The Anaheim Ducks have traded forward Mason McTavish to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for the No. 15 and No. 29 picks in Friday’s NHL Draft.
Anaheim used the 15th-overall pick to take winger Nikita Klepov from the Saginaw Spirit in the OHL. As LeBrun notes, the Ducks had targeted Klepov in this draft slot, and elected to go through with the trade with the Blues when they saw Klepov would be available.
LeBrun also adds that the Ducks will aim to use the added salary cap flexibility to improve the team in other ways along with adding Klepov, who was very productive in his first season in the OHL this year with Saginaw - he scored 37 goals and tallied 97 points in 67 games.
McTavish, 23, registered 17 goals and 41 points in 75 games with the Ducks last season. He added a goal and six points in 10 playoff games before his team was eliminated in the second round.
The 6-foot-1 centre is entering the second season of a six-year, $42 million contract that carries an annual cap hit of $7 million. He is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2030-31 campaign.
Drafted third overall by the Ducks in 2021, McTavish has 77 goals and 181 points in 304 career games.
The Carp, Ont., native represented Canada at The Winter Olympics in 2022 in a sixth-place finish. He also represented his country at the 2022 World Juniors, registering eight goals and 17 points in seven games to help Canada to a gold medal and winning the tournament MVP.
