St. Louis Blues’ Needs in the 2025 NHL Draft

The St. Louis Blues still have a month to go until they can select another group of prospects in the 2025 NHL Draft. The first round will be the most important to getting the best, but sometimes some hidden gems are left for the later rounds that get selected. Both the first and last rounds will be key to filling the Blues’ needs to become one of the most successful franchises in the league. Here’s a look at possible areas of their team the Blues should look to fill in through the draft.

Grabbing a Solid Special Teams Forward

During the 2025 Playoffs, the Blues scored six goals on 26 power-play opportunities. Their penalty kill had a success rate of 77.3 percent, which was not an effective special-teams performance for a postseason. In addition, the Blues were 16th in the league on the power play (22.1 percent) and 28th on the penalty kill (74.2 percent) during the 2024-25 regular season. This was barely enough for them to sneak into a wild card spot and make the NHL playoffs.

That said, their special teams lacked a forward who could effectively be both physical and provide extra offensive support. They should go for someone who could be a third—or fourth-line player who can thrive on the second power play and penalty killing units. One of the top players in this draft who could fit those roles is Bill Zonnon, who is projected to be a late first-round to early second-round selection. This would be perfect considering the Blues have the 19th overall pick in this draft and are in a decent spot to select him.

Also, the Blues have focused more on their defensive prospect depth, so it would make sense to bring in a forward, specifically a left winger, as they have added centers and right wingers over the previous drafts. After the brutal battle the Blues had with the Winnipeg Jets in the playoffs, falling short in Game 7, I think a player like Zonnon is needed, and with his stature of 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, he would not let the teams apply pressure like the Jets did in that series.

Braeden Cootes and Malcolm Spence are both known for their work ethic and high hockey IQ, which can be valuable assets for a great special-teams forward. Cootes leans more towards a more defensive-minded forward, and he is also a center, which could be suitable for the two bottom lines of the Blues roster. Spence, like Zonnon, is a forward over six feet and can play both roles on the special teams and is projected to go a little higher than the Blues spot because of it; however, if they can get lucky enough, I think taking a chance on him would help them fix that gap in their special teams without a doubt. I could see him even becoming a back-and-forth second-to-third-line player.

Grab a Second-/Third-Round Pick to Draft a Shutdown Defenseman

With how things went this past season, the Blues were not in good shape on their bottom defensive lines. Defenseman Torey Krug was sidelined for left ankle surgery in Sept. 2024 after being diagnosed with pre-arthritic changes in July 2024. This resulted in the Blues relying on their seventh defenseman, Ryan Suter, Tyler Tucker, and Matthew Kessel. The problem is that Suter is in his early 40s, and Tucker and Kessel have been called up and down between the Blues and their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.