{"id":817913,"date":"2026-05-24T00:33:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T00:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/817913\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T00:33:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T00:33:14","slug":"blues-trying-to-move-up-in-2026-nhl-draft-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/817913\/","title":{"rendered":"Blues Trying To Move Up In 2026 NHL Draft \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three picks in the 2026 NHL Draft first round may not be rich enough for the St. Louis Blues. The club is putting concerted effort into trying to move up from their current standing at 11th-overall, TSN\u2019s Darren Dreger shared on Hockey Sense with Andy Strickland<\/a>. Dreger added that the San Jose Sharks, who currently sit at second-overall, could be willing to move down from their current selection.<\/p>\n

The last top-three pick to be traded also belonged to the Sharks, who sent what would become the 2020 third-overall pick to the Ottawa Senators in their September 2018 acquisition of star defenseman Erik Karlsson<\/a><\/strong>. Toronto also traded what would become the 2010 second-overall pick to Boston in September 2009, setting up the Bruins\u2019 selection of Tyler Seguin<\/a><\/strong>. The last instance of a top-three pick changing hands after it was declared came in 2003 \u2013 when the Pittsburgh Penguins moved from the third-overall pick up to first-overall to select Marc-Andre Fleury<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

St. Louis could feel driven to pull off a trade of this magnitude by a rare opportunity in front of them. While star scorer Gavin McKenna<\/strong><\/a> has dominated attention for first-overall, Swedish phenom Ivar Stenberg<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 the younger brother of Blues prospect Otto Stenberg<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 has formed a strong case behind him. The younger Stenberg is currently lighting up the IIHF Men\u2019s World Championships with seven points in six games. He has cemented a top-line role on Team Sweden, capping off a year that saw him earn a similar spot on Frolunda HC, who finished second in the SHL regular season.<\/p>\n

Stenberg is a true dynamo, capable of dominating games with his breakaway speed and heads-up playmaking. He can hold the puck for as long as needed to create sneaky and successful scoring chances. He is just as involved away from the puck, staying focused in scoring areas and working to make plays on defense. That full-ice impact made Stenberg hard to ignore since he made his SHL debut last season.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The older Stenberg also made waves over the season, earning his NHL debut in mid-December and ultimately scoring 10 points in 32 games of what would become his NHL rookie season. That was only seven points fewer than the scoring total he posted in 36 AHL games. He seemed comfortable at the top level and \u2013 after easing into the role \u2013 embraced a much-needed center position in St. Louis. His arrival could help St. Louis justify selecting yet another winger headed likely headed for a top-six role, after they landed Justin Carbonneau<\/strong><\/a> in the 2025 class.<\/p>\n

Ivar Stenberg would bring true top-end ability to the Blues lineup. It would be a final piece for St. Louis, who has already seen wingers Dylan Holloway<\/a><\/strong>, Jake Neighbours<\/a><\/strong>, and Jimmy Snuggerud<\/a><\/strong> excel in their top-nine roles. But while they have each excelled in limited top-line minutes, they\u2019ve proven most effective when rotating through the lineup with each other. Stenberg could add another strong impact to that mix until he can graduate into a lineup-leading role.<\/p>\n

The cost of pulling off the first top-three trade in more than two decades wouldn\u2019t be cheap. Many expect San Jose to target an addition on defense after adding Michael Misa<\/a><\/strong> with the second-overall pick last season. The Sharks would likely find similar options at fifth-overall as they would at second-overall in a draft class filled with high-end, defense prospects. Moving down would offer a chance to add even more to their riches \u2013 potentially emerging defense prospect Theo Lindstein<\/a><\/strong> or shutdown defenders Colin Ralph<\/strong><\/a> or Arseni Koromyslov<\/strong><\/a> from St. Louis\u2019 pool. The Sharks could also ask for multiple first-round picks from a Blues club currently wielding picks 11, 15, and the Colorado Avalanche\u2019s undetermined first-rounder. Packaging all three picks could be enough to make a deal \u2013 though adding another prospect could prove a worthwhile supplement.<\/p>\n

The St. Louis Blues have made multiple bold decisions to revamp the lineup from its 2023-24 state. They surprisingly fired Drew Bannister<\/a><\/strong> mid-season and offer-sheeted Edmonton Oilers free-agents Holloway and Philip Broberg<\/a><\/strong>. Those additions\u00a0 helped push them to the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but couldn\u2019t return them to the 2026 postseason. That could be cause for one more bold decision before Doug Armstrong<\/strong> leaves the post<\/a> he has held for longer than a decade. In doing so, St. Louis \u2013 a team that began built around a trio of brothers \u2013 would be hoping to land their eighth set of siblings in franchise history.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three picks in the 2026 NHL Draft first round may not be rich enough for the St. Louis…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":817914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[42],"tags":[99723,316676,1649,293,336592,10440,1328,62,2996,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-817913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-2026-nhl-draft","tag-ivar-stenberg","tag-newsstand","tag-nhl","tag-otto-stenberg","tag-prospects","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sports","tag-st-louis-blues","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116626746477458835","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}