The St. Louis Blues may not have struck gold in Tuesday night's NHL Draft Lottery, but the team's future still looks bright with three first-round picks in the upcoming draft.
When the lottery balls stopped bouncing in New Jersey, the Blues found themselves staying put at No. 11 with their own selection and No. 15 courtesy of the Detroit Red Wings—a pick acquired in the March 6 trade that sent defenseman Justin Faulk to Motown. While the odds were always a long shot, with just a three percent chance at the top overall pick and a mere 0.5 percent chance of jumping ten spots with the Red Wings' selection, St. Louis fans can still look forward to a busy draft weekend.
The Toronto Maple Leafs claimed the No. 1 overall pick despite entering the lottery with the fifth-best odds, while the Vancouver Canucks—who finished dead last in the NHL standings—slipped all the way to the third selection. For context, the San Jose Sharks took generational talent Macklin Celebrini with the top pick in 2024, showing just how unpredictable the lottery can be.
The Blues' best-case scenario with the Red Wings pick would have been moving up to No. 5, but that dream didn't materialize. Still, holding two picks in the top 15 gives general manager Doug Armstrong significant flexibility to either stock the prospect pipeline or package picks to move up for a coveted target.
Adding to the excitement, the Blues also hold the Colorado Avalanche's first-round pick, acquired in the March 6 trade that sent Brayden Schenn to the New York Islanders. That selection will land at the back end of the first round, depending on how deep the Avs go in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
It's been a remarkable turnaround for a Blues team that sat with the second-worst record in the league coming out of the Olympic break. A blistering 17-5-3 finish over the final 25 games vaulted them from lottery territory to the No. 11 spot—a testament to the young talent already making an impact in St. Louis.
"Once the season's over, you wish you had the high pick," Armstrong reflected on April 18. "It's the pain of going through that to get it." He noted how the team's mandate shifted after the trade deadline, bringing up younger players like defenseman Theo Lindstein and giving them meaningful NHL minutes.
The 2026 NHL Draft is set for June 26-27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, and with three first-round selections, the Blues are positioned to add some serious firepower to an already promising core. Whether Armstrong uses those picks or packages them to make a splash, one thing is certain: Blues fans have plenty of reasons to be optimistic about what's on the horizon.