bench for two seasons during McTavish’s time there, said he saw signs of growth before his own stint ended.
“He seemed to be coming along my last year,” Cronin said. “There was some visible momentum with him, not only in his points, but in his skating and his decision-making.
I don’t know what happened. He got sat a few games (under Quenneville).
I don’t really talk to anybody (in Anaheim), so I don’t really know what happened with him, why he became tradable. But I think he’s a good player.”
Cronin’s best year with McTavish came when the center posted 52 points and a plus/minus rating of zero, the strongest numbers of his career. After Cronin was fired following the 2024-25 season and replaced by Joel Quenneville, McTavish’s production slipped to 41 points, including 17 goals and 24 assists, with a minus-15 rating. Cronin said he was surprised McTavish didn’t build on that earlier progress.
Now Cronin is back on the staff in St. Louis under Jim Montgomery, which gives him another chance to work with McTavish and, potentially, help unlock more from him.
Craig Johnson, another former Anaheim assistant, also came away impressed by McTavish’s approach. Johnson said he spent time watching game and practice film with him and saw a player eager to learn. He also pointed to McTavish’s attitude during years when the Ducks weren’t reaching the playoffs.
“He was drafted to be one of the young core players so that when the Ducks got better, he would be one of the key pieces in that,” Johnson said. “I look at what he had to go through, and he went through it with positivity.
He was never negative. He was never like, ‘Our team stinks.’
He showed up, he wanted to play, and he wanted to be part of the solution.”
There is still a question attached to McTavish’s game, and it’s the same one that has followed him: skating speed. The Athletic noted that his top speed was 21.85 miles per hour, which sits below the league average. Johnson thinks that part of the package can still improve.
“You don’t have to be extremely fast, but you have to have change of speed,” Johnson said. “He just has to keep developing that pace. As he continues to get older and get stronger and redefine his skating, he’s going to play with more pace and more energy.”
McTavish has already spent five years in the NHL, but he’s still only 23. That age matters here, because the Blues didn’t pay two first-round picks for a finished product. They paid for upside, for growth, and for a center they believe can settle into the No. 2 role.
Now the pressure shifts to St. Louis, and to McTavish himself.
The Blues made their move. They’re expecting him to deliver.
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