Prospect Info: Blues 2024-2025 Prospect Thread

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Spear

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it is impossible to take Pronman seriously when I, with my limited viewings, actually know his evaluations for some Blues prospects are off
if these are off for the Blues, they are likely off for most other teams as well
when he says Holloway is an average NHL skater, to quote Inigo Montoya "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means"

I think that list is proof that Pronman sits around in his bedroom sniffing his own toxic farts all day!
 

Davimir Tarablad

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The Electrician

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it is impossible to take Pronman seriously when I, with my limited viewings, actually know his evaluations for some Blues prospects are off
if these are off for the Blues, they are likely off for most other teams as well
when he says Holloway is an average NHL skater, to quote Inigo Montoya "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means"

Quite right.

The easiest way to find if someone is bullshitting is when they start bullshitting about a subject that you know a bit about.
 

sfvega

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Apr 20, 2015
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Pronman released his annual prospect rankings. The Blues are at 16. What truly blows the mind, though it surprises me little considering Pronman is a hack, is his ranking of our prospects.

He’s got Jiricek at #1, Jecho at #6, Lindstein at #8, Stenberg at #9. Just some wild stufff, imo.

Hahaha, even if we counted Thomas, Kyrou, and Neighbours as prospects, Lindstein still isn't 8th. Whatever he's getting paid for this content (prob not much) is too much for what he put out here.
 

Reality Czech

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Random fact of the day: I just noticed that Kaskimaki will be playing on a team this year with former Blues Jori Lehtera and Petteri Lindbohm along with St. Louis native Luke Martin and Uncle Leo Komarov. Never heard of Martin but I see he's a former 2nd rounder of Carolina that absolutely lit up the Liiga last year with 47 points in 56 games as a d-man.
 

STL fan in MN

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Random fact of the day: I just noticed that Kaskimaki will be playing on a team this year with former Blues Jori Lehtera and Petteri Lindbohm along with St. Louis native Luke Martin and Uncle Leo Komarov. Never heard of Martin but I see he's a former 2nd rounder of Carolina that absolutely lit up the Liiga last year with 47 points in 56 games as a d-man.
HIFK looks pretty stacked this season.

But my understanding is that it’s not fully decided where Kaskimäki will play this season yet. Looks like he’ll be in camp with the Blues (he’s on the rookie camp roster) and then they’ll decide if he’ll go to Springfield or back to HIFK.
 

SirPaste

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HIFK looks pretty stacked this season.

But my understanding is that it’s not fully decided where Kaskimäki will play this season yet. Looks like he’ll be in camp with the Blues (he’s on the rookie camp roster) and then they’ll decide if he’ll go to Springfield or back to HIFK.
Yea I was under the impression that he was coming over to NA this season, hope he is in the AHL
 

blue zone

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Korotky is someone I doubt Pronman has seen many minutes of, if at all. Though admittedly Matvei has been lighting it so far in limited MHL games (3-3-6 in 4 games)
 

bleedblue1223

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Korotky is someone I doubt Pronman has seen many minutes of, if at all. Though admittedly Matvei has been lighting it so far in limited MHL games (3-3-6 in 4 games)
He played on same team as Demidov, so he definitely watched him just because he watched Demidov.
 

Renard

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I think people forget how physical he was in that WJC he played in. It might take him a bit to re-learn how to play that way on NA ice and against NA pros. But he’s still got that fire. I think there is still a shot he makes the NHL roster at some point, but if he does I’m not sure how long he’ll be able to hold that spot for. Lindstein and Broberg should be locks for the top 4 LHD spots well into the future, which means there’s really only 1 spot left to claim on those future rosters. Loof has the age advantage in that he’s much closer to being ready today than any of the guys we’ve drafted recently. But when guys like Ralph, Fischer, Burns, and/or Koromyslov are ready, I don’t think his upside is close to theirs, and each of them are at least as physical as he is without sacrificing offense to get there. And that’s not even accounting for a late breakout from Perunovich, who would bring something different to that 3rd LHD spot entirely. So really, I see a path, but not a very stable one. The best case scenario is he claims a spot for a few years while the younger prospects mature, and then we can flip him for something else.
I remember the first time I saw him (Loof) play. It was a preseason game and Loof put a guy hard into the boards in the opening minutes of the game. The opposing player had to leave the ice, with assistance.

I was very impressed.
 
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MortiestOfMortys

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Pronman readily admits that he prefers tiny scoring forwards who skate like crazy. All of his rankings emit from that preference towards what a “good” player looks like. And he’s not the only one that looks at any player from the Mike Johnston-era Portland Winterhawks and sees translatable NHL skills. But... like how many of those guys have actually worked out? Rattie certainly didn't.

Our scouting department -- for better or worse -- has generally prioritized size, tenacity, defense, and "grind" unless the skill is too much to pass up (lookin' at you, Scotty P). Guys like Neighbours, Holloway, Stenberg, Dean, Stancl, Pekarcik, Peterson, etc etc etc are all guys who you can count on playing a 200-ft game, playing physical, and ideally not sacrificing offense along the way. We proved in 2019 that you can win a cup with a bottom-6 built on those principles if all goes well. When you mix that in with top-6 guys who also play in that style, but really excel offensively like Thomas, Kyrou, Snuggerud, and Dvorsky, you're talking about a really formidable forward corps that's tough to play against.

So really I think it comes down to differences in philosophy more than Pronman unfairly assessing our prospects. Have any of our dudes led the WJC in scoring, or even gotten close? No. They've all had "pretty good," maybe even elite junior careers so far. But Pronman doesn't really put faith in "pretty good, maybe elite" players, he cares a ton about the top-5 players because hockey is a strong-link sport. But I think there are other equally-valid ways of building out a prospect pool that he just simply doesn't value as much. If nothing else, I think it's a good gut-check on how optimistic we ought to be about where we are.
 

stl76

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Jul 2, 2015
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Pronman readily admits that he prefers tiny scoring forwards who skate like crazy. All of his rankings emit from that preference towards what a “good” player looks like. And he’s not the only one that looks at any player from the Mike Johnston-era Portland Winterhawks and sees translatable NHL skills. But... like how many of those guys have actually worked out? Rattie certainly didn't.

Our scouting department -- for better or worse -- has generally prioritized size, tenacity, defense, and "grind" unless the skill is too much to pass up (lookin' at you, Scotty P). Guys like Neighbours, Holloway, Stenberg, Dean, Stancl, Pekarcik, Peterson, etc etc etc are all guys who you can count on playing a 200-ft game, playing physical, and ideally not sacrificing offense along the way. We proved in 2019 that you can win a cup with a bottom-6 built on those principles if all goes well. When you mix that in with top-6 guys who also play in that style, but really excel offensively like Thomas, Kyrou, Snuggerud, and Dvorsky, you're talking about a really formidable forward corps that's tough to play against.

So really I think it comes down to differences in philosophy more than Pronman unfairly assessing our prospects. Have any of our dudes led the WJC in scoring, or even gotten close? No. They've all had "pretty good," maybe even elite junior careers so far. But Pronman doesn't really put faith in "pretty good, maybe elite" players, he cares a ton about the top-5 players because hockey is a strong-link sport. But I think there are other equally-valid ways of building out a prospect pool that he just simply doesn't value as much. If nothing else, I think it's a good gut-check on how optimistic we ought to be about where we are.
Theo Lindstein, the guy whose offensive upside Pronman doesn’t see, just lead all defensemen in scoring at the WJC. I’m sorry, but this isn’t just a difference in philosophy. It’s a bad analysis.
 

bleedblue1223

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I disagree that our scouting department prefers size, tenacity, defense, and grind. Once you get out of the 1st and at least early 2nd, sure, and we do still want players that can generally fit within that style, but our 1st and 2nd round picks rarely fit that pattern.
 

SirPaste

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Pronman readily admits that he prefers tiny scoring forwards who skate like crazy. All of his rankings emit from that preference towards what a “good” player looks like. And he’s not the only one that looks at any player from the Mike Johnston-era Portland Winterhawks and sees translatable NHL skills. But... like how many of those guys have actually worked out? Rattie certainly didn't.

Our scouting department -- for better or worse -- has generally prioritized size, tenacity, defense, and "grind" unless the skill is too much to pass up (lookin' at you, Scotty P). Guys like Neighbours, Holloway, Stenberg, Dean, Stancl, Pekarcik, Peterson, etc etc etc are all guys who you can count on playing a 200-ft game, playing physical, and ideally not sacrificing offense along the way. We proved in 2019 that you can win a cup with a bottom-6 built on those principles if all goes well. When you mix that in with top-6 guys who also play in that style, but really excel offensively like Thomas, Kyrou, Snuggerud, and Dvorsky, you're talking about a really formidable forward corps that's tough to play against.

So really I think it comes down to differences in philosophy more than Pronman unfairly assessing our prospects. Have any of our dudes led the WJC in scoring, or even gotten close? No. They've all had "pretty good," maybe even elite junior careers so far. But Pronman doesn't really put faith in "pretty good, maybe elite" players, he cares a ton about the top-5 players because hockey is a strong-link sport. But I think there are other equally-valid ways of building out a prospect pool that he just simply doesn't value as much. If nothing else, I think it's a good gut-check on how optimistic we ought to be about where we are.
I feel like Wheeler prefers that type much more than Pronman on The Athletic
 

STLegend

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Theo Lindstein, the guy whose offensive upside Pronman doesn’t see, just lead all defensemen in scoring at the WJC. I’m sorry, but this isn’t just a difference in philosophy. It’s a bad analysis.
Also Snuggy was a top point producer until he missed a game due to sickness then came back to play on the 4th line while clearly still not 100%.
 
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Bluesnatic27

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Theo Lindstein, the guy whose offensive upside Pronman doesn’t see, just lead all defensemen in scoring at the WJC. I’m sorry, but this isn’t just a difference in philosophy. It’s a bad analysis.
Don’t forget how Snuggerud was arguably the 2nd most dominant forward in the 2023 World Juniors. He had the 2nd highest xGF value that tournament. 2nd only to Bedard.
 

Quaz

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Mar 15, 2006
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Pronman also had Nate Danielson as a top of the lineup player two tiers higher than Dvorsky. He docked Dvorsky for his WJC but Danielson did worse there and in the CHL. He also had Marco Kasper and MBN rated a tier higher as well. I see Dvorsky as being as good or better than all 3. His bias for Danielson and against Dvorsky is pretty obvious.
 

LetsGoBooze

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I have to agree with Pronman on the fact that we dont have enough truly elite prospects to be in the top 10. Im as excited as most about the guys we have, and think we do have some high ceiling guys. Our pool is also the deepest its been in decades. But it is a nice reality check, that short cutting the re-build process comes with a lot of inherent risk. We just weren't bad enough for long enough to have the super high end talent that comes with earning multiple top 10 picks over a few seasons, and our place in the pool rankings should reflect that.
That being said, fingers crossed the majority of these kids come close to their ceilings, DA keeps wheeling and dealing, and we return to a competitive team with a solid identity that if catches fire at the right time can compete for a cup in the near future.
 
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Ranksu

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Im just wondering do we have in our prospect system center who could reach top6/2nd line center?

Is Dalibor Dvorsky More of center or winger?
 

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