The Official Prospects Thread

[glen a richter]

So it looks like until all injured players are back the 4th line is shaping up as Alexandrov-Acciari-Walker.

I assume when Toropchenko is back he replaces Alexandrov and when Brown gets back he’ll probably get 3rd line detail and I guess Barby slides down to the 4th line.

Not sure how I feel about that. A lot hinges on whether Kyrou can adequately replace Perron especially on the PP and whether Neighbours can adequately replace Barby who won’t score 20 as a 4th liner.

I’ve said over and over that a productive 4th line that can eat 10+ minutes a night and score a decent amount is critical to winning a Cup. The 2019 team had the best 4th line I’ve seen from the Blues in basically ever and they’ll need to replicate that this season.

[glen a richter]

Robertsson hasn't played in a while, trying to find out if he's injured.

[theohall]

Couldn't find any news on Simon Robertson (apparently, there is only one 's' in the last name per his team website) other than he hasn't played since their first 2 games. No news if he's injured or not. This is his team website. Just have to right click and translate to English to read it. https://www.skellefteaaik.se/artiklar

[theohall]

Will have to figure out where the rest of the Blues draft picks from the past 3 seasons are playing.

[theohall]

Draft picks from the last 3 seasons if they aren't on the team or in Springfield.

Jimmy Snuggerud RW U of Minnesota - 4GP 4G 0A
Aleksanteri Kaskimaki C HIFK Helsinki - Juniors Finland 2GP All 0s
Michael Buchinger LD Guelph Storm OHL 7GP 1G 5A
Arseny Koromyslov LD SKA 1946 St Petersburg - Juniors 2GP All 0s
Marc-Andre Gaudet LD Acadia-Bathurst QMJHL 7GP 1G 3A
Landon Sim LW London Knights OHL 5GP 0G 1A

Simon Robertsson RW (shoots left) (Skelleftea AIK Jr Sweden) - played 2 games with Mens league had 1A. Currently with the Jr team. 1GP 0G 1A
Tyson Galloway LD Calgary Hitmen WHL 4GP 1G 4A
Ivan Vorobyov RW Mamonty Yugry Russia KHL Juniors) No info available

Dylan Peterson C Boston U Hockey East 3GP 0G 1A
Leo Loof LD Ilves Tampere SM-Liga Sweden 13 GP 1G 2A
Will Cranley G Flint Firebirds OHL 5 GP 3.54GAA 2W 3L .905SV%
Noah Beck LD Clarkson U ECAC 3GP 2G 3A
Tanner Dickinson - injured - no team. Will likely be assigned to Springfield or an ECHL team when he's ready to play again.

Will update this every once in awhile. Need to find a better format.

[theohall]

Best way I figured I could do this is using an image, since formatting tables here is a pain.



Pulled data using Hockeydb for most and Elite Prospects for players overseas. Hockeydb doesn't track European teams very well. If anyone wants the links, let me know and I will post them.

[glen a richter]

I’m very intrigued by the development of the defense prospects. I think they’ve done a good job digging deep and they may not be world beaters individually but it looks like there’s a lot of interesting kids that can step up in 4-5 years. Buchinger and Loof down the line and Kessel/Tucker more immediately.

As usual there’s a severe lack of RD depth. Beyond Kessel the pipeline is kind of bare. Once again I hope they address that deficiency in the next draft.

[theohall]

RD is always an issue. Good RD seems to be rare. The last draft - 50 defenseman were selected. 22 were RD - 15 of them went before the 3rd round was over. With the Blues lack of early picks, they are going to draft BPA, not best RD... Armstrong's drafting philosophy along with the way he manages FAs has tended to work out more often than not in terms of keeping the Blues a truly competitive team. Yes, I wish the Blues had more depth at RD the pipeline, but it's not a critical thing with the Blues current roster.

Not sold on Loof. If he can learn to control his hits better, he'd be like Mikkola, but he hasn't figured that part out, still.

On Robertsson, it's hard tracking him other than on Elite Prospects, because it looks like he's played on 3 separate teams already. He wasn't part of Sweden's U20 World Jr or U20 World Championship team, but has played on the Sweden U20 team. It looks like he's playing for the Sweden U20 team right now which would mean we should see him in the WJCs in December. No idea for real though.

[glen a richter]

I know it’s hard to tell this early and at this level but guys like Buchinger and Beck signal to me that the Blues recognize the need to get offense generated by their defense. The league is trending towards a much more offensive game, thankfully. The days of neutral zone trap boring ass hockey are far back in the rear view mirror and Army and the scouting department obviously recognizes that. At least from my vantage point that’s what it looks like.

[theohall]

Because I was bored, I wanted to see who the Blues drafted ahead of Adam Fox, since he was an early 3rd round pick as a RHD back in 2016.

The Blues drafted Tage Thompson ( 1st rd who is showing why they drafted him), Kyrou (2nd rd can't complain), and Evan Fitzpatrick (late 2nd rd who is no longer in the organization). Yes, it's hindsight and Fitzpatrick had a history of improving as he moved up. True, Fitz never got a true shot in the Blues org due to the crap happening in the minors with San Antonio, but... he hasn't proven to be worth that pick considering he is currently an ECHL backup goalie.

I can't argue the Thompson and Kyrou picks, but the Fitpatrick one is questionable since the Blues had a history of drafting goalies only 3rd round and later. Yes, the Blues drafted Fitz late in the 2nd and didn't have a 3rd and only a late 4th round pick, but by that time - Fox had done enough to warrant consideration, even as an undersized d-man.

[theohall]

This link lists all current Blues prospects including those on the T-Birds. https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/74/ ... the-system

[glen a richter]

Mathias Laferriere is an interesting prospect who seems to (so far) be taking a nice step forward from last season in his second year at Springfield.

[theohall]

Current projections show Blues prospects Bolduc (Canada), Snuggerud (USA), Robertsson (Sweden), and Kaskimaki (Finland) making their respective World Jr teams for the upcoming tournament. It'll be nice to see Blues prospects other than Leo Loof playing in the World Jrs again.

[theohall]

Hofer and Zherenko are both in the top 10 in SV% in the AHL.

Zherenko .925 2.79 3-1-1
Hofer .920 2.49 4-6-2 (8 of 12 starts allowed 2 goals or less)

Those are good numbers for AHL goalies.

[glen a richter]

With the Blues mired in a heap of crap this season, I think it's a good time to do a real hard analysis of who's promising coming up in the system. Especially seeing Jake Neighbours play so-so hockey in so-so minutes and be on the Springfield shuttle so far this season, I'm wondering how valuable he might really end up being to this team. As it usually goes, it looks like management overhypes their picks only to see them not meet the expectations they had for them in their draft slot.

Looking ahead to the next 2-3 seasons, I do see the biggest pieces to future Blues teams on the defense. Unfortunately they're all blocked by long contracts and NTC's. A transition to defense that actually plays defense is important and guys like Tucker, Kessel, Gaudet, Loof, Galloway and Beck should all get the opportunity to piece-by-piece replace schmendricks like Krug (too small), Parayko (too soft) and Bortuzzo (too always hurt). I'm not wild about Perunovich either (too small and too always hurt)

On offense though, I'm hard pressed to see anyone that could possibly take a step into the category of elite. Bolduc I guess is the best bet to be a spark on offense and if Robertsson is everything they say then maybe he could be a good complementary piece but that's really what this organization is filled with--complementary pieces and not "the guy". I'm not saying a McDavid type, or a Stamkos type, they don't grow on trees and the Blues draft positions haven't given them the chance to get someone like that, but if they're going to keep on sucking this year it's so incumbent on them to suck hard for Bedard and move the UFA's if they can get extra first round picks in exchange.

The problems with this team run deep starting with Armstrong handing out stupid contracts like they were halloween candy, the players being lazy as all hell, I like Chief but he needs to do more to get these guys to snap out of their BS. I know it'll be tough for St. Louis to support a rebuild, I've read that over and over that financially the team would be in deep if they were to engage in a full on rebuild. Correct me if I'm wrong but this team, if nothing else, has been resilient in surviving worse than a 3 or 4 year rebuild. I mean they were on the doorstep of moving to frikken Saskatoon for chrissake. I think they can handle a few lean years to rebuild--with a new GM--and not have to vacate the city. If the "rebuild" is simply waiting for the guys they've drafted the last few years to be ready to plug into vacancies as they open up then we're looking at another couple decades or so of traditional Blues hockey--good enough to make the playoffs, not good enough to make noise when they get there and not bad enough to get the draft picks necessary to get out of that rut.

[theohall]

Right now, Berube's hands are tied by the contracts handed out. Roster moves are limited to the bottom 3 forwards and the bottom 3 defenseman - and not always the bottom 3 D - sometimes, it's just the bottom 2. Prior to the past two seasons of signings, I'd thought Armstrong had learned his lesson about NTCs, but clearly he gave in to reduce salaries somewhat given the flat cap the past 3 years. Now, he's screwed, because teams don't make trades involving major salaries at this point in the mid-season (where we are now) mostly for cap reasons. Apparently, it's easier at the trade deadline due to how contracts and the cap work - which is some complicated formula GMs understand that I still don't.

So back to Berube. Sure, he can bench someone - for a game or two - but management won't be happy seeing millions of dollars healthy scratched for Tucker, Kessel, etc - even if it's the right thing coaching wise to do.

Until Armstrong figures out some way to move someone out among the top 9 forwards or top 4 D, we fans are stuck with this roster which seems to not really give a crap about how they play period to period. And Berube is stuck in the same way.

I'd love to see Tucker playing with Berube rotating which defenseman gets benched, since pretty much all of them except Mikkola deserve to be. And do the same thing with every forward. Pick someone from Springfield to play 2 or 3 games, and rotate benching one of the top 9 - until all of them have sat - in that players place. Right now, the only way to punish these guys is taking away ice time or trading them.

Interesting point - Kyrou and Thomas - their NTCs don't kick in until next season... I'd almost find a way to move Thomas given how invisible he's been.

[glen a richter]

I'd agree it'll be easier to trade guys at the deadline to contenders but there''s those pesky NTC's to contend with.

Would O'Reilly, Tarasenko (ok, we know he would), Parayko and hell even Binnington give their blessing to be traded to a contender for the sake of the team... the sake of a team that they'd not be playing for anymore and have no reason to care about anymore?

I'd say Binnington would waive for Toronto, Parayko seems like a good kid who would take one for the team if it was to a club where he knew he'd be used in a role more suited to his skill set. O'Reilly, well he's strongarmed his way out of Buffalo and essentially forced the Avs to trade him before that so he's no stranger to getting his way and we know Tarasenko either wanted, past tense, or still wants to be traded. If they can even get rid of 2 of the 4 and get some picks back, make something happen with those picks. I feel like if they don't commit to a rebuild we're going to be in for something way more painful to watch. Seeing overpaid, older former stars slog through a season with no silver lining is infinitely more pathetic than watching a bunch of kids go through growing pains that'll leave them stronger and more competitive in the end. If they had the same record right now but the team was filled with young, promising prospects, I'd feel a whole lot better about them.

[theohall]

Agreed.

[glen a richter]

Marc Andre Gaudet signed his ELC. I’m hesitant on another offensive d-man but I guess if he can get developed properly he’s certainly bigger than Krug and Perunovich which can’t hurt. He’s doing very well in the Q this season, let’s make sure he doesn’t forget his defensive responsibilities.

[theohall]

Bolduc failed to make the Team Canada roster for the upcoming WJC. Apparently, he was barely noticeable in his limited role during their camp.