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2022-2023 Blues Multi-Purpose Thread

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Mike Liut said:
I wonder after drafting 3- 1sts this year and adding them to Snuggs, Bolduc, Neighbors, where that ranks our prospect pool?
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It would be a strong group, but I’d be very surprised to see us make 3 first round picks. I’m pretty confident we see a Schenn trade at the draft (off the radar player, 1st rounder involved, shedding a questionable contract in the process).

I’m even questioning if we make 2 first round picks. I could see us trying to package the picks to move up, though I could see there not being that many takers and we end up making both remaining picks.
 
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Mike Liut said:
I wonder after drafting 3- 1sts this year and adding them to Snuggs, Bolduc, Neighbors, where that ranks our prospect pool?
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Pretty high I’d say. Neighbours would likely be considered graduated but Snuggerud and Bolduc had good seasons. Hofer would be ranked higher and Alexandrov likely adds a small boost too. Add Zach Dean to the list. Then add 3 1sts to that? It’d be a good group, likely pushing top-10.
 
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for some reason I think Dean will be better than Thomas. His compete level is extremely high. Sick hands too.
 
High n Wide said:
It would be a strong group, but I’d be very surprised to see us make 3 first round picks. I’m pretty confident we see a Schenn trade at the draft (off the radar player, 1st rounder involved, shedding a questionable contract in the process).

I’m even questioning if we make 2 first round picks. I could see us trying to package the picks to move up, though I could see there not being that many takers and we end up making both remaining picks.
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Hard to say what trade options there will be.

I’d guess there’s a slightly greater than 50% chance they take 3 picks in the 1st. But trading for players or trading up and down are certainly also options.

What I want to see is them use a 3rd to move up in the 1st. Let’s say they end up with picks 9, 24 and 26. If there’s someone we really like still on the board at 19-20, see if there’s a taker to package the 24th and 3rd rounder to move up.
 
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Mike Liut said:
I’m not saying hes ROR, I’m just saying points aren’t everything.
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And you're never going to be considered a true top 6 center if you can't produce. Dean has proven nothing except he can produce in the Q. Bolduc has 40 more points in 11 more games in the same league.
 
Linkens Mastery said:
And you're never going to be considered a true top 6 center if you can't produce. Dean has proven nothing except he can produce in the Q. Bolduc has 40 more points in 11 more games in the same league.
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Time will tell. Dean has the skill, skating, shot, vision, tenacity and work ethic you want. Much more tenacity and work ethic than Thomas. Probably won’t be the playmaker that Thomas is, but will be a much better 2-way player. Probably a 25g 50-60pt 2-way center
 
Mike Liut said:
Time will tell. Dean has the skill, skating, shot, vision, tenacity and work ethic you want. Much more tenacity and work ethic than Thomas. Probably won’t be the playmaker that Thomas is, but will be a much better 2-way player. Probably a 25g 50-60pt 2-way center
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He'll be lucky to sniff those numbers. Unless scoring skyrockets he'll be closer to a 40-45 point 3rd liner who can jump into the top 6 if needed. Just like Barbie
 
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Linkens Mastery said:
He'll be lucky to sniff those numbers. Unless scoring skyrockets he'll be closer to a 40-45 point 3rd liner who can jump into the top 6 if needed. Just like Barbie
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If the return on a pending UFA we were highly unlikely to retain is a player 7 years younger we expect to grow into that same role with similar production who is a cost controlled RFA... That's a great return for a rental!

If all Dean does is fill a bottom 6 role, with moderate production (20-30 points) for 6 years before leaving as a UFA or via trade, with 1/2 seasons scoring 40+ points - that's still a net positive over getting nothing or a pick which might not develop.

Barby gave us 410 regular season games and scored 178p over 7 seasons with us for under 2.5m AAV. That's a valuable roster piece, even if Barby was not an impact player, that's still got worth.
 
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Brockon said:
If the return on a pending UFA we were highly unlikely to retain is a player 7 years younger we expect to grow into that same role with similar production who is a cost controlled RFA... That's a great return for a rental!

If all Dean does is fill a bottom 6 role, with moderate production (20-30 points) for 6 years before leaving as a UFA or via trade, with 1/2 seasons scoring 40+ points - that's still a net positive over getting nothing or a pick which might not develop.

Barby gave us 410 regular season games and scored 178p over 7 seasons with us for under 2.5m AAV. That's a valuable roster piece, even if Barby was not an impact player, that's still got worth.
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I completely agree with you. I'm 110% fine with Dean turning into Barbie V2.0
 
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Mike Liut said:
Time will tell. Dean has the skill, skating, shot, vision, tenacity and work ethic you want. Much more tenacity and work ethic than Thomas. Probably won’t be the playmaker that Thomas is, but will be a much better 2-way player. Probably a 25g 50-60pt 2-way center
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Thomas single-handedly willed Hamilton to the championship in his +1 year. Easily the most noticeable forward on both sides of the ice throughout the playoffs. Then walked in as a rookie and was a part of a line that cratered NHL playoff defense on possession, and was the key architect in what's, IMO, the most important goal in franchise history.

His defensive ability was much more celebrated than Dean's at this point in their career.

Very few 22 year olds figure out how to play elite level defense as a Center, especially on a defensively inept team. Considering both O'Reilly and Accari looked lost in defensive coverage in stretches this year, I don't know how to accurately evaluate his or any other forward's defensive performance, this year. What Thomas is objectively not great at, yet, is compensating for the short-comings of the offensive minded players that will surround him. Which as a top 6 C, is a part of his responsibility.

I don't think Thomas ever gets close to an O'Reilly level of defense, but O'Reilly -age 22- wasn't being asked to be the primary offensive driver of Col. And he wasn't exactly "O'Reilly", yet, either. FWIW, my expectation/projection for Thomas, defensively, is somewhere closer to Couture.

All that being said, I do agree with you on the subtext around the "motor". For him to take the next step, his conditioning is going to have to take a jump. To play the style of game he thrives playing, he needs a bigger tank than what he's had to have up to this point. He got pushed around in the playoffs last year, and clearly focused on his strength, last offseason. He's been much harder to push off the puck, so I'm hopeful this offseason will be time for him to focus on acquiring that bigger tank. That elite level conditioning is what propelled O'Reilly to rarified air on the defensive side, and if I'm remembering correctly, for him that came the offseason he was having contract disputes with Col.

...what's going to be interesting to watch with Dean is how much of that motor gets zapped at the NHL level. The strength pendulum is going to shift tremendously on him, and those bumps and battles add up, shift to shift. I like Dean, but very few "high motor/chaos in a bottle" Jr players are able to carbon copy that style of game to the NHL.
 
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Mike Liut said:
Next you’re going to tell me Snuggs won’t be better then Tarasenko, Bolduc won’t be better than Perron and Neighbors won’t be better than Schenn. You guys are always ruining my hopes lol.
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Snuggles is the only one on that list I project to be higher
 
Barring injury, looks like Hofer is done with the Blues for this season:



He is much improved over his call up last year and looking forward to him next year.
 
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