The Blues spent much of their 2025 draft capital to secure Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway via their offer sheet fleecing of the Edmonton Oilers, but they had to salvage something from this year鈥檚 exercise to keep their retooling moving forward.
And they did just that by adding a winger prospect who should continue the team鈥檚 run of drafting success. Winger Justin Carbonneau鈥檚 willingness to play inside the dots raises his projection floor.
He should blossom into a power forward who can complement skilled teammates and move up and down the top three lines, depending on team needs.
Independent analysts loved this pick:
Corey Pronman, The Athletic: 鈥淐arbonneau has been a top player in the QMJHL. He鈥檚 a very strong skater and puck handler who can beat defenders one-on-one at full flight. He鈥檚 a physically developed winger who plays hard and can win puck battles fairly often. His style of play is highly translatable to the NHL game with the pace and effort in his shifts. He has a great shot and is often a threat to score from the faceoff dots with his one-timer. The only issues with Carbonneau are that his decision-making at times is questionable and I wouldn鈥檛 call him a natural playmaker. He projects as a top-six winger . . . Carbonneau is a highly skilled, hard-to-play against winger who projects as a top-six forward. He鈥檚 the last skater remaining of my top group of players, as the draft drops off a bit at this point, and the Blues get a valuable piece for the future.鈥
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Rachel Doerrie, : “Carbonneau possesses an offensive toolbox that teams covet, including powerful skating and eye-popping creativity. He projects as a second-line scoring forward with significant variance and is likely to end up as a middle-six player who thrives against secondary matchups. Carbonneau can drive offense with his playmaking and shooting ability and plays a well-rounded offensive game that includes playing through contact, excellent puckhandling skills and above-average skating. As is the case with any player who possesses incredible upside, there is inherent risk. He has a physically mature body, and will need to adjust to the speed of the professional game. He thrives when given time and space, and his growth will come from learning to simplify his offensive play and make better decisions with the puck. There are tools to become a very effective power forward in the NHL who can score 25 goals if he adds a cerebral component to his game . . . Carbonneau is a high-upside, dual-threat player who drives the middle of the ice and has an excellent shot. Off the puck, he finds quiet areas on the inside of the ice and takes advantage of scoring opportunities. Carbonneau has the size and physicality to become a power forward in the NHL and should fit nicely on the second line and first power-play unit.”
Mitch Brown, Elite Prospects: 鈥淭he 最新杏吧原创 Blues already have a blueprint for Justin Carbonneau鈥檚 development in聽Zachary Bolduc. Both players presented with similar profiles in their draft years. They possessed multiple projectable tools, with shooting as their best one, but needed to work on using them in NHL ways and honing their decision-making. Bolduc is turning into a legitimate, impactful NHLer for them and Carbonneau could walk that path even faster, as he鈥檚 even more dominant and driven.聽 In a few years, this 19th overall selection could look like a steal, considering that, in terms of pure skill, Carbonneau ranked in the top five in the draft. They didn鈥檛 have much to work with, but Carbonneau provides clear plus-value and high-end upside.鈥
The Blues still must get stronger up the middle 鈥 in both the near term and long term 鈥 and general manager Doug Armstrong is working on that as he heads into his final season running the day-to-day operation.
Here is what folks are writing about the NHL marketplace:
Nick Kypreos, Sportsnet: 鈥With the bar set so high in Vegas, I don鈥檛 expect George McPhee and Kelly McCrimmon to sit idle for long. There is plenty of speculation that they are getting ready to take a big run at (Mitch) Marner. This is where we鈥檒l keep an eye on how expendable聽William Karlsson聽is to the Golden Knights. Jack Eichel is firmly in place down the middle for Vegas and commands big dollars already 鈥 plus he needs an extension before next summer 鈥 so teams see an opportunity to try and get Karlsson and are calling about the player. While Karlsson has been an integral player for Vegas since their expansion season, the lack of center depth on the free agent market means he could bring back key assets to the Golden Knights while freeing up some much-needed cap space to do other business. If not Karlsson, some attention should be paid to Tomas Hertl, another center who Vegas could move in the right deal. Perhaps trading Karlsson and placing Alex Pietrangelo鈥檚 $8.8 million AAV聽on LTIR will be enough to land Marner in a projected $13-14 million range. There is real concern Pietrangelo鈥檚 injury is threatening enough to not only jeopardize his Olympic spot, but perhaps his entire season.鈥
Ryan S. Clark, : “If there's an opportunity to get a 25-year-old, right-handed-shooting, top-pairing, puck-moving defenseman who can play in every scenario -- who is also packaged in a 6-foot-4 frame -- that's a move a GM should make. But, it's done with the full understanding that it's going to cost quite a bit, and that's what makes the decision by Canadiens GM Kent Hughes one that's rather emphatic because of what it signals about his team. Specifically, Montreal is serious about making its 2025 playoff appearance a regular occurrence, with the goal of winning a Stanley Cup in the near future. Future. That's the word at the heart of what this (Noah Dobson) trade represented for the Canadiens. Having two first-round picks is a benefit. For teams in a rebuild, it's a chance to build toward what they believe is a stronger future, while playoff teams -- or those on the cusp -- use them as trade chips to acquire someone who can make them better now.”
Michael Russo, The Athletic: 鈥淪tarting in 2026-27, players can only re-sign for seven years with their current team and can only sign for six years with another in free agency. So (Kirill) Kaprizov can re-sign with the Wild for as many as eight years starting this July 1, but he would only be able to sign with another team for six years next July 1 (if he鈥檚 not traded by the Wild before). That means if the Wild were to offer him, say, eight years at $14 million annually ($112 million total) or at $15 million annually ($120 million total) and he turned it down and decided to wait, he would have to get an offer of $18.67 million or $20 million on a six-year term to make those same total dollars. Similarly, the Wild have largely avoided giving player signing bonuses on Leipold鈥檚 watch. But (owner Wild Craig) Leipold said last fall that he understands that with Kaprizov, 鈥榃e may be entering into new territory.鈥 Well, under the next CBA, signing bonuses are expected to be capped at 60 percent of the total contract value. So if Kaprizov, like many players today, wants most of his contract in annual signing bonuses, he鈥檇 also have to sign his extension now. For example, Noah Dobson was traded to the Montreal Canadiens on Friday and signed an eight-year, $76 million contract. Dobson will earn $1 million in base salaries annually with $11 million signing bonuses on July 1 in each of his first three years, according to聽The Athletic鈥檚聽Chris Johnston. That wouldn鈥檛 fly a year from now under the new CBA.鈥
Adam Proteau, The Hockey News: 鈥淪ince the聽Seattle Kraken聽announced in late April that longtime NHL executive Jason Botterill would be promoted to be their new GM, the Kraken have been one of the busiest teams on the trade front.聽Indeed, Seattle has been hard at work under Botterill, acquiring left winger Mason Marchment from the聽Dallas Stars聽on June 19 in exchange for a fourth-round pick this summer and a third-rounder in 2026. Then, Botterill dealt veteran left winger Andre Burakovsky to the聽Chicago Blackhawks聽for center Joe Veleno. Finally, on Thursday, Botterill acquired center Frederick Gaudreau from the聽Minnesota Wild聽for a fourth-rounder in this year鈥檚 draft. All things considered, the Kraken, on paper, appear to be improved. But the question is, by how much? You can see what Botterill has been trying to do 鈥 firm up his secondary forward slots with players who have established themselves to a fair degree. However, the Kraken still don鈥檛 have much in the way of elite talents to compete with the top teams in the Pacific Division. Sure, Seattle has some high-end assets 鈥 centers Matty Beniers and Shane Wright have high expectations on them, but neither have asserted themselves as true top players. For that reason, we still don鈥檛 see the Kraken as a Stanley Cup playoff team next season.鈥
MEGAPHONE
鈥淭he biggest thing is that we鈥檙e going to be able to be players in the game again. Every year, you see, like, the (Mikko) Rantanen thing. (Matthew) Tkachuk a couple years before that. Like big players do move, and we haven鈥檛 been able to be involved in that type of stuff. But if they come up now, we can.鈥
Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin, to The Athletic, on his newfound salary cap flexibility.
