Blues draft Waterloo defenseman Nick Bogas in fifth round, 139th overall

The St. Louis Blues used the fifth round of the 2026 NHL Draft to take Waterloo defenseman Nick Bogas 139th overall, a selection that came less than an hour after the club also drafted his former Black Hawks teammate Landon Nycz. Waterloo said St. Louis had not drafted a Black Hawk since 1999, making Bogas’ pick a rare link between the franchise and the junior program.

Bogas’ draft rise was built on two different stages that fit together cleanly. In Waterloo, the Royal Oak, Michigan, defenseman was the youngest full-time player on the roster in 2024-25, yet he still dressed for 60 of 62 regular-season games. He finished with one goal and 10 assists for 11 points, plus a plus-9 rating that tied him for fourth among USHL rookie defensemen. He carried that role into the postseason, appearing in all 15 of Waterloo’s Clark Cup games, finishing with three assists and a plus-1 mark. Two of those points came in Waterloo’s 8-5 Game 1 win over Muskegon in the final series, a reminder that his game held up in the league’s biggest moments.

Then came the second half of the track with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, where Bogas spent 2025-26 facing top peers every night. In 37 games for the U.S. National Under-18 Team, he recorded two goals and two assists for four points. He also scored against Sweden on April 25, 2026, in a 9-1 U.S. win at the IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship, a result that pushed the Americans into first place in Group B before they ultimately finished fifth.

That combination of skating, puck movement and adaptability is what gave Bogas a modern defenseman profile for NHL clubs. NHL Central Scouting ranked him 121st among eligible North American prospects in its April final list, and the Blues added him to a 2026 draft class that grew to nine selections after the team entered the event with 12 picks. Bogas is committed to Michigan State, the same program where his father, Chris, played defense. He is the son of Chris and Julie and another product of the Oakland Jr. Grizzlies pipeline, the same youth path that also produced Nycz.

For Waterloo, Bogas’ selection reinforced the club’s role in preparing defensemen for the next level. For St. Louis, it delivered a player who proved he could handle a heavy USHL workload in Waterloo and then adjust to elite pace and competition with the NTDP.