In anticipation of this weekend’s 2014 NHL Entry Draft in Philadelphia, where the St. Louis Blues have the #21 pick overall, we complete our three-part series of the Blues’ first-round picks of past amateur drafts. In part one, we looked at selections made from 1968-79. In part two, we examined the skaters chosen from 1980-99. In this final installment, here is an overview of the choices made since 2000.
2000: Jeff Taffe (30th overall)
The Blues selected Taffe, a 6-3 center, while enrolled at the University of Minnesota. As St. Louis traded his rights to Phoenix in a deal that brought All-Star Keith Tkachuk to the club, Taffe never played with the ‘Note. In his nine-season NHL career, with stints in Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Florida, Chicago and Minnesota, he recorded 21 goals and 25 assists in 180 games. Taffe was set to play for Linkoping HC of the Swedish Hockey League in 2013, but had to turn it down, citing family reasons. The two sides, however, parted ways amicably and it is possible that Taffe could sign with the franchise later this year.
2001: Pick traded to Florida Panthers
With the pick, #24 overall, the Panthers selected defenseman Lukas Krajicek, who played with the team for two seasons.
2002: Pick traded to Phoenix Coyotes
The Coyotes received this pick in the aforementioned trade that involved Tkachuk. With the pick, #23 overall, Phoenix selected winger Ben Eager, who never played with the club.
2003: Shawn Belle (30th overall)
Belle was a blue-chip defenseman for the Western Hockey League’s Tri-City Americans when drafted by St. Louis. Belle never skated with the Blues, as he continued his play with Tri-City before being traded to Dallas during the 2004-05 season. Belle bounced around the NHL and spent time with four different franchises, where he recorded a solo assist in 20 games. Belle currently skates with Farjestad BK of the Swedish Hockey League.
2004: Marek Schwarz (17th overall)
The 18-year old goalie was selected by the Blues as a result of his stellar play with numerous teams competing in the Czech Republic. A fixture of the Peoria Rivermen during the 2006-07 season, Schwarz was called up by the Blues and played a pair of games, resulting in an 0-1 record. His highlight as a Blue would be on October 28, 2008 in a game versus Florida. As St. Louis led the contest 4-0 early in the third period, third-string goalie Ben Bishop suffered an injury and Schwarz, inserted in relief, preserved the shutout. That would be his final notation with both the Blues and the NHL. He currently competes with HC Sparta Praha of the Czech Extraliga, the elite hockey league of Czechoslovakia.
2005: T. J. Oshie (24th overall)
A standout winger at Warroad (MN) High School, the 2005 finalist for “Minnesota Mr. Hockey” was drafted by the Blues. After spending three highly-productive years with the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux, Oshie opted to not play his senior year and signed a contract with the ‘Note in May 2008. His rookie season saw him collect 14 goals and 25 assists in 57 games while quickly becoming a fan favorite with his energetic style of play.
The 2013-14 NHL season saw Oshie set numerous personal benchmarks. He recorded 21 goals and 39 assists with the franchise and recorded his first career hat trick in a March 27, 2014 game against Minnesota. He also topped the league with 9 shootout goals.
Oshie’s success in sudden death shootouts became the springboard for, arguably, his most memorable achievement in hockey. As a member of the 2014 US Men’s Olympic team, Oshie converted four of six shootout rotations to help his team record a 3-2 preliminary round win over Russia.
Entering his seventh season with the franchise, Oshie has 91 goals, 164 assists and 188 penalty minutes in 371 games.
2006: Erik Johnson (1st overall) and Patrik Berglund (25th overall)
For the first time in franchise history, the Blues had two picks in the first round, which included the league’s first overall pick. The ‘Note selected Johnson, a 6-4 defenseman from the University of Minnesota, who signed a three-year contract in April 2007. In his rookie season, Johnson played 69 games, recording five goals and 28 assists.
The following off-season, Johnson tore his ACL and MCL in a September 2008 accident involving a golf cart at a team outing. As a result, he missed the entire 2008-09 NHL season. Johnson returned in 2009-10, recording 10 goals and 29 assists in 79 games. In September 2010, he resigned with the franchise in a two-year, $5.2 million contract. He played 55 games with the Blues, recording five goals and 14 assists, before being traded to Colorado in a deal that involved winger Chris Stewart and defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk.
Today, Johnson continues with the Avalanche, where last season he recorded nine goals and 30 assists.
The other first round draft pick for the Blues in the 2006 NHL Draft was Berglund, the 6-4 center that was at the time playing for VIK Vasteras of the Swedish-based HockeyAllsvenskan. Berglund debuted for St. Louis in the 2008-09 season, often paired with T.J. Oshie and 2007 first-rounder David Perron in the squad’s “Kid Line.” In his rookie season, he scored 21 goals and 26 assists.
Point production dropped almost in half in his sophomore campaign (13 goals, 13 assists) but then rebounded in the 2010-11 season with 22 goals and 30 assists, his highest yearly output yet. Last season, he notched 14 goals and 18 assists in 78 games. Berglund has played all of his 436 NHL career games with the Blues, recording 106 goals and 114 assists.
A member of the Swedish team that won Silver at the 2014 Olympics, Berglund recently completed a one-year, $3.25 million contract and has been the subject of off-season trade rumors. If signed to a new deal locally, he would start his seventh season with the ‘Note.
2007: Lars Eller (13th overall), Ian Cole (18th overall) and David Perron (26th overall)
Topping the prior season’s benchmark of franchise first-rounders, the Blues netted three in the 2007 draft. With its top pick, St. Louis drafted Eller, who at the time, was the highest drafted Danish-born player ever selected. Set to begin his NHL career in 2009-10 season, Eller contracted mononucleosis and inevitably played with the Peoria Rivermen post-recovery. He would be called up to the main roster and recorded a goal in his NHL debut on November 5, 2009 against Calgary. Eller played a handful of games before being sent back to Peoria.
Eller, along with Ian Schultz, was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in June 2010 for goaltender Jaroslav Halak. Eller has continued his career with the Habs since, with a personal benchmark being a 4-goal game in January 2012 against Winnipeg. In 286 career NHL games, Eller has recorded 45 goals, 58 assists and 231 penalty minutes.
The Blues’ second first-round pick resulted in another young defenseman, Ian Cole. Following the draft, Cole notched solid numbers at Notre Dame and eventually joined the Peoria Rivermen in 2009. He made his NHL debut in November 2010 and played 26 games with the club as the season progressed, finishing with one goal and three assists.
With the depth in the franchise’s defensive corps, Cole was shuttled between St. Louis and Peoria numerous times over the next couple of seasons. He logged his highest NHL output last season: 46 games and 11 points in call-up duty.
The last pick in the first round went to Perron, a 19-year old sparkplug winger from Quebec. Alongside the aforementioned “Kid Line,” Perron made an impact his rookie season, scoring 13 goals and 14 assists in 62 games. He raised his value with higher numbers the following two seasons: 50 and 47 points, respectively.
At the start of 2010-11, Perron was off to a red-hot start, notching five goals and two assists in the first ten games. Then on November 4, 2010, he suffered a concussion following a hit by San Jose’s Joe Thorton. The extent of the injury, and its long rehabilitation process, resulted in Perron missing the remainder of the 2010-11 NHL season.
When he returned to the ice in 2011, Perron posted more-than respectable numbers in an injury-plagued season: 21 goals and 21 assists in 57 games. In 48 games during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, Perron notched 10 goals and 15 assists. He would be traded to Edmonton during the off-season, where in the 2013-14 campaign, he recorded a personal-best of 28 goals and 29 assists for the Oilers.
2008: Alex Pietrangelo (4th overall)
Continuing with the franchise’s then-focus on defensemen, the Blues selected Pietrangleo, a standout competing in the Ontario Hockey League. He saw limited time in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, collecting three points in the two-season span.
His full-calendar rookie campaign with the Blues began in the 2010-11 season, where he collected 11 goals and 32 assists in 79 games. Although numbers like that might have made him arguably a candidate for the NHL’s “Rookie of the Year” honors, the amount of games played in his prior two seasons made him ineligible for consideration for the award.
2011-12 saw an uptick in point productivity: 12 goals and 39 assists. After a lockout shortened season in 2012-13, Pietrangelo collected eight goals and 43 assists this past season while assuming leadership roles. Entering his seventh year of NHL play, all 305 games with the Blues, the franchise player has a NHL career 37 goals and 135 assists for 172 points.
2009: David Rundblad (17th overall)
The defenseman from Sweden never played with the Blues, as he was traded 15 days after the 2009 draft to Ottawa for a 2010 first round pick, which St. Louis used to select Vladimir Tarasenko. With Ottawa early in the 2011-12 season, Rundblad played 24 games and collected six points before being traded to Phoenix in December. In three seasons with the Coyotes, Rundblad recorded no goals and five assists in 24 games. He was traded to Chicago last season, where he appeared in five NHL games.
2010: Jaden Schwartz (14th overall) & Vladimir Tarasenko (16th overall)
With its first of two first-round picks, the ‘Note went with Schwartz, a Saskatchewan born center that topped the United States Hockey League in scoring in 2009. After being drafted, he played two seasons of collegiate hockey at Colorado College and then decided to forego his final two years by signing an entry-level contract with the Blues on May 12, 2012. Five days later, an injury to starting center Andy McDonald resulted in Schwartz being called up to the starting roster. He scored his first NHL goal, the game winner, against Tampa Bay in his NHL debut. Schwartz appeared in seven games during the 2011-12 season, notching two goals and one assist.
Playing time was split in 2012-13 with both the Blues and the Peoria Rivermen as a result of the NHL lockout. In the abbreviated NHL season, he scored six goals and seven assists in 45 games. A full-time call-up to the Blues roster commenced in 2013-14, where Schwartz scored 25 goals and 31 assists in 80 games. Heading into his fourth season with the ‘Note, he has 34 goals and 38 assists in 132 career NHL games. Schwarz also played at the 2011 and 2012 World Juniors Championship, where he collected a silver and bronze medal, respectively, for Team Canada.
With its second first-round pick, acquired in a trade with Ottawa, the Blues selected Tarasenko, a 6-foot Russian winger. When the 2012 NHL lockout ended, Tarasenko made his NHL debut with the Blues against Detroit on January 19, 2013, where he scored on his first AND second shots on goal. He finished the abbreviated season with 8 goals and 11 assists in 19 games. The following year, Tarasenko was a constant in the starting line-up. He played 69 games for the Blues before going down with a hand injury, collecting 21 goals and 22 assists.
He underwent surgery for the injury in March of this year but, as a result, missed the remainder of the 2013-14 regular season. He did play in this year’s post-season, where he proved to be one of few Blues’ offensive weapons in its opening-round setback against the Blackhawks, scoring a club high four goals in six games. Entering his third season with the Blues, Tarasenko has 29 goals and 33 assists in 102 NHL career games.
2011: Pick traded to the Colorado Avalanche
This pick resulted from the trade that brought winger Chris Stewart and defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk to the Blues. With the pick, #11 overall, Colorado selected defenseman Duncan Siemens, who has yet to play with the club.
2012: Jordan Schmaltz (25th overall)
The 6-2 defenseman currently plays with the North Dakota Fighting Sioux in NCAA Division 1 hockey. The 20-year-old’s resume contains a gold medal as a member of Team USA in the 2010 World Junior A Challenge. Schmaltz was awarded “Second Team” honors by the National Collegiate Hockey Conference this season after recording six goals and 18 assists in 41 games with the Fighting Sioux.
2013: Pick traded to Calgary Flames
The Flames received this pick as a result of the trade that brought defenseman Jay Bouwmeester to St. Louis. With the pick, #22 overall, Calgary selected winger Emile Poirier.
And there you have it.
This weekend in Philadelphia, the Blues add another entry to the list with the 21st overall pick. What need does the franchise have heading into its first round selection and will the future be addressed with the selection? Will it be a pick that impresses fans immediately or will it be a pick that gets heads-a-scratching? Will there even be a pick? Will the franchise move up or down in the order due to a last-second deal?
We’ll find out Friday afternoon! But in the meantime, we’d love to hear your thoughts. What would you like to see the Blues acquire this week? Feel free to leave your comments below!
(Image Credit: St. Louis Blues, ESPN & The Hockey Card Database)
