St. Louis Blues first-round pick in 2025, Justin Carbonneau, impressed in his first Blues development camp last week. (St. Louis Blues photo) [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/1f12c307-3cd7-4904-9b06-ffe5a7037ee4.webp] St. Louis Blues first-round pick in 2025, Justin Carbonneau, impressed in his first Blues development camp last week. (St. Louis Blues photo) MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Justin Carbonneau [https://www.nhl.com/blues/player/justin-carbonneau-8485382] heard all the oohs and aahs from St. Louis Blues [http://thn.com/stlouis] fans and was definitely appreciative. "One-hundred percent," he said at the conclusion of development camp last week. "... Since Day 1, I felt the support. I got to the airport and some people said, 'Welcome to St. Louis.' It meant a lot to have the fan base behind you. I can't wait top play with that jersey on one day." The 18-year-old and first-round pick (19th overall) by St. Louis in the 2025 NHL Draft was certainly catching the eye of those that attended the four-day camp last week at Centene Community Ice Center with an array of skill, precision and decisiveness on the ice. Oh, and there's the power and grit to go with all that, too. "I do play hard and throw some hits and all that," the 6-foot-1, 191-pound forward said. "But sometimes I make some good plays, with the puck, shoot the puck, make some plays like this. Not too often but sometimes, yeah. "I will always work on my speed, explosion is really important, it's part of my game. I want to get explosive. Being stronger is going to come with the days with the work. It's never going to be one day and you'll be stronger. It's every single day you work on your speed and getting stronger and one day you'll get there." Blues fans already think he's there, but the things Carbonneau put on display for Blues brass watching above certainly didn't go unnoticed either. "His directness. Even 3-on-3, he plays with a little bit of snarl," Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said of Carbonneau's skill set. "He's another player that understands where the goals are scored from and he goes to that area and he's got skill. I don't want to over-hype him, but he looks like a player that shouldn't have been drafted where he was." Coming out of his first camp in St. Louis, the forward learned plenty while also doing his best to make quite the impression, all while learning what it will take to become a pro. "I've learned a lot," Carbonneau said. "I knew that coming here I was going to learn a lot, but I didn't know what. I learned a lot about nutrition, what a week's supposed to look like in the NHL, also college, junior. being a good teammate, being a good locker room guy, putting your ego on the side and what it means to be a Blue. Good speakers talked to us about all those things. "It is similar (from junior days), but the difference is when you get to pro, you live by yourself. They talked about when you lived with your parents, then a billet, now you live by yourself. Now I'm at that billet phase, but now they want us to get ready for when we turn pro alone and not with resources. I've learned a lot how to be alone in my apartment." Carbonneau, who had 89 points (46 goals, 53 assists) in his third season playing in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League for Blainville-Broisbrand Armada, was more than willing to do whatever it takes to grow his skill set, even jumping in the face-off circle for drills: And off the ice, young guys are typically shy and stay away from attention. Not Carbonneau, who took charge during one of the camp's activities put on for all the players. "You know what, last thing we had was a little cooking class and he's matured; he took charge," said Blues assistant GM Tim Taylor. "He's got leadership qualities in him. He's a bigger, thick kid. Obviously he's a late birthday too. He has one year of eligibility left in junior. "Someone that has a presence to him. We see these kids come in, and they stand around, especially our first-round picks or first-year picks come in and they're kind of in the background, they're very quiet. This kid kind of took control of his class. He has this presence to him, confidence-presence. He does look like a natural leader." On the menu: flank steak, chicken, salmon, and what Carbonneau took charge of most of all was the separation of vegetables and how they were used. "No, I wasn't a judge," Taylor quipped, "but I was hungry." The next step for Carbonneau now becomes his first big one: go back to junior, where his squad is projected to be really good for the upcoming season or commit to playing in college at Boston College. That decision is expected in the coming days. The Levis, Quebec native was able to sit down with Armstrong, GM-to-be Alexander Steen and the rest of the Blues management team to help the process, to listen to ideas, get some proper guidance, and ultimately make a choice with his family. "It's something that I've said, and I really appreciate that Alexander, the staff and Doug, the first thing they said is, 'We have confidence in you, we're going to believe in your decision and we're here for a long time. You have 100 percent of our trust,'" Carbonneau said, "but the reason why I wanted to have that meeting is I wanted their opinion. They have the best opinion, they know better than me, they know all those things. But I really appreciate that they respect my opinion." And there's no pressure whatsoever. St. Louis Blues 2025 first-round pick Justin Carbonneau (right) impressed in development camp past week on and off the ice. (St. Louis Blues photo) [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/abb3ccbe-84ac-414a-bb05-6376e29cc678.webp] St. Louis Blues 2025 first-round pick Justin Carbonneau (right) impressed in development camp past week on and off the ice. (St. Louis Blues photo) "We've had that conversation with him and what we've asked him to do with his representatives, let's get through this week, let's not complicate life, we don't need to," Armstrong said. "But over the next 10 days, he doesn't have to make to decision. College hockey is beneficial in some ways because of the training. You get to get bigger, stronger, more days in the gym, less games. He's a big man now. Junior hockey to me has a lot of benefits too. If you're on a good team, you get seven-game playoff series. In college, it's one-and-done. We saw that with 'Snuggy' last year; they had aspirations of the Final Four and they didn't make it. "I don't think he's going to make the wrong decision. We want to go through the pros and cons, but ultimately what I want those guys to do is make the decision, because they have to live with it. I'm in firm in that belief is that you want them to be 100 percent committed to where they are. I want their head where their feet are. So if he says he wants to go to college, we'll support that. If he wants back to junior, but when he makes that decision, he has to be 100 percent in and it has to be he and his family's decision." That's why Carbonneau wanted to talk to Blues brass because of the experience factor of doing this with other players. "It did (help)," Carbonneau said. "It really did, but no decision yet. We touched first base here, we spoke our opinion, told us about what they they think is best. But we decided until after camp when we will make our final decision."
