Blues select forward Jake Neighbours with No. 26 pick in NHL Draft

The St. Louis Blues boosted their organizational forward depth with their first selection in the 2020 NHL Draft Tuesday night, selecting forward Jake Neighbours from the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League with the No. 26 overall pick.

Neighbours, 18, is a left-handed shooter who provides a physical presence at 6-foot and 195 pounds. He’s had just one season of standout offensive production at the junior level, scoring 23 goals with 47 assists over 64 games in 2019-20. He had four points in 11 games during his first taste of WHL action in 2017-18, then tallied 11 goals and 13 assists in 47 games for the Oil Kings in 2018-19.

The Blues have now taken forwards with their last six first-round selections, drafting Robby Fabbri (2014), Tage Thompson (2016), Robert Thomas (2017), Klim Kostin (2017), Dominik Bokk (2018) and now Neighbours since they selected defenseman Jordan Schmaltz in the first round of the 2012 draft.