St. Louis acquired third overall pick in 2021 for pair of 2026 first-round picks after subpar season in Anaheim last year
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Players can say whatever they want in the public eye, for them to hear the right things and make light of a situation as something minor.
But we all know deep down inside, and in the case for Mason McTavish, who the St. Louis Blues acquired from the Anaheim Ducks on the opening night of the 2026 NHL Draft for a pair of first-round picks in 2026, there will be plenty of motivation and a chip on the shoulder of the 23-year-old forward.
First off, the third overall pick in the 2021 draft didn’t have the best seasons with the Ducks last season. That’s a fact after finishing with 41 points (17 goals, 24 assists) in 75 regular-season games under former Blues coach Joel Quenneville, but he also was a healthy scratch in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights. Sure, that doesn’t sit well either. But nobody wants to get traded either, for the most part. Some would welcome a fresh start, and certainly, McTavish does here and is getting one. It still doesn’t sit well that a team has given up on you, basically saying they don’t want you, especially after the sides came to terms on a six-year, $42 million ($7 million average annual value) contract just one year ago.
And for the Ducks to pull the plug and cast McTavish off to another organization would naturally not sit well with said player.
“Yeah, I think I have a chip on my shoulder, for sure,” McTavish said. “I'm not happy with the way things went in Anaheim. I mean I enjoyed my time there, it was awesome, guys were great, but at the same time, they traded me and that's something I'm passionate about and want to get better. I'm looking forward to doing that here.”
Former Ducks teammate and current Blues teammate Cam Fowler thinks McTavish, who is projected to be the Blues’ No. 2 center behind Robert Thomas, will be motivated and will have a chip on his shoulder.
“Yeah I think so,” Fowler said. “From the time that I’ve spent with MacT, I could see right away the potential that he had and the player that he’s capable of being. For whatever reason, I’m not sure what ended up happening in Anaheim, but I think from our perspective here with the Blues, we’re thrilled to have him. A young player with that much talent, a centerman who can play anywhere you ask him to, I think that’s hard to find. I haven’t talked to him too much about it honestly, but I would imagine that he’s coming in with a fresh mindset and a chip on his shoulder ready to prove what he’s capable of doing and what he’s done before. I think he’s a great addition for us and he’ll fit in with our group really, really nicely.”
It happens but not often do organizations give up on young talent, but the Ducks did in this case, feeling the need for a change. The Blues were more than willing to grab a player they think can continue to grow and thrive in the environment of building with early-to-mid 20s players.
“I think, like everybody, take hockey away, even just life, with more experience you just get so much more comfortable around new things, new people, new tasks at hand,” McTavish said. “I think just taking that mindset, trying to grow each day and work on things every single day. In hockey, as you get older, you get more comfortable, more confident. It's nice to come down here earlier and get used to everybody. Yeah, I'd say those are the biggest things.”
The knock on McTavish has been his foot speed and defensive play, things he feels he’s worked on with Pat Malloy of Peak Center Academy. With the combination of power and a willingness to play in front of the net while also utilizing his skill and shot, it will certainly boost his numbers to a suitable place that will benefit his new team.
“A lot of power skating,” McTavish said of his summer work. “That's not the most fun thing to do, but it pays off a lot. I feel like it's helped me tremendously this summer. It's something I did as a little kid and then kind of stopped doing for whatever reason. This summer, I kind of got right back into it two or three times a week. I'm looking forward to camp starting and skating around with the boys and getting that pace up. I'm really looking forward to that.
“Pat Malloy, he's been my skills coach for 10 years. He coached me growing up, so I'm super close with him. He knows my game as well as anyone and he knows what I need to work on. Me and him put in a lot of work this summer and I'm grateful that he was there to help me.
“I think just overall speed in general. You get to a puck faster, you have more time to think about what you want to do with it ... edges, turning, cutbacks, keeping guys on the back of you and turning, protecting the puck. I would say those are the biggest things -- a lot of edges, too. Protecting the puck is a big thing, and that's something I wanted to get better at.”
New St. Louis Blues forward Mason McTavish will get the chance to play behind Robert Thomas as the No. 2 center. (IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)McTavish, who has 181 points (77 goals, 104 assists) in 305 regular-season games spanning five seasons, arrived in St. Louis on Aug. 23; he felt the importance of getting acclimated with his new teammates, particularly those he didn’t know and even the ones he knew, including former Duck teammates Fowler and newly-signed Ross Johnston, who spoke high praises of a teammate he will not play with for a fourth straight season.
“He’s a heavy, skilled forward that’s just scratching the surface,” Johnston said of McTavish. “When he’s at his best, he’s probably a great first-, second-line center. He can put up points. He’s going to be a reliable top-six guy for us and I think he’s looking forward to the opportunity to prove himself here.
“… He always works hard at the game. He’s always putting himself in the best position to help the team. Whether he has a chip on his shoulder, I don’t know. I just know he’s a humble guy and he’s a great locker room guy. He’s here to help the team, that’s all I can say. … He’s always hungry. It’s hard to look at him on the ice and say I see something different because he’s always one of the first guys on and definitely one of the last guys off. He just loves being on the ice. I’ve seen all the stuff he does on the ice and how hard he works on the skill part of his game. I think guys here are seeing firsthand in practice how skilled he really is. Sometimes in a game, it’s hard to show it at times, but when you’re around these guys each day, you start to pick up on little traits. It seems a lot of the guys are picking up how skilled he is and how good he can be.”
If anything, this experience will help McTavish grow at a young age and even humble him to a certain degree. If there’s a lesson to be learned, it’s that nothing is given and everything is earned.
“I feel like throughout your playing years you know more people, you know more familiar faces. Like coming here, I know Cam already, Ross, Jake [Neighbours] I played with. Just little things like that make it so much easier, just knowing certain guys and also seeing how other people come in when I was in Anaheim, kind of learning from them. It's something that you never expect to happen, to get traded, and when you do, you just learn from others and see what other guys did to integrate themselves with the team. It's a new thing for me and you don't want to be come in too much or not enough, so I'm just trying to find that balance and it's nice that there's other guys in the same situation of me.”
McTavish and Neighbours were teammates with Team Canada, and Neighbours said that McTavish is a “helluva player who has a ton of skill. He’s going to be a great player for us.”
McTavish said, “Yeah, we got a long really well when we were there. He was one of the first guys to reach out to me when I got traded here, and he didn't have to do that. Stuff like that makes me so much more welcome and more comfortable around the guys. He's not the only one, a bunch of guys did. It was nice to have that welcoming. It's not hard to do, but it goes a long way and I'm thankful for that.”
Look for McTavish to get plenty of rope to begin the season here. How much of it he takes will be up to him, but the Blues are banking on a rejuvenated player who has years to grow with them, and the experience has been solid through the first three weeks in town.
“Yeah, it's been awesome so far,” McTavish said. “The guys have been super welcoming and just meeting everybody is a lot, so it was nice to come in a little earlier and put names to faces. It's been great, though. The skates are a good pace, so looking forward to camp skating.”
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