Blues sign first-round pick to three-year contract

The Blues have signed 2023 first-round pick Theo Lindstein to a three-year, entry-level contract, per a team release. The team did not disclose financial terms.

St. Louis selected the left-shot defenseman from Brynas IF of the Swedish Hockey League with the 29th overall pick. The 19-year-old was viewed as a potential top-10 choice in early 2023 prospect rankings as a shutdown blue liner but dropped down public boards throughout the year and was graded as low as a third-round pick by a few notable public scouting outfits, including Elite Prospects and McKeen’s Hockey. Elite Prospects’ final scouting report called him “safe, calm and a play killer with his stick,” but criticized his ability to process plays quickly and noted that he “lacked initiative, often deferring to his partner on breakouts.”

Others are more optimistic about the 6-foot-1, 180-pound defender, such as Dobber Prospects, who list him as one of the Blues’ premier defensive prospects and believe he has a top-four ceiling. Those who had him ranked lower tab his projection as a bottom-pairing, penalty-killing utility player at his peak. The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler ranked Lindstein as the Blues’ best defensive prospect and their fifth-best overall prospect, calling him an “unspectacular but solid two-way defenseman” with a “high likelihood of becoming a solid D partner to someone in the NHL long term.”

Even for shutdown players, a lack of point-producing ability at lower levels, such as what Lindstein displayed during his draft season, is generally indicative of a tough path to NHL minutes. His totals on the scoresheet improved markedly this season, however, leading all defensemen at the 2024 World Junior Championship with six assists and eight points in seven games for Sweden en route to a silver medal, as well as 15 points and a +13 rating in 49 games for Brynäs, who were demoted to the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan after losing last year’s SHL relegation series.

Lindstein was the last of three first-round picks the Blues had in last year’s draft, selected after centers Dalibor Dvorsky (10th overall) and Otto Stenberg (22nd overall). The Blues acquired the pick they used to select Lindstein from the Rangers in February 2023’s Vladimir Tarasenko trade, and the Rangers had previously acquired the pick from the Stars in exchange for defenseman Nils Lundkvist in September 2022.