2024 Blues Prospect Poll #2

[STL fan in MN]

Dvorsky wins in a landslide so moving onto Poll #2.

1. Dalibor Dvorsky (89.8%)
2. ?

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[tfriede2]

So close between Lindstein and Snuggerud - went Snuggerud, but it’s a toss-up. Lindstein has more potential to be a more important piece long-term, IMO.

 

[Majorityof1]

The next 5 are really close. I think Snuggerud, Stenburg, Lindstein, Jiricek, and Bolduc are all really close. I think Stenburg and Lindstein are safer but question if they have that elite potential. I think Snuggy and Jiricek are riskier, but could be elite. Bolduc is kind of a middle ground, a bit safer and bit higher ceiling.

I think I'm going off the board from most of you. I think Jiricek could be special. He could bust too, but he has the tools to be a 1D. Not elite, but a 1D. And that is more valuable than a winger, even an elite one.

 

[sfvega]

I think Lindstein had a better season and he has more tools than Snuggy.

 

[shpongle falls]

Voted for Lindstein. Only games I got to see him play was the World Junior Tourney and BOY did he impress the hell out of me. Always made the right smart play, his hockey IQ is off the charts good. I never played hockey but I’ve been watching long enough to know a smart hockey player when I see one.

I think he’s going to replace some of what we lost with Petro in that, he’s a high iq two way d man that can play an elite transition game while providing offense and defends well. Don't expect him to get as much points as Petro obviously but maybe 25-30ish points seems realistic.

 

[shpongle falls]

The next 5 are really close. I think Snuggerud, Stenburg, Lindstein, Jiricek, and Bolduc are all really close. I think Stenburg and Lindstein are safer but question if they have that elite potential. I think Snuggy and Jiricek are riskier, but could be elite. Bolduc is kind of a middle ground, a bit safer and bit higher ceiling.

I think I'm going off the board from most of you. I think Jiricek could be special. He could bust too, but he has the tools to be a 1D. Not elite, but a 1D. And that is more valuable than a winger, even an elite one.

I totally agree with you about Jiricek he very well could blossom as our best prospect, I’m super pumped to see how he develops. I love Snuggs too and think he’s gonna be a stud winger with 30 goal potential.

Its hard to pick for sure but I just love the way Lindstein plays so went with him.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Went Snuggy.

 

[HighNote]

Potential trumps everything else in my book, so I go Lindstein here.

 

[tfriede2]

I changed my vote - Lindstein’s potential, paired with the Blues’ need at that position, is too good to pass up - that may cause me to vote Jiricek earlier as well.

 

[LetsGoBooze]

Snuggy here, then back2back defensemen in my book.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

I voted for Snuggy, but I came really close to going with Theo.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

Snugs has consistently shown he will be a top 6. Showed his talent again at camp. Blues didn’t really have a top talent to compare Lindstein to at camp. That doesn’t make him elite. I go with the evaluators that put Snugs in the top 100.

 

[SirPaste]

Very close between Snuggs and Theo for me here. I believe Theo has a higher ceiling but I also believe that Snuggs has a better chance of hitting his, seems like a sure fire top 6 scoring winger to me.

 

[LGB]

I’m also finding it really difficult to separate our prospects. I still think Snuggerud is a very likely top 6 forward and although his D+2 was mediocre his D+1 season is the most impressive season any of our prospects have shown. Lindstein and Jiricek are primed to rise in these rankings if they can flourish in their new environments but I think I’ll wait until I actually see it from them before putting them above Snuggerud.

 

[Frenzy31]

I went with Lindstein. He had a better WJC last year than Snuggs and played against better competition than many of our other prospects.

 

[ezcreepin]

I went with Lindstein here. I think he and Snuggerud have "equal" ceilings if you were able to qualify and quantify that. Snuggs has the potential to be a top line, 40 goal player with high compete, Lindstein has the potential to be top pairing LH defenseman with ability to put up 40 points. For me, Lindstein is a much bigger need and probably has the safer floor so he gets bumped up a smidge. A lot of these guys are really close which is good.

 

[ExtremeColdWeather]

Went Jiricek, a lot of potential if he hits

 

[Mike Liut]

Toss up between Lindstein and Snuggs. Went with Lindstein. Why? No clue

 

[Celtic Note]

The next 5 are really close. I think Snuggerud, Stenburg, Lindstein, Jiricek, and Bolduc are all really close. I think Stenburg and Lindstein are safer but question if they have that elite potential. I think Snuggy and Jiricek are riskier, but could be elite. Bolduc is kind of a middle ground, a bit safer and bit higher ceiling.

I think I'm going off the board from most of you. I think Jiricek could be special. He could bust too, but he has the tools to be a 1D. Not elite, but a 1D. And that is more valuable than a winger, even an elite one.

There is certainly a next 5 after Dvo.

I am not sure I can fault anyone for selecting any of them. All have their merits.

Some of this will be preference. How do you weight upside, vs. likely projection vs. floor. Or do you just pick who you like best?

 

[STL fan in MN]

I went with Lindstein here but agree with the sentiment that we have a handful of guys all about the same tier.

Snuggerud struggled a bit without Cooley and Knies but that was to be expected. Still, I had hoped he would’ve become the new king but his sophomore season was hit and miss. Still, his potential is obvious. I expect him to be on the Blues roster sometime in April.

Lindstein simply had a fantastic season. The WJC was his coming out party and then he played top-4 minutes on a pro team that won its league. And he mostly played the right side too. I’m not in the head of his coach but IMO, it’s pretty impressive for a coach to trust him to play his off-side in a pro league at age 18. I’ll be interested to see how he and Brynas do now that they’re back in the SHL. Hopefully better than Oskarshamn did last season or they’ll find themselves right back in the Allsvenskan again and it likely won’t be a great developmental environment for Lindstein.

Lindstein’s main strength is his hockey sense and all his other strengths seem to be based on it - calmness, transitions, outlets, gap control, defensive reads, always having his head up, finding the open teammate and firing an accurate pass on the tape. He isn’t flashy or have overly obvious offensive skills but I do think his offensive potential is a bit underrated. He doesn’t play the PP or fly around like ASP or any other typical offensive d-man but with his ability to simply make the right play almost every time and quickly transitions the puck to offense, he’s going to rack up some assists. I don’t foresee anything like Hedman/Josi/Makar/Karlsson point per game sort of production but don’t just see him as a defensive d-man.

I know it wasn’t Sweden’s top pro league but here’s the scoring leaderboard for 18 year old d-men in that league last season:

Lindstein: 15 pts in 49 games
4 other guys: 1 point 2-35 games
Many other guys: 0 pts

All of a sudden, 15 in 49 games looks pretty good, huh?

Trying to not get overexcited but I’m hoping we really have something in Lindstein.

 

[Majorityof1]

There is certainly a next 5 after Dvo.

I am not sure I can fault anyone for selecting any of them. All have their merits.

Some of this will be preference. How do you weight upside, vs. likely projection vs. floor. Or do you just pick who you like best?

For sure, preference is a big part of it. But even valuing things the same. People can dusagree.

Ceiling is most important yo me with liklihood of hitting top 6/top 4 next. Floor means little to nothing to me. Look at our offseason, we picked up bottom pair, bottom 6 guys for peanuts. Sure it woukd be nice to get them on an ELC as opposed to a few mill. But even drafted players start costing a couple million once they are established NHLers.

But others have said they value upside too and are picking someone different. There are other factors like recency bias and exposure. This is a weird one because there is recency bias with last years pick, Lindstein. His coming out at WJC which is somewhat recent vs Jiricek who missed time this year. I'd set the over-under wager at 30% of those voting have seen more than 30 seconds of Jiricek (not knocking those voting, just that he didn't play).

 

[bleedblue1223]

Dvorsky to me is the clear #1, my tier 2 has 5, Snuggerud, Lindstein, Jiricek, Bolduc, and Stenberg. I went Snuggerud here, but like others it's basically a tie with Lindstein. I'm in a tough spot on the other 3, might lean Jiricek next because of the upside I think he has, then Stenberg, then Bolduc.

I think Stenberg is someone that almost gets forgotten about at times. If he played the tier down like Lindstein, I think he would've crushed it there, like he did when he was loaned to BIK.

After that, Kessel is probably in a tier of his own because his actual upside combined with basically being a NHL player now. Then we start to get into the prospects.

 

[sfvega]

Dvorsky to me is the clear #1, my tier 2 has 5, Snuggerud, Lindstein, Jiricek, Bolduc, and Stenberg. I went Snuggerud here, but like others it's basically a tie with Lindstein. I'm in a tough spot on the other 3, might lean Jiricek next because of the upside I think he has, then Stenberg, then Bolduc.

I think Stenberg is someone that almost gets forgotten about at times. If he played the tier down like Lindstein, I think he would've crushed it there, like he did when he was loaned to BIK.

After that, Kessel is probably in a tier of his own because his actual upside combined with basically being a NHL player now. Then we start to get into the prospects.

I agree, Stenberg will be slept on. I have him over Jiricek safely IMO.

 

[Mike Liut]

Imagine if all these kids exceeded their potential? I guess every team has these types of prospects and could say the same thing, but it sure seems we have some really good ones right now,

 

[Bluesnatic27]

Can’t argue much against the consensus of who is in this group. It’s a great sight to see!

I’m going Snuggerud simply because Lindstein has oodles of potential that won’t mean much until he adopts a different, more aggressive style of game. For now, he’s a very safe bet to become a top-4 player. I don’t mean he lacks any offensive weapon, but he plays the conservative side of the puck far too often for players like him to become a number 1 player. He’s my 3rd choice but Snuggerud’s tools match the game he plays and that style is just as impactful, to me, as Lindstein. If Lindstein becomes more aggressive on pinching and moving with the puck, I think he’s a number 1 defenseman and I genuinely mean that. But Snuggerud plays that Buchnevich style that already works so well given his board play and puck movement in lanes. Add that elite shot and you have the makings of a dangerous top-6 forward.

I’m hoping to have my thoughts out from camp as I went every day and took A LOT of notes. Too many even…