The Official Prospects Thread

[glen a richter]

Hayes was in college those four years though. Same rules for international players?

[glen a richter]

Jake Walman is the one to watch this year. Second year in college, his stats are taking a quantum leap.

11 GP, 9 G, 8 A, +10 so far compared to 1/15/+4 for his entire freshman year. Maybe a 3rd year at Providence, forego his senior year to sign with the team, play a year in Chicago and be ready to join the club the year after. It's mindboggling the potential this team can have in terms of a systematically sound two-way defensive corp moving forward.

[glen a richter]

Another goal by Walman, leading his team in all scoring. I'm conjuring up these images of a defense led by Parayko and Walman a couple years from now and honestly it just seems perfect. I jumped on the Parayko train real fast when I first read about his progress a couple of seasons ago and I'm jumping on the Walman train too. These two together have the potential to exceed the standard set by Pronger/MacInnis. The difference is neither Pronger nor MacInnis were home-growns, and it would be extra special to see a Cup won where the main team leaders were original Blues draftees.

[theohall]

There is a small controversy with Walman and the upcoming World Jr Championships.

Walman has dual citizenship - US/Canada. He supposedly had the option to choose which country to play for. He chose USA. The IIHF is telling him he can't play for Team USA, claiming he has to play for Team Canada or no one.

Walman was apparently tripped up by an IIHF requirement. As a Canadian-born and Canadian-developed/trained hockey player, a U.S. passport alone is not enough for him to play for the Americans.

So, will Team Canada select him for the World Jrs? Which they should.

TSN Article on this

[APOD]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/juniors/ ... mp-roster/

Walman and Dunn are in!

[glen a richter]

Team Canada or Team USA either way it'll be great for his development. I don't know why I was thinking he was a 2nd round pick... 3rd round, 82 overall. If everyone pans out that could be one of the better draft years, overall, the Blues have had. Fabbri first round, Barbashev second round, Walman 3rd, Husso 4th, Descheneau 5th... and I do think he'll have an impact at the NHL level eventually. May be small, but he can score, Tyler Johnsonesque player and Blais 6th round who could also be a scoring contributor two or three years down the road.

[APOD]

Blues prospects Luke Opilka (USA), Vince Dunn (CAN), Jake Walman (CAN) and Niko Mikkola (FIN) have been named to the preliminary rosters for their respective countries for the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships.

In addition, St. Louis natives Matthew Tkachuk and Ryan MacInnis were also selected to USA Hockey’s preliminary roster.

[glen a richter]

I suppose this is as good a place as any for this comment...

Binnington, Copley and Lundstrom have been fairly atrocious in Chicago... high GAA's, lowish save %'s, not a great W/L record to speak of. Is the system in Chicago loose on defense, putting them all into harms way too frequently or are they actually all pretty bad? I expected, especially the way they were hyping Copley, that their numbers would be significantly better than they are but I don't see any translation to NHL success unless the system there is so different that the goalies don't really stand much of a chance. I mean they're giving up goals on a nearly 3/game clip. And if the goalies are suffering because the defense is that bad, or that non-priority, then what kind of development will Schmaltz and Vannelli (when he gets back from injury) really have down there? Schmaltz, in particular, is on a .5 ppg pace, pretty good for a d-man, but also -6. Barbashev has also heavily tailed off, Schmaltz actually has more points than him. Is Barbashev turning into a bust? I'm trying to wrap my head around whether these guys are all that bad or if it's the team, the coach, the system? What's going on? I'd like to see the guys on the farm doing well enough that I can feel comfortable with their eventual transition to the NHL.

[ecbm]

Binnington, Copley and Lundstrom have been fairly atrocious in Chicago... high GAA's, lowish save %'s, not a great W/L record to speak of.

I think atrocious is far too strong a term. None have been great but Copley, for example, hasn't been so bad as to erase the memory of his very good '14-15 in the AHL.

Also, both GAA and +/- are intensely flawed stats for evaluating individuals. So I see more of a system problem with the fact that out of 33 skaters in Chicago, only 10 have positive +/-. The goalies' low sv% is worrying though. They don't seem to face an overly burdensome amount of shots per game. So unless they're all super-high quality, they should be stopping more.

Husso is the man at this point I guess. He's sporting a 1.95/.920 line with 4 shutouts in 32 games in the Finnish league-though I have no idea how that league compares to the AHL.

[Robb_K]

Binnington, Copley and Lundstrom have been fairly atrocious in Chicago... high GAA's, lowish save %'s, not a great W/L record to speak of.

I think atrocious is far too strong a term. None have been great but Copley, for example, hasn't been so bad as to erase the memory of his very good '14-15 in the AHL.

Also, both GAA and +/- are intensely flawed stats for evaluating individuals. So I see more of a system problem with the fact that out of 33 skaters in Chicago, only 10 have positive +/-. The goalies' low sv% is worrying though. They don't seem to face an overly burdensome amount of shots per game. So unless they're all super-high quality, they should be stopping more.

Husso is the man at this point I guess. He's sporting a 1.95/.920 line with 4 shutouts in 32 games in the Finnish league-though I have no idea how that league compares to the AHL.

Yes. The Wolves' problem is team defence, rather than goaltending. Their defencemen pairings having been so unstable lately, due to Blues' call-ups hasn't helped. But, they have a below average AHL defensive corps to start (given several young prospects and only average AHL veterans. And those problems are exacerbated by their forwards not helping out much on defence. The forward play is not very well coordinated with the play of their defencemen. Some of that is due to having some 1-way forwards. And the remainder is that their defensive pairings and forward lines have been changing o much that it has been hard for them to build and keep any chemistry. They had a better record (and goals against) earlier in the season, when the roster was more stable.

[glen a richter]

Mackenzie MacEachern and Adam Musil signed entry level contracts. I don't really see much of an NHL future for either beyond depth players, but I guess they're still young yet.

In MacEachern's case, it was a smart(ish) move skipping senior year if he really intends to make a concerted effort to crack an NHL roster because his team was awful and his development was stunted because of that. We'll see, maybe he pulls a Parayko and stuns everyone.

[glen a richter]

Justin Selman, this one kind of snuck under the radar... NCAA signing out of evil UMich. Seems to be a Backes type project who could make the NHL in a couple of seasons. We'll see how he does in Chicago next season.

[glen a richter]

Let's dredge this one back up to the main page since some of these guys will be possibly competing for spots in September.

I would have liked to see a full season out of Vannelli but he was hurt after 7 games. I'm assuming he'll be locked in for a full season at Chicago, but could have competed for a spot this year. Schmaltz I can't imagine not making the jump unless there's no place for him. I just see so much from our defense prospects that I wouldn't mind replacing two guys with kids, and I use "kid" loosely with Lindbohm because it's not like he doesn't have some NHL time under his belt. We're so deep in defensive depth that they'll have to trade someone eventually.

Offensively, I want to see another season in Chicago out of Barbashev. His numbers were dreadful... so was the whole team so I can't just pick on him in particular but I expected a lot better from him. Rattie, who knows now that Hitch is back. May as well trade him somewhere he's appreciated. I fully don't expect any of Maceachern, Musil or Blais to make the NHL club barring any significant surprises, but I'm excited to see what they can do on the farm.

[WaukeeBlues]

Justin Selman, this one kind of snuck under the radar... NCAA signing out of evil UMich. Seems to be a Backes type project who could make the NHL in a couple of seasons. We'll see how he does in Chicago next season.

Google'd around on him. Looks like a solid depth signing. 3rd/4th line guy with the occasional chip in of offense.

As far as overall depth in the organ-EYE-zation, I would agree we appear to have a glut of defensive prospects. Which I'm not the least bit sorry about but unless there's a guy that's just a steal out there, I hope the Blues go offense with our first round selection this year.

[glen a richter]

What we sorely lack in scoring depth on the wing we more than make up for in defense. A sound justification for trading 22 for the 4th pick and using it on a winger.

[glen a richter]

Some of the kids in Chicago seem to be really turning it on lately. Husso has definitely stabilized his numbers after a send down to the ECHL, Blais and Barbashev are turning it on and Dunn is looking like a great draft pick. I'd like to see some of them get some NHL time down the stretch, but we'll see with this moron coaching bunch we have. Blais will get the Rattie treatment because he's small, Barbashev should definitely be up instead of Lehtera and getting his fair shot, and obviously Husso isn't sniffing the NHL for at least 2 more seasons.

As far as Dunn and Schmaltz go, I completely expect to see them in the NHL sooner rather than later.

[WaukeeBlues]

Tage Thomson has hit his 14 goal mark from last season in 18 fewer games so I'll assume that's a positive. Wouldn't shock me if he did a full 4 in the NCAA before turning pro but we'll see. Kid really needs to fill out. speaking of UConn, Letunov is down there too, doesn't he play with Tage? I thought?

Jordan Kyrou set to hit his point totals from last season in 26 fewer games. I'm excited for this guy down the road.

Didn't know Dunn made the jump to the Wolves this year. Anybody see him play? His numbers look good...

Barbashev having a MUCH better year in the AHL than in the last one. The AHL is no joke man, its a man's league. I'm excited to see year two going really well for him.

I see Tommy Vannelli got sent down to the ECHL, was he a bust?

[theohall]

Letunov was traded to the Coyotes when the Blues "rented" Michalek and a 2015 3rd round conditional pick (horrible trade). The Blues did not get the conditional pick because the condition was if Michalek could not play due to his concussion issues. He played.

Arizona has since traded Letunov and a pick to the Sharks for two draft picks.

And, yes, Letunov is playing on the same team as Thompson. He and Thompson led the Huskies in scoring last season - Letunov on mostly even strength goals and Thompson on PP goals. The two are again leading UConn in scoring this season with Letunov getting most of his goals on the PP.

Thompson 20 GP 14G 8A (5 PPG)
Letunov 21 GP 5G 15A (3 PPG)

[WaukeeBlues]

Letunov was traded to the Coyotes when the Blues "rented" Michalek and a 2015 3rd round conditional pick (horrible trade). The Blues did not get the conditional pick because the condition was if Michalek could not play due to his concussion issues. He played.

Arizona has since traded Letunov and a pick to the Sharks for two draft picks.

And, yes, Letunov is playing on the same team as Thompson. He and Thompson led the Huskies in scoring last season - Letunov on mostly even strength goals and Thompson on PP goals. The two are again leading UConn in scoring this season with Letunov getting most of his goals on the PP.

Thompson 20 GP 14G 8A (5 PPG)
Letunov 21 GP 5G 15A (3 PPG)

Thanks for the info, didn't know all that.

Ah yes, the ever present deadline deals sucking out the prospect pipeline.

That Ryan Miller trade is still so abysmal to me. Even at the time why did we agree to the cost of TWO first rounders? That's basically unheard of.

[glen a richter]

Just in on the Twitterverse, Jordan Kyrou has points in 21 consecutive games now. I'd love to see this translate to the NHL but realistically it's not happening this season unless Army totally blows the team apart which won't happen with all this sudden winning. Kyrou is still a couple years away, but so far trading for that pick looks good.