The Blues have turned their first-round picks into a real organizational blueprint.
Over the past five NHL Entry Drafts, St. Louis has loaded up on pieces that are built to complement one another: scoring wings, a 200-foot center and defensemen who can handle real minutes. The result is a prospect pipeline that already has NHL contributors in place and more help on the way.
Zachary Bolduc was the first of the run, taken 17th overall in 2021. He arrived as a skilled junior winger and grew into a dependable secondary scorer for St.
Louis, putting up 24 goals and 45 points in 97 games. That included a 19-goal first full season before the Blues moved him to Montreal for Logan Mailloux.
Bolduc became a middle-six scoring winger, while the return brought back what projects to be a very valuable top-four blueliner.
Jimmy Snuggerud, selected 23rd overall in 2022, may end up as the biggest success of the group. After three seasons at Minnesota, he signed with the Blues and jumped straight into a top-six role. In his first full NHL season, he delivered 24 goals and 51 points in 70 games and looks like a strong fit alongside Robert Thomas and Dylan Holloway on what could be a long-term top line.
The 2023 class gave St. Louis two more important pieces.
Dalibor Dvorsky, the 10th overall pick, pushed his way into the NHL lineup at 20 and spent most of the year as a third-liner. He finished with 12 goals and 21 points in 71 games.
His skating still needs work, but his defensive detail, hockey IQ and one-timer give him real upside as a secondary scorer.
The Blues also got Theo Lindstein with the 29th pick that year. The left-shot defenseman is calm, mobile and reliable, the kind of player teams lean on behind the top pair.
He played 17 NHL games last season, scored four points and spent time next to Colton Parayko. His first-pass game and overall steadiness point toward a future top-four role.
There’s also Stenberg, a depth, middle-six winger with a high-IQ game. He split the 2025-26 season between Springfield and St.
Louis, scoring seven goals and 27 points in 68 games. He may have a tough path to the 2026-27 lineup, but he still profiles as a useful all-situations option who can move up and down the roster.
Adam Jiricek, the 16th overall pick in 2024, is another defender who could pay off big. St.
Louis took the swing after a major knee injury knocked him down the board, and he’s already worked his way back toward the player scouts expected. The 6-foot-3 right-shot defenseman dominated junior and looked the part in a limited AHL postseason stint.
He projects as a mobile top-four partner with a rush game and a strong 200-foot profile that could one day rival former Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.
Then there’s Justin Carbonneau, the latest first-round addition at 19th overall in 2025. He brings the power-forward element the Blues wanted, and the finishing touch to go with it.
Carbonneau tied for the QMJHL lead with 51 goals in 60 games, using a quick release and a willingness to attack the net. He’s expected to start 2026-27 in the AHL and could eventually grow into a top-six wing who adds another layer to the Blues’ scoring depth.
In Other News...
Blues Prospects Collapse Has Raised Troubling Questions About What Happened
Matthew Mayichs collapse during an offseason workout has turned a routine summer training story into something far more serious for the St. Louis Blues organization. The Blues prospect and Arizona State University hockey player went down during a session in Tempe and fell into a coma, and the case has only grown more troubling as questions surface about what kind of workout it was and who was responsible for overseeing it.
Robert Carey, Mayichs lawyer, is accusing ASU of not properly investigating what happened, while disputing the schools description of the workouts intensity. The session was reportedly led by Tim Zeisel in the Tempe heat, and the conflicting accounts from Zeisels attorney and ASU officials have left an unsettling gap at the center of the story, one that matters not just for Mayichs recovery but for how the incident is understood going forward. [Read more 🡒]
Blues May Have A Defense Prospect Closer Than Fans Think
Adam Jiricek has quietly become one of the more interesting names in the Blues prospect pipeline, and his rise is easy to understand. The right-handed defenseman is viewed as a skilled two-way player, and after a full season with the OHLs Brantford Bulldogs, he showed the kind of offensive upside that tends to get a front offices attention. His work at the 2026 World Junior Championship only added to the sense that St. Louis may have found a defense prospect with a real ceiling.
The next step comes in Springfield, where Jiricek is expected to open his rookie season with the Thunderbirds and start the long push toward the NHL. The Blues are hoping the raw tools translate quickly enough to keep his development on schedule, because his projection as a top-four defenseman gives the organization something it has been searching for on the back end. What happens in the AHL will tell a lot about how soon fans should start thinking of him as more than just a promising name on a prospect list. [Read more 🡒]
Blues Have A Growing Roster Squeeze Around Pius Suter
The Blues center picture has gotten a lot tighter, and Pius Suter is the veteran whose place now looks most vulnerable. With Mason McTavish and Connor McMichael added to the mix, St. Louis suddenly has more players than spots down the middle, a situation that naturally shifts attention toward how the club sorts out roles, minutes and long-term fit as it tries to keep moving younger pieces into bigger jobs.
Suter still has value because of what he can do for a team that needs reliable depth up the middle, and that makes him a name to watch if the Blues decide to use his market rather than risk squeezing the roster into an awkward fit. He is on an expiring deal, which only adds to the possibility that St. Louis could look at moving him before the 2026-27 season if the organization wants to clear room for its next wave of centers. [Read more 🡒]