Prospect Info: Blues 2021-2022 Prospects Thread Part 2

[stl76]

We could also try giving Bolduc a 9 game trial but spread out over 20-25 games.

 

[STL fan in MN]

We could also try giving Bolduc a 9 game trial but spread out over 20-25 games.

That’s a hell of an idea! How come nobody else thought of that?!

But yes, that would be the likely main way Bolduc makes the team and/or both he and Neighbours make the team. My only point is I think the chances of that are slightly less if they have to go with 13 forwards instead of the usual 14.

 

[SergeConstantin74]

I think Bolduc's skills are NHL level but all the other aspects of his game need to get better for him to make it at 19. I believe he will start the regular season with the Blues but he will eventually be sent back to the QMJHL and play in the World Junior Championship. His flaws showed in the playoffs. He couldn't find a way to be effective when the game got tougher and when he got less time to make plays on the outside.

I also think giving a 19 yo kid 9 games in 2 months isn't good for his development, especially one who missed so much time like Bolduc did in the past. He needs to play regularly. The Rangers did this with Duclair at the beginning of his career and it screwed with his head for months. A lot of players who spent months in the NHL before going back to juniors are having problems adjusting so it ends up being a waste of a development season.

I believe the Blues' priority will be his development and not counting on him to bring depth as a low salary.

 

[Beauterham]

Blues prospects to compete in Traverse City from Sept. 15-18 | St. Louis Blues

Prospects will play three games, which will be available live on the Blues App and YouTube channel

www.nhl.com

Blues roster for Traverse tournament.

ROSTER​

Forwards: Nikita Alexandrov (59), Andrei Bakanov (86), Zack Bolduc (76), Davis Codd (81)*, Brayden Guy (84), Michael Horth (83)*, Theo Hill (88)*, Mathias Laferriere (58), Hugh McGing (56), Jake Neighbours (63), Maxime Pellerin (74)*, Landon Sim (82), Jakin Smallwood (79)*, Keean Washkurak (40).

Defense: Michael Buchinger (62), Tyson Galloway (71), Marc-Andre Gaudet (87), Matt Kessel (51), Griffin Luce (64), Brady Lyle (33), Roberto Mancini (73)*, Tyler Tucker (75).

Goalies: Will Cranley (85), Colten Ellis (45), Vadim Zherenko (60).



This seems to be, by far, the weakest Blues Traverse Roster in years.
I expected the NCAA guys wouldn't be here (Snuggerud, Peterson, Beck), but we're also missing Kaskimaki (still injured?), Dickinson (still injured?), Koromyslov, Robertsson, Loof and Vorobyov.

 

[STL fan in MN]

I think Bolduc's skills are NHL level but all the other aspects of his game need to get better for him to make it at 19. I believe he will start the regular season with the Blues but he will eventually be sent back to the QMJHL and play in the World Junior Championship. His flaws showed in the playoffs. He couldn't find a way to be effective when the game got tougher and when he got less time to make plays on the outside.

I also think giving a 19 yo kid 9 games in 2 months isn't good for his development, especially one who missed so much time like Bolduc did in the past. He needs to play regularly. The Rangers did this with Duclair at the beginning of his career and it screwed with his head for months. A lot of players who spent months in the NHL before going back to juniors are having problems adjusting so it ends up being a waste of a development season.

I believe the Blues' priority will be his development and not counting on him to bring depth as a low salary.

A fair take.

I’m excited to see the kid play and transition to the NHL but also want it to be when he’s truly ready. Whatever’s best for his long-term development.

 

[PocketNines]

we got this brayden guy

 

[Majorityof1]

The St. Louis Blues Youtube page has upcoming streams scheduled for each of the 3 Traverse City games. So they will be streamed. I am not sure if everyone knew this already. I am never confident the Blues will stream anything pre-season or prospect related as they are very hit-or-miss with that. Also with it being on youtube, it will most likely be available after it airs for those with scheduling conflicts. Very cool.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

The St. Louis Blues Youtube page has upcoming streams scheduled for each of the 3 Traverse City games. So they will be streamed. I am not sure if everyone knew this already. I am never confident the Blues will stream anything pre-season or prospect related as they are very hit-or-miss with that. Also with it being on youtube, it will most likely be available after it airs for those with scheduling conflicts. Very cool.

Dood! That’s awesome. Thanks for sharing.

 

[STL fan in MN]

The St. Louis Blues Youtube page has upcoming streams scheduled for each of the 3 Traverse City games. So they will be streamed. I am not sure if everyone knew this already. I am never confident the Blues will stream anything pre-season or prospect related as they are very hit-or-miss with that. Also with it being on youtube, it will most likely be available after it airs for those with scheduling conflicts. Very cool.

I did not know that already. Thanks for sharing!

 

[STL fan in MN]

Blues TC Roster
And now it’s official.

Main thing of note for me is that Zherenko will be there. I knew the Blues signed him but assumed he play one more year with Ilves. If he’s going to be in TC, then it’s logical to assume he’ll also be in main camp and likely playing somewhere in N.A. this season. Should be a good battle between Hofer, Ellis and Zherenko on which 2 get the two Springfield jobs.

Upon a glance, the only name I can think of that’s not on the list that I was hoping would be there is Dickinson. That would suggest he’s not quite ready for games yet, which would be unfortunate.

It also shows that the invites are the guys with stars next to their name…there’s a couple guys without stars I’m not aware of being signed. I’d assume they’re signed to AHL deals? Bakanov and Guy.

 

[TK 421]

Rewatched a post draft interview that Bolduc gave and I specifically keyed on one question about his weight. He said his normal playing weight last season was 185 lbs and that he intended to beat that moving forward. We'll get an update relatively soon but his recent month in Stl probably included a lot of strength training that added some weight so I'm really curious to see what kind of gains he made towards that end. I was originally anticipating him being at 185 but it sounds like he could come into camp around 190.

 

[PocketNines]

If Bolduc gives the Blues any reason in camp to get him into an early season trial I think they will.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Rewatched a post draft interview that Bolduc gave and I specifically keyed on one question about his weight. He said his normal playing weight last season was 185 lbs and that he intended to beat that moving forward. We'll get an update relatively soon but his recent month in Stl probably included a lot of strength training that added some weight so I'm really curious to see what kind of gains he made towards that end. I was originally anticipating him being at 185 but it sounds like he could come into camp around 190.

Getting up to 190 would be great, but he needs to maintain that weight over the course of the season. Doable, but some guys have a hard time maintaining weight during the normally-strenuous season.

 

[TK 421]

We're all well aware that the Blues rarely go the route of playing a 19 year old but it's not without precedence.

In fact 19 year old Robert Thomas contributed in a big way to a Stanley Cup Champion team. Yeah the 33 points weren't exactly eye popping numbers but he brought a fast skating, high IQ passing game that provided huge value to the 3rd line RW spot and wouldn't you know it.... that's the exact 3rd RW slot wide open right now.

Which leads into the main reason any of us are even considering playing Bolduc this year. We just lost David Perron, I'd be a liar if I denied that's playing a role in my unreserved desire to see this happen. Normally I would just rubber stamp his D+2 in junior and never give it a second thought but we just lost a beast of a one timer on our 1st PP unit and it means the 3rd line just lost themselves a young 75 pt Kyrou to replace Perron's ES minutes on the 2nd line. Guess who has a beast of a one timer? And not just a stationary one. I'm talking one he can actually utilize off the rush. Our little Zachy possesses such a shot. He's up against Jake Neighbours and a field of career AHLers, I don't consider that to be real competition for him. He easily out classes that entire list in pure ability and I think that's his spot to lose.

Another consideration here is the impending potential loss of Tarasenko next off season. Losing Perron and Tarasenko in back to back off seasons? Ouch. Kind of seems like a team in that position might be incentivized to get a young goal scorer fast tracked due to the unique contending window open this year while we still have both ROR and Tarasenko while simultaneously preparing him for greater responsibility next year. Obviously they'd sign a vet to replace Tarasenko in that theoretical but having Bolduc experience an entire regular season and taste of the PO's will benefit the team the following season and soften the loss of Tarasenko.

I'd be perfectly happy to send him back to junior if there wasn't both a need and an opportunity but these are the circumstances.

 

[TK 421]

Getting up to 190 would be great, but he needs to maintain that weight over the course of the season. Doable, but some guys have a hard time maintaining weight during the normally-strenuous season.

Yeah it's virtually impossible to maintain start of season weight which is why it's so important they start at a certain weight to begin with. In Zach's case most recently he started at 185 coming out of camp then eventually ended at 176. 9 lb swing is huge so realistically you're looking at a similar 9 lb drop from whatever he starts the season at. Let's take the 190 weight and say he ends at 181. Still not great when you're competing with NHLers, my hope is he starts around 193-195 to compensate for the expected loss and that the strength training pays off in increased muscle mass to make him better in 1v1 battles. He stated improving his 1v1 battles was his primary off season goal so let's hope he made some serious hay in that regard.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Yeah it's virtually impossible to maintain start of season weight which is why it's so important they start at a certain weight to begin with. In Zach's case most recently he started at 185 coming out of camp then eventually ended at 176. 9 lb swing is huge so realistically you're looking at a similar 9 lb drop from whatever he starts the season at. Let's take the 190 weight and say he ends at 181. Still not great when you're competing with NHLers, my hope is he starts around 193-195 to compensate for the expected loss and that the strength training pays off in increased muscle mass to make him better in 1v1 battles. He stated improving his 1v1 battles was his primary off season goal so let's hope he made some serious hay in that regard.

Oh ok. Sounds like it’s way more common than I understood. Makes sense, though.

At his height, he should target 195 as a start weight. It’s gotta be tough. Drinking lots of protein and adding high caloric value foods will be crucial for him, as it is for most NHLers.

I’m 6’/193 right now and it’s hard as hell for me to maintain that weight. I don’t like to eat tons of food, so I drink a lot of my protein because it’s way more efficient.

I wonder how much protein NHLers consume per day or what their dietary plans are. Darned curious about that.

 

[Frenzy31]

Blues prospects to compete in Traverse City from Sept. 15-18 | St. Louis Blues

Prospects will play three games, which will be available live on the Blues App and YouTube channel

www.nhl.com

Blues roster for Traverse tournament.

ROSTER​

Forwards: Nikita Alexandrov (59), Andrei Bakanov (86), Zack Bolduc (76), Davis Codd (81)*, Brayden Guy (84), Michael Horth (83)*, Theo Hill (88)*, Mathias Laferriere (58), Hugh McGing (56), Jake Neighbours (63), Maxime Pellerin (74)*, Landon Sim (82), Jakin Smallwood (79)*, Keean Washkurak (40).

Defense: Michael Buchinger (62), Tyson Galloway (71), Marc-Andre Gaudet (87), Matt Kessel (51), Griffin Luce (64), Brady Lyle (33), Roberto Mancini (73)*, Tyler Tucker (75).

Goalies: Will Cranley (85), Colten Ellis (45), Vadim Zherenko (60).



This seems to be, by far, the weakest Blues Traverse Roster in years.
I expected the NCAA guys wouldn't be here (Snuggerud, Peterson, Beck), but we're also missing Kaskimaki (still injured?), Dickinson (still injured?), Koromyslov, Robertsson, Loof and Vorobyov.

This isn't the weakest team we have had in years. It doesn't have a sexxy name like Thomas and Kyrou, but Defense will be pretty solid with M Kessell, and Tucker. Be good to see what Galloway does.

Alexandrov, Washkurak, McGing, and Laferriere should be dominant due to age and the fact they all played in the AHL last year. Alexandrov and McGing were both fairly productive in their first year.

We have Neighbours, and Bolduc and the guy I am really looking forward to this year - Sim. That is a pretty solid and deep line up. The AHL angle is huge and should not be overlooked.

 

[Beauterham]

This isn't the weakest team we have had in years. It doesn't have a sexxy name like Thomas and Kyrou, but Defense will be pretty solid with M Kessell, and Tucker. Be good to see what Galloway does.

Alexandrov, Washkurak, McGing, and Laferriere should be dominant due to age and the fact they all played in the AHL last year. Alexandrov and McGing were both fairly productive in their first year.

We have Neighbours, and Bolduc and the guy I am really looking forward to this year - Sim. That is a pretty solid and deep line up. The AHL angle is huge and should not be overlooked.

Maybe 'weakest' wasn't the right word to use, 'least amount of potential' would've been better. To be honest, thanks to that AHL-angle you're refering to we might even do really well compared to other teams that are younger, less physically developed. However, overall I think this roster has less players that will eventually become NHL regulars than we did the last editions. But maybe this is just a recency bias and I'm seeing it wrong.

 

[bleedblue1223]

The defense should be very strong for the tourney. Maybe not the high-end potential, but Tucker, Lyle, and Kessel all have AHL experience that should benefit us.

 

[Brian39]

We're all well aware that the Blues rarely go the route of playing a 19 year old but it's not without precedence.

In fact 19 year old Robert Thomas contributed in a big way to a Stanley Cup Champion team. Yeah the 33 points weren't exactly eye popping numbers but he brought a fast skating, high IQ passing game that provided huge value to the 3rd line RW spot and wouldn't you know it.... that's the exact 3rd RW slot wide open right now.

Which leads into the main reason any of us are even considering playing Bolduc this year. We just lost David Perron, I'd be a liar if I denied that's playing a role in my unreserved desire to see this happen. Normally I would just rubber stamp his D+2 in junior and never give it a second thought but we just lost a beast of a one timer on our 1st PP unit and it means the 3rd line just lost themselves a young 75 pt Kyrou to replace Perron's ES minutes on the 2nd line. Guess who has a beast of a one timer? And not just a stationary one. I'm talking one he can actually utilize off the rush. Our little Zachy possesses such a shot. He's up against Jake Neighbours and a field of career AHLers, I don't consider that to be real competition for him. He easily out classes that entire list in pure ability and I think that's his spot to lose.

Another consideration here is the impending potential loss of Tarasenko next off season. Losing Perron and Tarasenko in back to back off seasons? Ouch. Kind of seems like a team in that position might be incentivized to get a young goal scorer fast tracked due to the unique contending window open this year while we still have both ROR and Tarasenko while simultaneously preparing him for greater responsibility next year. Obviously they'd sign a vet to replace Tarasenko in that theoretical but having Bolduc experience an entire regular season and taste of the PO's will benefit the team the following season and soften the loss of Tarasenko.

I'd be perfectly happy to send him back to junior if there wasn't both a need and an opportunity but these are the circumstances.

I agree with almost all of this, but I'd push back that Neighbours isn't real competition for the 3rd line spot. Neighbours doesn't have the skill set to be a Perron replacement this year or a Tarasenko replacement next year, but I don't think it is a given that the team intends to try and replace that role with the 9th forward this year. The team struggled defensively last year and that wasn't just the D men. We have a lot of below average defensive players in the forward group and Perron certainly wasn't the worst of our top 9 defensively last year. The team might want the 9th forward to not be the worst defensive forward on the roster.

Neighbours isn't an elite defender by any stretch of the imagination, but he is better off the puck than Bolduc from everything I've seen, he's a year older, he has already gotten some NHL experience and his frame is absolutely better suited toward a bottom 6 role than Bolduc's. If Berube wants his 3rd line to do a little more defensive lifting than it did last year, Neighbours has an edge over Bolduc.

I hope that each of them have an honest chance of making the 23 man roster and I see avenues for both to contribute to the team this season. And I expect both to be in the opening night lineup in 2023/24 even if they don't appear ready. The cap will demand that. There are 8 guys who are clear locks to be in our top 9 this year and 4 of them need new contracts after this season. ROR, Tarasenko, and Barby are all UFAs and Kyrou is an arbitration-eligible RFA that is going to get a substantial raise. $24M to extend/replace those guys and fill another 7 roster spots means that the organizations top 2 prospects are going to have to be in the lineup in order to provide cheap middle 6 skill.

 

[TK 421]

I agree with almost all of this, but I'd push back that Neighbours isn't real competition for the 3rd line spot. Neighbours doesn't have the skill set to be a Perron replacement this year or a Tarasenko replacement next year, but I don't think it is a given that the team intends to try and replace that role with the 9th forward this year. The team struggled defensively last year and that wasn't just the D men. We have a lot of below average defensive players in the forward group and Perron certainly wasn't the worst of our top 9 defensively last year. The team might want the 9th forward to not be the worst defensive forward on the roster.

Neighbours isn't an elite defender by any stretch of the imagination, but he is better off the puck than Bolduc from everything I've seen, he's a year older, he has already gotten some NHL experience and his frame is absolutely better suited toward a bottom 6 role than Bolduc's. If Berube wants his 3rd line to do a little more defensive lifting than it did last year, Neighbours has an edge over Bolduc.

I hope that each of them have an honest chance of making the 23 man roster and I see avenues for both to contribute to the team this season. And I expect both to be in the opening night lineup in 2023/24 even if they don't appear ready. The cap will demand that.

Yes I concede that part about Neighbours not being serious competition is a stretch. Your point about Berube maybe wanting that line to be better defensively for more defensive usage is well taken and a distinct possibility. For me I'm greedy and want both in the lineup so naturally I put the utility forward on the 4th and the fancy pants goal scorer on the 3rd. I really hope we get both!

 

[Brian39]

Yes I concede that part about Neighbours not being serious competition is a stretch. Your point about Berube maybe wanting that line to be better defensively for more defensive usage is well taken and a distinct possibility. For me I'm greedy and want both in the lineup so naturally I put the utility forward on the 4th and the fancy pants goal scorer on the 3rd. I really hope we get both!

I'm excited for the possibility of one or both contirbuting this year, but I admit that my main focus is to get them ready to be genuine middle 6 contributors in 2023/24. We could absorb the cap casualties pretty effectively if one of them is ready to be the "3rd" guy on a 2nd line and one is ready to be the "2nd" guy on a 3rd line by the spring of 2024. If they can do that, then I think we can absorb the incoming cap crunch pretty effectively.

 

[Celtic Note]

Another option is Bolduc gets a 9 game trial that is spread out over 20-25 NHL games while Neighbours spends a couple months in the AHL working on whatever concerns the team has. Neighbours isn't such a standout talent that he's going to pick up bad habits in the AHL.

Could also just rotate them in and out of the lineup so only one rookie is in there at a time. Not sure how that works cap wise or if it will ice the best lineup, but it’s an option of sorts.

But I like the idea of Bolduc up for 9 while Neighbours marinates. I believe I said something along those lines a few weeks ago, but life is a blur these days.

 

[SergeConstantin74]

Bolduc is playing his first preseason game with the Remparts tonight.

 

[Beauterham]

Bolduc is playing his first preseason game with the Remparts tonight.

I thought I read somewhere that the Blues had contacted the Remparts management about wanting them to play Bolduc at C, or something like that. So I'm a bit surprised he's still at left wing.