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Hello, and welcome to my new feature here at STL Sports Central: Breakfast with Bernie, which I’ll write early in the morning on most weekdays. And if I’m a little late it’ll be “Brunch with Bernie.” I’ll serve up observations, opinions, notes, facts, stats, praise, cheap shots, randomness, and some weirdness as I have my first cuppa or two or three of the day. At times we’ll go “buffet” style for morning grazing, and later in the day I’ll author a new column. On most days, I’ll lead off with a Cards recap. There will be plenty of baseball info served here, with emphasis on the Cardinals.
Let’s get rolling!
The NHL opens its 2026 Entry Draft on Friday evening, with the puck drop scheduled for 6 p.m. STL time.
This is the “DAD” draft …
The Doug Armstrong Draft.
Our guy Army, the Blues’ president of hockey operations, is the big daddy in the room.
Armstrong’s pockets are filled with four first-round draft picks plus nine other selections for a total count of 13. Big Daddy Doug has a bankroll of picks to flash around.
Round 1: picks 11, 15, 16, and 29
No picks in Round 2
Round 3: picks 73, 75, and 76
Round 4: picks 107 and 123
To put it another way: as of early Friday the Blues possess 34.3 percent of the first-round choices, 9% of the first 76 selections.
Armstrong is clutching 7.4% of the total picks in the first three rounds, and 7.1% of the slots in Rounds 1 through 4.
That may not seem like a big deal … but it is. Having command of this much of the market volume for early-round picks is rare.
Army has leverage. He has flexibility. He has opportunities. He has a chance to reshape this draft, or make it bend in the Blues’ direction.
This is Armstrong’s draft. And in the DAD talent sweepstakes, Army can trade up, trade down, move all around. He can flip draft picks to acquire established NHL players. He can hawk draft picks to pick up even more draft picks.
Armstrong can go crazy and make a series of bold movies. He can sit back, play it cool, and let the draft come to him. Does he want to collect prospects or add veterans? Yes. He wants BOTH.
No NHL team has big-stepped into the draft with four first-round picks in more than 25 years. We have to go back to the late 1990s to see how it turned out. As it so happens, we see a best-case scenario – and a scenario that turned into a disaster.
Both of the teams we’re about to discuss opted to cling to all four of their first-round chips instead of packaging them in alternative deals. I apologize if some of you are familiar with this history – but I wasn’t, so I’m fired up to replay and review it.
BIG WINNER
The 1998 Colorado Avalanche used their four first rounders to set a foundation for their 2001 Stanley Cup championship team.
– Center Alex Tanguay at No. 12. Played over 1,000 NHL games and scored the Cup-clinching goal in Game 7 of the 2001 Stanley Cup Final.
– Defenseman Martin Skoula at No. 17. Made immediate impact, played 776 career games, and was a fixture on the blue line for Colorado's 2001 Cup run.
– Defenseman Robyn Regehr at No. 19. Played 1,090 NHL games, but none for the Avs. Why? Regehr was a prospect capital flipped by Colorado to acquire the dynamic Theo Fleury for a playoff push in 1999. The team came up short, losing to Dallas in the Western Conference final. But the Avs can’t be blamed for making an all-in move. When you have so many first-round draft selections to play with, it gives you the freedom to take chances.
– RW Scott Parker at No. 20. The 6-5, 240-pound winger was an intimidating enforcer during his six seasons with the Avs and played in four postseason games during the team’s charge to the 2001 Stanley Cup.
The Outcome: Huge success. Three of the picks won a Stanley Cup with Colorado and the fourth was bartered as a premium trade asset to acquire Fleury, a Hall of Fame talent.
BIG LOSER
The 1999 New York Islanders. Isles GM Mike Milbury (yikes!) set up a potential draft-day bonanza by trading popular veterans that included Ziggy Palffy and team captain Trevor Linden. The result? An embarrassing and damaging bust.
The Islanders received little or no impact from center Tim Connolly (5th pick), left wing Taylor Pyatt (8th pick), defenseman Branislav Mezei (10th pick) or defenseman Kristian Kudroc (28th pick). Connolly and Pyatt were dealt to Buffalo for Michael Peca, who won the Selke in 2001. But in his three years with the Islanders Peca scored one goal in 15 postseason games.
The Outcome: A total flop. Despite having three top 10 picks and four of the first 28 selections, players chosen by Isles made no mark on the franchise. The four combined for 307 regular-season games for the Islanders – and never played in a postseason game during their time with NYI. The Islanders made the playoffs five times in the next 13 seasons after drafting the four players – but won only eight postseason games overall and were eliminated in the first round every time.
In the DAD draft, let’s hope Armstrong will come out of it more like the 1998 Avalanche than the 1999 Islanders.
Let’s head to the buffet …
— Cards power-hitting prospect Joshua Baez had a quiet night for Triple A Memphis on Thursday, going 0 for 4 with a strikeout in a loss at Jacksonville. Meanwhile, top Cardinals catching prospect Rainiel Rodgriguez homered for Double A Springfield in a win over Northwest Arkansas. Clearly adjusting to Class AA, Raniel has four home runs and nine RBIs in his last 10 games.
— More on Rodriguez: On Thursday’s “Gashouse Gang” show on KMOX, Sam Dykstra of MLB Pipeline offered a couple of good bits on Rodriguez. Dykstra told us that (1) Rodriguez is being considered to crack the Top 15 on MLB’s list of top prospects in Pipeline’s next update and (2) Rodriguez has a strong chance of moving ahead of pitcher Liam Doyle and be ranked as the Cardinals’ No. 1 overall prospect.
— Dykstra on Rodriguez, courtesy of KMOX: “That power that everybody was dreaming on coming into the year is certainly playing in Springfield … it’s truly promising that Raniel Rodriguez, yes, took his lumps (in Class AA) early, has adjusted, and has gotten back to being one of the top catching prospects we've seen in the game.”
— I wasn’t bothered by the USMNT losing its final Group B match to Turkiye, 3-2. The Americans had already clinched the top spot in the group and were locked into the round of 32.
— With the USA having maximized its positioning in the World Cup bracket, coach Mauricio Pochettino could adjust his priorities in Thursday’s match and he made nine changes to the lineup that beat Australia last week in Seattle. The U.S. trailed 2-1 at the half, but Pochettino stayed with his objective. He made no substitutions at halftime.
— And it looked like the teams would settle for a 2-2 draw before an inspired Turkiye squad scored the winning goal in the last second. Turkiye had already been eliminated, but only a fool would expect that team to submit to the U.S. and go home to face considerable criticism and ridicule for failing to win a game in the competition.
— The bottom of Pochettino’s roster was inexperienced and obviously lacked the quality of the U.S. starters. But this was a great opportunity to get them some experience and protect all but two starters from injury. Most of the substitutes had never started or even competed in a World Cup and this was the right time to use them.
— The best news for the Americans was the return of Christian Pulisic, their best and most valuable attacker. After leaving the win over Paraguay with a strained calf, and sitting out entirely against Australia, Pulisic had the chance to stretch out and sharpen up a bit. Pulisic played 33 minutes and appeared to be in good form. He jolted the American attack by taking 3 shots. He had a close scoring opportunity in the 64th minute when he connected with a pass from Sebastian Berhalter and fired a volley that the Turkish goalkeeper barely deflected onto the post.
— Next up: the USA moves into the knockout round with a Wednesday match against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium where the NFL 49ers play.
— Important food-craving question: Where’s the best bagel in St. Louis?
— The Miami Marlins are in town for three games. And if their performance to this point in June matters, the Cardinals are in for a challenging weekend. The Marlins have the best record (16-5) in the majors this month and come into The Lou having won six of their last seven games.
— Miami has the best ERA in the majors (3.10) this month, and both their starters and relievers are strong. For June the Marlins have the best starting-pitching ERA (3.36) and the fourth best bullpen ERA (2.77).
— Here comes Max Meyer. The Cardinals face a tough assignment Friday against Meyer, Miami’s lefty starter. He’s 8-0 with a 2.80 ERA this season and the Marlins are 12-4 in his 16 starts. Meyer is averaging 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings and giving up 0.8 homers per 9. Opponents like to stack their lineups with right-handed hitters to take on Meyer, but he’s held RHB to a .227 average and .369 slug.
— Webster Groves native Pete Fairbanks has a 6.75 ERA this season with 12 saves. That earned-run average would convey vulnerability but the Marlins remain confident in Pete as their closer.
— The Miami offense doesn’t generate a lot of power, especially with Liam Hicks on the IL. The key to shutting down the lineup is keeping their first two hitters – second baseman Xavier Edwards and shortstop Otto Lopez – from beating you. Edwards has a 127 OPS+. Lopez has a 141 OPS+ and leads the majors with a .340 batting average. Miami leads MLB with 88 steals.
— How smart is Miami’s front office? President of baseball operations Peter Bendix – a pal of Chaim Bloom from their days together at Tampa Bay – has built his 40-man roster with 21 trades, four waiver claims, and one Rule 5 draft pick. Lopez, a terrific player, was picked up on waivers after the idiotic Giants let him go – and later signed the overrated Wily Adames to a seven-year, $182 million free-agent deal.
— This is certainly a meaningful series for the Cardinals. They dropped two of three to Arizona before Thursday’s rainout. The Redbirds are 2-5 in their last seven games and have a losing record (14-17) since May 20.
— With the Cards’ momentum slowing down, they’ve been bypassed by the Phillies and the Cubs in the NL wild-card standings. St. Louis (42-36) currently has custody of the No. 3 wild-card spot, but the Padres trail the Cards by a half-game, and the Marlins by 1 and ½ games.
— The Diamondbacks, Pirates and Nationals are within three games or less games of the No. 3 spot, so this would be a good time for the Cardinals to get the engine going again.
— The Phillies are dangerous. It took them a while to recover from a 9-19 start to the season under the disposed manager Rob Thomson. But since Don Mattingly took over as interim manager, Philadelphia has the second-best record in the majors (36-17, .679), leads MLB in homers, and has the sixth-best ERA among the 30 teams. Philadelphia catching up to St. Louis was inevitable.
— Is there a more poorly officiated professional sports league in North America than the WNBA? I don’t think so. The quality of the officiating is horrendous, and the league is an embarrassment for tolerating it.
— I don’t think the officials should ever call a foul on Indiana’s Sophie Cunningham. OK, that won’t happen. But the Mizzou women’s basketball alum is one of the most entertaining and effective instigators and enforcers in team sports, so she needs to be on the court as much as possible.
Thanks for reading …
— Bernie
Bernie was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. During a St. Louis sports-media career that goes back to 1985, he’s won multiple national awards for column writing and sports-talk hosting – and was the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch from 1989 through 2015.
Before that Bernie spent a year at the Dallas Morning News, covering the Dallas Cowboys during Tom Landry’s final season (1988) plus the sale of the team to Jerry Jones and the hiring of Jimmy Johnson as coach.
Bernie has covered several Baseball Hall of Fame managers during his media career including Tony La Russa, Whitey Herzog, Earl Weaver, Joe Torre and (as an interim) Red Schoendienst. In his career as a beatwriter and columnist, Bernie covered Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Joe Gibbs, Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Dick Vermeil on a daily basis.
Bernie has covered and written about many great St. Louis sports team athletes including Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner, Brett Hull, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, Jim Edmonds, Marshall Faulk, Scott Rolen, Mark McGwire, Orlando Pace, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Al MacInnis, Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko, Chris Pronger, Dan Dierdorf, Jackie Smith and Aeneas Williams.
Bernie covered every baseball Cardinals’ postseason game from 1996 through 2014 and was there to chronicle teams that won four NL pennants and two World Series. He provided extensive coverage on the “Greatest Show” St. Louis Rams and has written extensively on the St. Louis Blues, Saint Louis U, and Mizzou football and basketball.
Bernie was/is a longtime voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy and the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.
You can access his columns, videos and the podcast version of the videos here on STLSportsCentral, catch him regularly on KMOX (AM or FM) as part of the Gashouse Gang, Sports Rush Hour, Sports Open Line or Sports On a Sunday Morning shows.
And you can catch weekly “reunion” segments here at STL Sports Central featuring Bernie and his longtime friend Randy Karraker.