Blues Draft Carbonneau With First Round Pick

ST.
LOUIS – The St. Louis Blues were left out of the Friday trades in
the NHL but added what they hope is their next version of a pure goal
scorer.

The
Blues selected right wing Justin Carbonneau with the No. 19 pick of
the 2025 NHL Draft on Friday in Los Angeles, hoping they will one day
in the not-too-distant future have a quality franchise-grown player
become the next Blues great.

Carbonneau,
18, is 6-foot-2, 205 pounds who had 89 points (46 goals, 43 assists)
in 62 games for Blainville-Boisbriand Armada of the Quebec Maritimes
Junior Hockey League. His 89 points were second in the league.

Carbonneau
scored 77 goals the past two seasons and had 148 points in 130 games.

“I’m
not a big crying guy, but all the emotions that went through my head
when I heard my name, I thought about my parents, my brother,
everybody that was here with me,” Carbonneau said. “My guys, my
teammates in Blainville. I’m grateful to have them here every
single day. They shoot me some texts about the draft and can’t wait
to just call them and meet my family too. I cried a bit thinking
about all that, but right now, it’s just pure happiness.

“It’s
cool to be drafted and it’s a great opportunity, but to be honest,
I didn’t really cry because of the rank or whatever. I think the
team first of all, it’s incredible to be in St. Louis. Second of
all, I talked about it, but to see my family like this, also proud
because they have done so much for me over the last few years. They
got early at the rink and sometimes you don’t listen to them when
you’re younger after a game and all that. They helped me a lot
along the way. Their thing is just my teammates in Blainville, it’s
cliché to say things about my teammates, but I would not be here
without them today. They help me every single day to be a better
teammate, a better player, a better scorer, better leader every
single day. There’s different guys being there that help me be the
player and the person I am today for the last three years. When I got
drafted, it made me think about that. Some good flashbacks. It was
emotional, but it was pretty good.”

Carbonneau
is a shooter and stick handler, and doesn’t shy away from doing the
things that have netted him 77 goals at the junior level the past two
seasons.

“I
destroyed my whole house when I was younger shooting pucks,”
Carbonneau said. “I was walking with some roller blades all day
since I was like five years old. My floors, I had to change it too.
It’s been something I’ve been working on since I was young, just
shooting the puck, walking around with some roller blades, all those
things. I think my skills came from a long time ago, but I still work
on them every single day.”

And
this is why the Blues had Carbonneau ranked high on their draft
board.

“He's
a goal scorer,” Blues
general manager Doug Armstrong said.
“He's someone that enjoys the fruits of his labors of scoring
goals, someone I think in a league that is going toward goal-scoring,
he brings us another element when you stack that on some of the guys
that we have right now. He's a good complement with [Jimmy]
Snuggerud,
[Jordan]
Kyrou
and [Zack]
Bolduc,
‘Buch’ and ‘Holly’ who can score goals. You add another
player to that.

“Our
goal is to be a three-line scoring team and this gives us an
opportunity. Now saying that, I don't expect him to be filling the
net with regularity for a few years, so guys will mature out and do
other things. It just gives us another option in another area that's
hard to do.”

Carbonneau
said he fits in the mold of an Adrian Kempe of the Los Angeles Kings
and Travis Konecny of the Philadelphia Flyers, guys that like to play
between the dots and play physical to get there. Carbonneau has some
football background in his profile.

“I
think his size, speed and shot,” Carbonneau said of Kempe. “I
think I bring that, and Konecny, his mindset. I’m not scared of
anyone. I score goals in the paint and dirty areas. He’s 5-8 or
5-10, and he shoots the puck and he goes to the net and doesn’t
care about getting hit or slashed or whatever. It’s always his
mentality, something I want to bring too.

“I
wouldn’t call it maybe a career, but I just play football. I used
to play running back. I stopped a few years ago, but I just like the
contact, like on the ice a little bit. I like to get hit, I like to
throw some hits. It’s a part of my game. I play inside (the) dots,
I don’t play outside. Yes, I score goals and I make plays
offensively, but I do it the right way. I do it strong on my stick
and I can relate to my running back when I played. I had some fun
playing football.”

Playing
strong-minded and a between-the-dots player has always been in
Carbonneau’s DNA.

“I
think that I always had it in me. I play with a lot of fire,” he
said. “I’m not really scared of anyone. I know that the 6-8 guys
are stronger probably than me and bigger, but I’m going to still
try, I think I always had that in me. Goals are scored in those
areas. Outside dots, yes, you can score some goals, but you’re not
going to score 50 goals from outside the dots, you’re going to
score inside the dots. You have to find ways to get there and I use
my body and my speed to get there. It’s important if you want to
score goals like a goal-scorer like me.”

Armstrong
said that the Blues considered moving up as well as moving back in
the draft, especially if Carbonneau was off the board as the last
player the Blues had in their block of players they had considered
where they picked.

“The
top 10 went, not in the exact order we had them, but the spray
started after 10,” Armstrong
said.
“I think the mock drafts had him somewhere (Nos.) 14-18, so we
thought that he would be a little bit of a stretch but he might get
to us.

“I
think it was a difficult year to move up because we didn't have a
second, third or fourth. We don't have a second next year because we
had to trade it to get a second this year, so the game plays on. If
we were going to move up, we were going to have to use our pick, plus
someone that we've drafted that we've already put money into develop
and it would've had to take us to a different block. We didn't see
that. We did talk to a couple of teams that if a player in our block
wasn't there, and ‘Carbo’ was the last player in our block, if he
wasn't there, we would've considered moving back, but only a couple
of slots. When you're looking at 19, we wouldn't
have gone to 27 or 28. We might've been able to go to 22 or 23, and
acquire a late second or a third and cross your fingers that you
don't lose three guys in five picks. We didn't have to do that
because at 19, there was a player that we were excited about in our
block.”

Carbonneau
had met with the Blues prior to the draft at the combine, feeling it
would be a good spot for him to land but also open to wherever he
went and whoever took him.

“I
spoke with the Blues this year,” he
said.
“I spoke with the mental coach a few hours this year to kind of get
with my mindset and all that, and at the combine, I had a good
meeting with them too. Some good talks and good people in St. Louis.
It’s going to be fun to meet them the next few days.”

Carbonneau
will be in St. Louis beginning Monday for a four-day developmental
camp, then the two sides will decide on where he will play next
season. His choices are Boston College or back in junior.

“We've
always tried to listen to the player and tell him that we're in this
for the marathon and what does he think is best for him — how is he
going to mature,” Armstrong
said.
“I've never in my experience as a manager asked a team to trade a
player or told a player where to go because if it doesn't work out,
he puts it on your plate. These guys, they're young men, 18-19 years
old. They have to do what they think is right for them. We know that
he wants to be an NHL hockey player, there are different avenues to
do it, and we're going to support whatever he does. Like we did with
‘Snuggy,’ we wanted ‘Snuggy’ to turn pro — he knew that, we
knew that. He wanted to go back and as soon as he said he was going
back, our attention turned to him having the best year he could have
at Minnesota and I think it worked out. We gained his trust by not
trying to strong-arm him and he rewarded us with a great season at
Minnesota, turning pro and being ready. So what we try and do is work
with them, but allow them to make their own decisions.”

Carbonneau
said he’s open-minded.

“That’s
one of the topics to talk with the Blues,” he said. “It’s
Boston College, great option for me next year to develop with older
guys and all that. Or Blainville. But my goal is to bring a Stanley
Cup. Maybe not next year, but I’ll get there. When you have the
mindset and you’re willing to do it, I’m not worried about it. If
I play in Blainville, same thing. Winning a Cup with a championship
team. Two good options, but some talks that I’m going to do with
St. Louis and decide in the next few days.”

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