The trade

St. Louis Blues receive: forward Mason McTavish

Anaheim Ducks receive: No. 15, No. 29 picks in the 2026 NHL Draft

Shayna Goldman: It’s easy to pin McTavish’s disappointing season on him missing training camp due to contract negotiations. It’s hard enough for players to get up to speed after that. It’s even more difficult getting off to a late start under a new coach who runs a much more up-tempo system.

McTavish seriously struggled to keep pace within that, and it seemed as if everything spiraled from there, like he was always trying to catch up and couldn’t actually tread water. His foot speed obviously burned him, but it was more than that. His defensive engagement lacked, he pulled himself out of position or just looked lost at times, he wasn’t aggressive enough along the boards, and the scoring wasn’t consistent or potent enough to make up for that. That eventually led to him getting healthy scratched a few times, even in the playoffs.

It also made him the perfect change-of-scenery candidate.

There’s obviously risk to that, on both sides of the trade. Not only did the Blues move two picks for McTavish, but they also have to absorb another five years of his contract with a cap hit of $7 million. And right now, he doesn’t project to be worth that much over the next five years.

But this is the type of risk a team in St. Louis’ position should be taking. Centers don’t come cheap in this league, not even reclamation projects. And in McTavish’s case, he has tools worth betting on, such as his ability to generate scoring chances off the cycle. Maybe there’s even some untapped potential that the Ducks couldn’t extract in the disastrous Greg Cronin era or through last season’s missteps.

If McTavish can work on his skating, which he already noted as an offseason priority, and the Blues coaching staff can teach him better defensive fundamentals or at least mask weaknesses better, this could work out well for St. Louis.

The risk from Anaheim’s side is that McTavish ends up blossoming into a true 2C. But after this last season, it makes perfect sense why Anaheim would just want to turn the page. This team has a lot of up-and-coming talent, a deep pipeline and cap space to work with. A clean break, with his $7 million off the books, is worth it.

Blues grade: B
Ducks grade: B+

Sean Gentille: If you’re a St. Louis Blues fan, or if you were were a McTavish stockholder, this deal should cause some degree of agita. It’s not that McTavish is any sort of lost cause; he’s 23 and one year removed from a 22-goal season. It’s more that he should’ve been a long-term fit in Anaheim, probably as a second- or third-line center behind Leo Carlsson, and wound up on the trade block instead thanks to a lost season in which he was kicked over to left wing on the third line.

Part of that is due to his skating, which is rough. Part of that is due to his defensive impacts, which have largely been poor. It’s tough to slot in as a foundational piece when problems like that are in the mix and seemingly not being fixed, no doubt, but the fact Anaheim is pulling the chute this early has to be viewed as a legitimate … yellow flag, let’s say. That makes it tough to dislike the return on Anaheim’s end.

Even with that in mind, McTavish still feels like a worthy, reasonable risk for St. Louis. The fact he didn’t cost them the highest of their four first-round picks (No. 11, where they took Tynan Lawrence) is a nice bit of added value. He seems to fit their timeline, and he’s signed to the sort of contract ($7 million average annual value through 2031) that we’ll all soon come to accept as the going rate for a 25-goal-capable middle-sixer. If that’s where McTavish settles, and if he manages to grow a bit as a 200-foot player in a different environment, both sides will be happy about this one.

Still, right now — even though late first-rounders aren’t as valuable as you might think — it feels like a light win for the Ducks. McTavish was that bad last season.

Blues grade: B-
Ducks grade: B