The St. Louis Blues have acquired forward Mason McTavish from the Anaheim Ducks for two first-round picks (#15 – Nikita Klepov, #29 – later traded to Vegas with the #117 pick for the #28 pick, which Anaheim used to select Marcus Nordmark) in the 2026 draft.

McTavish was unable to build on his career high of 52 points in 2024-25, instead finishing with 17 goals and 41 points this past season. Although he started the season with 11 points in his first 15 games, McTavish recorded just 17 points in his last 41 games. McTavish only averaged between 12 and 13 minutes per game with the Ducks both in the final quarter of the regular season and in the playoffs, so he no longer seemed to fit into Anaheim's youth movement. On top of that, McTavish was even an occasional healthy scratch in both the regular season and playoffs under new coach Joel Quenneville, having difficulty fitting into Coach Q's up-tempo style.

The Blues needed a center, as they lacked established depth at that position beyond Robert Thomas. The hope is likely that McTavish fills a second-line role, particularly with Dalibor Dvorsky probably needing more development before emerging as a top-6 option. The Blues are taking on a contract with five years remaining with a $7 million AAV, which should mean that McTavish will receive more opportunity to succeed than he did with Anaheim in 2025-26. It will be up to McTavish to make good on that, though.

The trade represents a slight improvement in value for McTavish. He should be a tweener PP1/PP2 option for the Blues, whose power play was in the bottom third of the NHL in 2025-26. Combine that with middle-six minutes and McTavish seems in line for another 40-50-point season. Skating might ultimately limit his ceiling, while his current defensive play might also limit his minutes. The good news is that the Blues' forward lines now mainly consist of players in their mid-20s (McTavish is 23), so McTavish seems to fit into what they are trying to do.  

Players this helps, in order:

McTavish

Players this hurts, in order:

No one in particular