Ralph signed a three-year entry-level contract with the St. Louis Blues in April 2026. His deal carries an average annual value (AAV) of $1.07M and runs through the 2028-29 season. The 20-year-old defender totaled 11 points in 37 games for Michigan State (NCAA) during the 2025-26 season. Ralph recorded two points in six games for the Springfield Thunderbirds (AHL) in the regular season before appearing in eight postseason games. He didn’t record a point and posted a minus-6 plus/minus rating in his first taste of pro playoff action. Ralph is a player to keep an eye on with a rebuild underway in St. Louis.

As expected and written about when he was drafted, Ralph is a big, towering shut down defenseman, and his NCAA rookie season showed a goal and seven assists in 35 games played. Ralph also featured in the World Juniors, winning gold with the United states. Your league settings will determine his value for you. If your league rewards defensive defensemen who can hit and block, but not show up on the scoresheet in other areas- he manages to stay out of the penalty box quite well- then he could be worth acquiring and stashing on the cheap to fill that role for you in a few years.

Ralph is about as unique as a massive shutdown defenseman from the Prep school circuit can get. Although his size and reach serve him well against the rush, he adds an unusual level of mobility to the mix, on top of some solid reads and high-end awareness. Very little gets past him. But don’t be fooled by his 66 points in 57 games — he’s a black hole offensively. There isn’t much in terms of habits, and even less in terms of tools, to suggest he could be efficient enough on the puck to be anything else than a bottom-pair defenseman in the NHL. The one saving grace in his on-puck game is his ability to read the play on breakouts. If that works out, maybe he makes it as a number 4, but it’s a stretch.

June 2024 Ralph was selected in the second round, 48th overall, by the St. Louis Blues in the 2024 NHL Draft. Hadi Kalakeche