The Official Prospects Thread

[glen a richter]

Been hearing Mikkola, Thompson and Walman all looked very good today.

[Toasted Oates]

Walman seems to be the consensus standout of the day and ahead of the other D in that camp. He should be, though, as he's a little older/seasoned than the other kids. Looking forward to him vs Dunn in training camp.

[theohall]

Let's not pull a Chicago Bears please. Take the players.

Don't you mean not pull a New Orleans Saints, Mike Ditka action.

I admit ignorance to the Saints reference haha.

I meant more the "HEY! Let's put together a package of 5 picks and 2 players to move up two spots!!" </exaggeration>

Didn't know the Bears made a stupid deal this season, since I tuned out the NFL and their blatant favoritism in officiating - and I don't have a team, so it's easier to see/ignore/not give a darn about.

The Saints reference - Ditka as the Saints head coach/GM in 1999 traded all of the Saints 1999 picks to draft Ricky Williams @ #5. (8 picks, including 2 1sts, to move from #12 to #5). Moron!

Redskins got the picks and Daniel Snyder as a new owner/moron traded 5 picks for Champ Bailey and 2 more for Derek Smith.

Enough side talk.

So players who spent a full season in AHL aren't considered prospects and don't participate in prospect camp? Seems odd.

[KrustyKevo]

I hadn't realized how far Tommy Vannelli had fallen. We had high hopes for him as a good offensive defenseman, but he was in the ECHL all last season putting up only 1 goal and 19 points in 46 games. Sad.

[glen a richter]

Between the defensive depth, aside from Vannelli, and the age of said depth, I'm not upset about him not panning out. I'm more than confident in Walman, Schmaltz, Dunn, obviously Parayko, Edmundson and Pie being the top 6 for a long time.

[WaukeeBlues]

Between the defensive depth, aside from Vannelli, and the age of said depth, I'm not upset about him not panning out. I'm more than confident in Walman, Schmaltz, Dunn, obviously Parayko, Edmundson and Pie being the top 6 for a long time.

Meh. He was a 47th overall. Hard to have really high hopes at that draft position anyway. Very few players below him have panned out thus far. It's also "only" been four seasons since the draft and some players take longer.

[glen a richter]

Read an article I saw posted on the twittersphere yesterday about this guys opinion of the top 10 Blues prospects. I was skeptical after reading his opinion that Dunn is a few years off, but he lost all credibility when I got to his take on Husso. First, he thinks Copley is still in the organization and then he suggested that Husso would either compete to back-up Allen this year (nonsense) or be traded because of the depth (Binnington and, evidently, Copley) in front of him. When he called Oscar Sundqvist the #1 prospect, that was the last straw.

I'm most interested in this years fate of Jordan Kyrou. Namely, will he play another full season at Sarnia and then go to the AHL at the end like he did this year or will he play a full season at Sarnia and then go to the NHL? He'll be 20 in May, if injuries or ineffectiveness force some decisions towards the end of the season, he could be a nice addition heading hopefully into the playoffs.

On the D front, I'm still trying to wrap my head around this... the top 6 seems obvious to me, with Bortuzzo coming in at #6. What exactly is the role of Schmaltz and Dunn? I would expect they replace Bouwmeester and Gunnarsson eventually but it just blows my mind that we have them both under contract for two more seasons. How long do they plan on waiting to dump their asses and bring in the kids? That's 8.3 million in salary between the two of them. Fabbri and Edmundson are both RFA after this season and obviously they won't eat up that entire 8.3 million, but shedding one or both contracts can open up some money heading into the 2018 FA class which may include John Tavares and will most definitely include Paul Stastny. The salary difference between Stastny's 7 million cap hit right now and Tavares' expected 10 million cap hit on the open market isn't that wacky if you get Bouwmeester and Gunnarsson off the roster.

I say see how things are looking in Brooklyn around mid-season. If it looks like the Isles are in disarray, trade Bouwmeester and Gunnarsson for whatever they can get you, bring in Schmaltz and Dunn for top 6. After Sarnia is done, get Kyrou in right away, resign Fabbri and Edmundson before the season is over and make it absolutely obvious the team is dedicated to winning. Then forget Stastny and make a pitch to Tavares.

[theohall]

Jordan Kyrou looked great at the World Jr Summer Showcase. Wish he would have gotten more 5-on-5 play. Was often mentioned by the announcers as the best player on the ice for Team Canada in this tournament. At one point, Craig Button stated in a few years folks are going to ask why Jordan Kyrou wasn't a first round draft pick. What's nice about Kyrou - right-handed shot...

Robert Thomas looked meh... but he was THE youngest players for Team Canada this summer. Probably won't be on their official World Jr team, which will be loaded with 19 year olds. Thomas is also a right-shooter

Tanner Kaspick looked good, bad, in control, out of control... you name it, he showed it both good and bad.

If these prospects develop, the Blues might finally have more balance in their forwards in terms of right vs left shooters in a couple of years, if not sooner. Right now, the forward roster is almost all left shooters, with the only righties being the 4th liners - Brodziak, Thorburn, Bennett, and Sundqvist. This is part of why the Blues power play was so inconsistent this past season.

[glen a richter]

I can't wait to see Kyrou in the NHL. Dude seems to have it all together based on everything I've seen and read about him.

[glen a richter]

Haven't updated this so far this season....

By all accounts, Jordan Kyrou has taken another huge step forward. 14-21-35 in 15 games, I'd be shocked if he wasn't getting some NHL time at the end of the season after Sarnia is finished. Absolutely the prospect I'm most excited about.

Jake Walman isn't looking so good down in Chicago, and most of the AHL guys are playing in San Antonio.

Husso is 3-1 after a miserable first start of the season, Schmaltz is going pretty good, Kostin will definitely get going... 1-5-6, +4 in 10 games.

Just for giggles since there was a lot of talk about him when he went in the 4th round, Toropchenko is -14 in 16 games for Guelph. Perhaps the positive talk about him was a tad premature.

[theohall]

Kyrou had a 6 point game the other night. 2 G 4 A



Toropchenko is -14, but he's also tied for 2nd on the team in scoring. 16GP 4G 9A.

The team is awful defensively. 52 goals against in 17 games. The Guelph Storm's top scorer is -13. Only 2 players on the team have a positive plus/minus and they are only +1 and have played in 15 and 16 games each. Perspective matters.

Robert Thomas is continuing his strong play as well.

[theohall]

Digging into some numbers....

Thomas has 12 goals on only 36 SOG. That is a ridiculous shooting percentage. He also has 1 SHG. 61.4% on faceoffs having taken 280 faceoffs. He's averaging 20 faceoffs/game with 12+ being wins.

Kyrou's had to take over the circle 22 times and won 50% of his draws. He's shooting like mad. 52 SOG in 16 games.

Toropchenko has 2 GWGs in Guelph's 7 wins, is Guelph's top scoring forward, and is getting shots on goal almost as often as Kyrou with 52 SOG in 17 games. Their top scorer and the guy Toropchenko is tied for 2nd with in scoring are both defenseman. His 5 power play points are only two less than Robert Thomas's 7 power play points. So just looking at +/- is misleading.

[glen a richter]

If my math is correct, Kyrou is on pace for about 143 points, a nearly 50 point jump on his total from last season. I would positively love to see him on the playoff roster and see if a line consisting of him, Blais and maybe Kostin can provide a nice offensive jolt. The inexperience would worry me but the payoff from having a full 3rd scoring line at a time when goals will be harder to come by would probably be worth it.

[theohall]

Close enough - 68 game schedule, 2.17 per game, projects to 147 points.

If Robert Thomas can maintain his current pace on a sub-par London Knights team, he's looking at a 40 point increase over last season.

[glen a richter]

Close enough - 68 game schedule, 2.17 per game, projects to 147 points.

If Robert Thomas can maintain his current pace on a sub-par London Knights team, he's looking at a 40 point increase over last season.

Yes, but Kyrou has only played in 24 of Sarnia's 26 games so far. Not sure why he missed those 2 games. Thomas is one goal away from matching his last season total, having currently played 44 fewer games so far. Safe to say he'll probably get #16 soon.

Also, David Noel, 5th round LD seems to be progressing nicely. Maybe a bit of a steal down there so late in the draft.

The Blues have drafted very well recently, in spite of not having particularly high picks. We'll see how it translates over the course of the next couple of seasons, but I think we'll see that they've more than accomplished the goals they set. It's going to be great when they can legitimately roll four scoring lines with three high quality defense pairings. It's going to be miserable when they inevitably can't afford them all though, so the window may be small.

[Carl Racki]

My son got to play in some friendlies in Toronto last weekend so I took advantage of the opportunity to watch Kyrou play in Mississauga. It was cool to put eyes on some of the youngsters.

First of all, we ran into Bill Armstrong in the concourse before the game...not sure if he was there to check on Kyrou or scout some of the other undrafted talent in the building..

Kyrou had three points, all on secondary assists. Set up two others beautifully in the slot but his teammates both fanned on the shot. He plays the left point of their power play and is a definite threat up there.

I posted this in the Asylum earlier, but he just looks small to me...very thin legs and shoulders. I had read in the Athletic I believe that Kyrou was among the next wave of elite skaters...I didn't see that out of him as far as burner speed like McDavid, he is very shifty and agile. He reminds me of Perron, if I had to choose someone to compare him to.

I'm no scout and this was the first OHL game I've ever been to, but Kyrou is among the most successful players I remember in the Blues organ-I-zation to play in the OHL, and it is hard for me to predict one way or the other what he will do in the NHL. He is fun to watch for sure, but in my opinion still a bit undersized physically and I wouldn't count on him being a difference maker in the playoffs this year. I hope I'm wrong.

[glen a richter]

Austin Poganski (4th rd, 110th 2014) was looking like he was going to turn a corner after having a solid season last year but this year has gone poorly so far. I'm not sure the reason for his drop in point production, though his +/- is ok and he's not taking nearly as many penalties as he previously had. I don't think it's going to work out though, Blues probably won't offer him a contract and that's the end of that after this season.

[glen a richter]

Kyrou's tailed off a bit of late, 30 GP, 58 pts.

David Noel is an interesting prospect on the LD, points are way up, +/- is down and he's playing on a < .500 team but their 2nd leading scorer. Not sure what the long term plan is for him but it's nice to have another available LD in the system for down the line, maybe 3 or 4 years from now.

Just throwing this one out there for giggles: Why in the world did they waste a pick on Evan Fitzpatrick? Dude is horrible and certainly not worth #59 overall. Especially with Husso already in the system.

[theohall]

Just throwing this one out there for giggles: Why in the world did they waste a pick on Evan Fitzpatrick? Dude is horrible and certainly not worth #59 overall. Especially with Husso already in the system.

At the time, he had made Canada's U18 World Junior Team, which isn't easy. Had he improved, he would be a tradeable prospect and cover for injuries.

Binnington has been OK, until this season where he was on loan to AHL Providence - 8 GP, 1.84, .933.

Someone has to move up as at least a backup when Husso moves up. Besides, Fitzpatrick is 3 years behind Husso in terms of development.

Husso 22
Binnington 24
Opilka 20
Fitzpatrick 19

Next season, the Blues should have Allen and Husso in goal. I don't expect Hutton to be re-signed. Binnington is an RFA next season and might not be re-signed given the number of UFAs and RFAs to sign/replace for the main roster. San Antonio's netminders could easily be Opilka and Fitzpatrick.

[theohall]

NHL Network broadcast a Wolves games this past weekend. Walman is exhibiting all of the skills which would work perfectly in the current Blues system.