Prospect Info: Blues 2023-2024 Prospect Thread

[Majorityof1]

Certainly Dvo ain't without blame, but he is 18. I expect all these guys to make mistakes, get frustrated, and generally be 18. Which is why it's so important that they have club that will actually nurture and cultivate them. That is difference I was pointing to with him and Stenberg. But I agree that Stenberg is heckuva prospect and while I don't expect it, I wouldn't be shocked if he ended up the best of our forward prospects.

I agree he is 18, and it is too young to be drawing any firm conclusions on who Dvosrsky will be. But I push back against it all being his team's fault. He wasn't in a bad situation. He wasn't ready to play against men, and his team didn't have the ramp to coddle him. He'll face the exact same when he tries to enter the NHL. When he puts up 100 points in the CHL, keep in mind that he failed utterly against men. We shouldn't rush him to be ready before he is or raise our expectations because he can be successful against a bunch of kids, most of who don't have the talent to sniff the AHL, much less the NHL.

 

[Mike Liut]

Certainly Dvo ain't without blame, but he is 18. I expect all these guys to make mistakes, get frustrated, and generally be 18. Which is why it's so important that they have club that will actually nurture and cultivate them. That is difference I was pointing to with him and Stenberg. But I agree that Stenberg is heckuva prospect and while I don't expect it, I wouldn't be shocked if he ended up the best of our forward prospects.

I think Stenberg is a Jaden Schwartz clone. A puck hound and a playmaker. A little more physical than Schwartz, but Schwartz is the better skater. But I think they play similar games.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

I think Stenberg is a Jaden Schwartz clone. A puck hound and a playmaker. A little more physical than Schwartz, but Schwartz is the better skater. But I think they play similar games.

i think he has a lot of shwartz in him and a lot of steen too. which is an exciting combination.

 

[Mike Liut]

i think he has a lot of shwartz in him and a lot of steen too. which is an exciting combination.

I can see him as the 2nd line LW for many years.

? - Thomas - Kyrou
Stenberg - Dvorsky - Snuggs
Bolduc - Dean - ?

 

[ezcreepin]

I can see him as the 2nd line LW for many years.

? - Thomas - Kyrou
Stenberg - Dvorsky - Snuggs
Bolduc - Dean - ?

I'm perfectly happy with those forward lines so long as they develop correctly. I'm not super worried about Dvorsky, but the situation in the SHL is a tiny bit concerning. I think he'll bounce back fine (and has), I just hope he can be that 1A/B center we hope he is, if not more. I think the 3rd line is a great place for Dean and Bolduc as this gives them much more time and space to do their thing, especially against weaker competition. Could be a dangerous 3rd line when it's all said and done. I feel like Snuggerud will play well with anyone, and Stenberg too for that matter. They just have characteristics about their game that should do well with lots of players. Future is certainly bright even without the prospects we have signed on the AHL roster. Kaskimaki, Robertsson, Laferierre are all interesting prospects in their own right and could potentially be players for us (1 of the 3).

Overall, we have a good group, but personally, I think we need another Stenberg clone that can play with Dean or Thomas to really solidify that young group of players.

 

[BlueDream]

Springfield looks horrible so far.

 

[Quaz]

I have been watching the Thunderbirds and they are off to a crappy start. Gaudette has been tearing it up, but they are 1-4 and in last place. I’m a little disappointed that Bolduc and Dean are only getting third line minutes. If they continue to lose I hope they get more ice time. Bolduc gets some 2nd PP time as well. Hopefully Bolduc and Dean adjust to the AHL and start producing, and get elevated in the lineup. Bolduc seems to get good scoring chances in every game, but only has one goal so far.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Springfield looks horrible so far.

i've been underwhelmed by job bannister has done there. and considering he didn't seem to get much consideration for our open assistant jobs, i don't think club is overly impressed by him either.

 

[Majorityof1]

i've been underwhelmed by job bannister has done their. and considering he didn't seem to get much consideration for our open assistant jobs, i don't think club is overly impressed by him either.

How do you know how much consideration Bannister got? He didn't get the job, but that might also be because they want him in the AHL working with Bolduc and Dean, and the other young guys we will be putting through there. He may have wanted to stay there as well. Running your own show vs working under a boss head coach is better for some people. And who knows, it may even pay better than the skills coach role we had for him.

 

[ezcreepin]

Springfield looks horrible so far.

I have been watching the Thunderbirds and they are off to a crappy start. Gaudette has been tearing it up, but they are 1-4 and in last place. I’m a little disappointed that Bolduc and Dean are only getting third line minutes. If they continue to lose I hope they get more ice time. Bolduc gets some 2nd PP time as well. Hopefully Bolduc and Dean adjust to the AHL and start producing, and get elevated in the lineup. Bolduc seems to get good scoring chances in every game, but only has one goal so far.

It's only 5 games in, but I would've have assumed Zherenko would get most of the starts this season (back to back games don't help), but it's been Subban who has played 1 game more. Zherenko has outplayed Subban so I expect to see him with more starts at the end of the season. If they want more competitive goaltending then they should be starting Zherenko as he's arguably the better goalie and a known commodity within the organization.

 

[ezcreepin]

I just want to put this out there as well:

I'm probably a lot higher on Alexandrov than most people here, and maybe he hasn't shown enough to have a full time spot yet, but I think we need to remember he just turned 23 and is valued at best as a 3rd liner, but more likely 4th liner. Maybe he doesn't have as much drive as Sundqvist had at his age, but also Sundqvist sucked when he got here as well. All we need is one good hit to the head during preseason next year and we'll have our new Sundqvist and fan favorite, just watch.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

How do you know how much consideration Bannister got? He didn't get the job, but that might also be because they want him in the AHL working with Bolduc and Dean, and the other young guys we will be putting through there. He may have wanted to stay there as well. Running your own show vs working under a boss head coach is better for some people. And who knows, it may even pay better than the skills coach role we had for him.

we hired the rochester assistant d coach to be our assistant d coach over bannister. bannister who played d professionally for nearly 20 years and who spent 3 years as assistant in ohl, 2 years as head coach in ohl, and 5 years as ahl head coach. bannister was obvious choice for the job that on paper he was more than qualified for. much more than the guy we hired. that he didn't get it tells me that club isn't overly impressed. but perhaps they like him as minor league coach, perhaps he doesn't want to be an assistant. i don't know. but it certainly seems to me that he was passed over in favor of someone with thinner resume (to be clear, i'm not saying this was mistake by blues).

 

[Frenzy31]

i've been underwhelmed by job bannister has done there. and considering he didn't seem to get much consideration for our open assistant jobs, i don't think club is overly impressed by him either.

Didn't we get to the finals under him in 2021-2022 season.

 

[ToastedRavioli]

I was trying to gain some context for how D+1 defensemen typically produce in the HockeyAllsvenskan. Theo Lindstein currently has 5 points in 9 games (0.56P/GP). Since 2005, which is as far back as I could go on Elite Prospects, only one under-19 defenseman has put up a higher points per game than Lindstein in a season. Ekman-Larsson put up a 0.64 in 2009-10. Other notable players were Rasmus Andersson with 0.30, Hampus Lindholm with 0.20, and Mattias Ekholm with 0.34. It's a very small sample size but Lindstein seems off to a great start production wise, especially for a defenseman that doesn't heavily prioritize offense and gets limited to no powerplay time. I also translated a lot of comments about Lindstein and it seems the Brynas fans in Sweden really want him to get more time over the veterans.

 

[Frenzy31]

I was trying to gain some context for how D+1 defensemen typically produce in the HockeyAllsvenskan. Theo Lindstein currently has 5 points in 9 games (0.56P/GP). Since 2005, which is as far back as I could go on Elite Prospects, only one under-19 defenseman has put up a higher points per game than Lindstein in a season. Ekman-Larsson put up a 0.64 in 2009-10. Other notable players were Rasmus Andersson with 0.30, Hampus Lindholm with 0.20, and Mattias Ekholm with 0.34. It's a very small sample size but Lindstein seems off to a great start production wise, especially for a defenseman that doesn't heavily prioritize offense and gets limited to no powerplay time. I also translated a lot of comments about Lindstein and it seems the Brynas fans in Sweden really want him to get more time over the veterans.

That is great. Every excited. He was one of the top Dmen going into last year, but fell due to lack of offensive production.

 

[STL fan in MN]

That is great. Every excited. He was one of the top Dmen going into last year, but fell due to lack of offensive production.

Yep. Many preseason and early season lists had Lindstein as the first d-man off the board. Not an insane honor given how forward heavy that draft was but still. He was hot coming in after a strong Hlinka Gretzky, scoring 6 pts in 5 games. Willander and Sandin-Pellikka had 2 pts each in comparison.
Sweden U18 at eliteprospects.com

He’s not an elite prospect but I was super pumped the Blues took him that night in June. He’s very solid and I think with him playing for a bad SHL team last season, he put all of his focus on D. If he can maintain his rock solid D while also finding an offensive game, we could really have something in Lindstein.

 

[ezcreepin]

Yep. Many preseason and early season lists had Lindstein as the first d-man off the board. Not an insane honor given how forward heavy that draft was but still. He was hot coming in after a strong Hlinka Gretzky, scoring 6 pts in 5 games. Willander and Sandin-Pellikka had 2 pts each in comparison.
Sweden U18 at eliteprospects.com

He’s not an elite prospect but I was super pumped the Blues took him that night in June. He’s very solid and I think with him playing for a bad SHL team last season, he put all of his focus on D. If he can maintain his rock solid D while also finding an offensive game, we could really have something in Lindstein.

It would be nice to hit big on Lindstein because although our right side is decently strong, they aren't getting younger AND we don't have the personnel to replace them. If Loof and Lindstein and hit, then you have a great "defense first" left side with possibly Perunovich as your pp runner or more likely Buchinger. We're going to need to get some RH defenseman drafted quick to replace the inevitable end of Parayko and Faulk (whenever that may be). We'll need at least 1 sure fire top pairing guy for me to be ok with this team beyond 24-25.

 

[ToastedRavioli]

Lindstein and Stenberg made Sweden's roster for the five nations tournament as expected.

https://www.swehockey.se/media/uhsns0ad/t20-roster-november-2023.pdf

 

[wiscrev]

I know these are young guys, but it has them listed on team Sweden with an average of 180#s. My question, is that "light" or about normal for 19 year olds. Seems a little light to me.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Lindstein and Stenberg made Sweden's roster for the five nations tournament as expected.

https://www.swehockey.se/media/uhsns0ad/t20-roster-november-2023.pdf

That is impressive team.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

I know these are young guys, but it has them listed on team Sweden with an average of 180#s. My question, is that "light" or about normal for 19 year olds. Seems a little light to me.

Last years draft everyone in the 1st round was between 170-215. 180 seems likes a perfectly fine weight for a 19 year old. Most hockey players don't reach full muscle maturity until about 22-24 either.

 

[Memento]

It would be nice to hit big on Lindstein because although our right side is decently strong, they aren't getting younger AND we don't have the personnel to replace them. If Loof and Lindstein and hit, then you have a great "defense first" left side with possibly Perunovich as your pp runner or more likely Buchinger. We're going to need to get some RH defenseman drafted quick to replace the inevitable end of Parayko and Faulk (whenever that may be). We'll need at least 1 sure fire top pairing guy for me to be ok with this team beyond 24-25.

Honestly, don't forget about Koromyslov either, if he ever comes over. He's already the number-one defenseman for one of the top KHL teams. We may not need to draft left-handed defense, what, with Lindstein, Buchinger, Lööf, Koromyslov, Gaudet, Burrns, Fischer, and Tucker. Right side is what I worry about for the far-future with Kessel being one of our few right-handed prospects, but if one of those lefties can play the right side as well, we could be set there as well.

 

[ToastedRavioli]

Honestly, don't forget about Koromyslov either, if he ever comes over. He's already the number-one defenseman for one of the top KHL teams. We may not need to draft left-handed defense, what, with Lindstein, Buchinger, Lööf, Koromyslov, Gaudet, Burrns, Fischer, and Tucker. Right side is what I worry about for the far-future with Kessel being one of our few right-handed prospects, but if one of those lefties can play the right side as well, we could be set there as well.

I like Koromyslov as a prospect, but he's not the number-one defenseman for SKA. He's only played in 1 KHL game this year. He's split the year in the VHL and MHL. The VHL is like the KHL equivalent of the AHL and the MHL is like the Russian equivalent of the CHL.

 

[Beauterham]

Honestly, don't forget about Koromyslov either, if he ever comes over. He's already the number-one defenseman for one of the top KHL teams. We may not need to draft left-handed defense, what, with Lindstein, Buchinger, Lööf, Koromyslov, Gaudet, Burrns, Fischer, and Tucker. Right side is what I worry about for the far-future, but if one of those lefties can play the right side as well, we could be set there as well.

Ehhh, what? Up to this point, he's only played one KHL game this entire season while spending most of his time in either the MHL or VHL. He's not even the number-one defenseman for SKA's VHL team. Not saying he's never going to be a number one D. for a top KHL team, but if so, he's probably years away form being one.

 

[wiscrev]

Last years draft everyone in the 1st round was between 170-215. 180 seems likes a perfectly fine weight for a 19 year old. Most hockey players don't reach full muscle maturity until about 22-24 either.

Thanks, I just thought it was a little light. I expected more toward 190.