ST. LOUIS — It was a very limited draft weekend for the St. Louis Blues, the fewest selections they've had in a draft since 1968 when they had two.
The Blues were without their second- and third-round picks this season following the compensation to the Edmonton Oilers for offer sheet signings of Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway last year, a trade of their fourth-round pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Alexandre Texier and trade with the Detroit Red Wings in 2023 for the acquisition of Jakub Vrana.
The Blues concluded the 2025 NHL Draft with just three selections, finishing off the day on Saturday with picks in the fifth and sixth rounds in the draft in Los Angeles, selecting Russian right wing Mikhail Fyodorov with the 19th pick (147th overall) in the fifth round, and selecting a goalie for the first time since 2019, grabbing Love Harenstam with the 19th pick (179th overall) in the sixth round.
The Blues selected right win Justin Carbonneau with the 19th overall pick on Friday night.
"Very excited, players that we've done the due diligence on them, had them placed on our list in an area that we were excited about," said Blues director of amateur scouting Tony Feltrin. "Obviously Justin Carbonneau at the position that we got him at 19. Very pleased with that selection, along with our fifth- and sixth-round selections, players that we coveted.
"[Carbonneau] was a player in the grouping that the excitement level was still going to be there if that transpired. The goal-scoring ability, the passion that he plays with, the will to score, he'll run over the top of players to take it to the net. He can score from distance with a tremendous shot, good hands, strong compete, lots of things to like."
Fyodorov, 18, is small in stature at 5-foot-11, 152 pounds but had 43 points (17 goals, 26 assists) in 46 games last season for Magnitogorsk Stalnye Lisy of the Russian MHL League last season who will attend development camp starting Monday.
"Skilled player, very good edges, nifty, quick puck skills," Feltrin said. "There's some offensive ability there. He can really snap a puck. Not the biggest body. The physical maturity will come. We did lots of video on him. We have a Russian-based scout that saw him a number of times. We just saw him at a recent agency camp in Florida. Skilled player."
Harenstam, 18, is 6-2, 196 and toiled in the J20 Nationell for Skelleftea AIK J20s last season, along with Lulea J20 and was 10-9-0 with a 3.31 goals-against average and .895 save percentage for Skelleftea AIK J20s; he will not be here for the development camp.
He is the first goalie drafted since the Blues took Will Cranley in the sixth round in 2020.
With the help of former Blues goalie Brian Elliott, who's in the organization as the goaltending scout and development coach, this was a player the Blues felt was worth the selection.
"A player that warrants the selection where he was," Feltrin said of Harenstam. "Love was the No. 1 goaltender of the Swedish U18 team. He's got a bright future, he's got athleticism and has produced.
"That's a trait of the ultimate compete. Nobody's every going to score on the attitude for sure.
"Brian's in a league with (Blues goalie coach) David Alexander and the staff that have the greater knowledge on the goaltender front. We consider ourselves somewhat layman in our goaltender evaluations, especially when he hear the terminology that they utilize where we'll see. Love stops the puck and we recognize that."
Development camp begins Monday and runs through Thursday from noon-1:15 p.m. at Centene Community Ice Center and is free and open to the public.
Read the full article here
