from Benjamin Hochman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

Born on May 14, 2001, Hughes is an American-born hockey phenom, earmarked as the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft in June. And as for playing in the NHL next season, “That’s kind of my plan,” Hughes said by phone Saturday....

Since 1990, there have been only five Americans drafted No. 1 overall. Auston Matthews in 2016 was the most-recent — he went straight to the NHL, scored 69 points and won the Calder Trophy as a rookie … and then had another sturdy 63-point season. He’s really good. The hype surrounding Matthews was based on his season before the draft, in which he put up an all-time record of 117 points at USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program.

Well, last season, Hughes had 116 points. The difference is — Hughes did that in his age-16 season, while Matthews’ record was at age 17. So in other words, Matthews set the all-time bar, and Hughes basically reached the bar one year younger.

On social media and in Blues circles, Hughes’ name has been circulating. #LoseForHughes is a Twitter hashtag. In reality, though, whichever team is “lucky” enough to finish last will have an 18.5-percent chance at the top pick....

There are, alas, other abysmal teams. The Kings, Coyotes, Devils, Flyers and, yes, even the Blackhawks. But if the Blues continue to lose, it would strategically make sense to trade a couple veterans to build for the future. And these trades could mean more losses in the short-term.

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