Prospect Info: Blues 2024-2025 Prospect Thread

[Bluesnatic27]

Strangely, I would probably list the players like this as well in both if someone asked me this question. I’d expect the results to look this way.

I know Susuyev had an impressive introduction, but he will not succeed the way he handles the puck or surveys the ice with it.

 

[Beauterham]

Strangely, I would probably list the players like this as well in both if someone asked me this question. I’d expect the results to look this way.

I know Susuyev had an impressive introduction, but he will not succeed the way he handles the puck or surveys the ice with it.

I have questions...

- Who is this Sam guy and why should I take him seriously?
- How did he get his stats and are they complete?
- Has he took into account the difference in level between various competitions prospects play in? As in, the USHL (Pekarcik) is probably 'easier' to play in then the KHL (Susuyev) which could give a skewed result.

 

[Mike Liut]

I think we have 6-7 D prospects that will make the nhl. We just need that true #1 LD to pair with Parayko sooner rather than later while he’s relatively young. But I really do like our D pool.

 

[LGB]

I have questions...

- Who is this Sam guy and why should I take him seriously?
- How did he get his stats and are they complete?
- Has he took into account the difference in level between various competitions prospects play in? As in, the USHL (Pekarcik) is probably 'easier' to play in then the KHL (Susuyev) which could give a skewed result.

I follow him, I don’t think he has any special credentials. He runs this YouTube channel which I think is great Blues and NHL Prospects

I believe the stats are just manually tracked data from games he’s watched and there is no competition adjustment.

I think he’s just starting this data project so the sample is probably pretty small. Cool resource though. Personally I’m more interested in him making more of the YouTube single game mixes.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Some things to remember with the visualizations, difficulty of the leagues vary greatly, that's one reason Pekarcik is as high as he is, and why someone like Bolduc is where he is. I don't think these things should be used to compare prospects against each other, but maybe compare prospects in the same league to each other or to compare prospects against themselves over time.

And assuming he's building a site with more visualizations, it would be interesting to compare that puck-moving chart based on passing to a puck-moving chart based on skating it out of the zone. Is Buchinger lower on the passing because he prefers to just carry it himself.

And then, how reliable on the stats from some of the more obscure leagues. Even if those stats are made available to the public and "official", I can't think those stats would be as reliable as stats from say NHL or AHL or major junior.

I do think it's cool that someone is potentially building something out for Blues prospects specifically, we'll see if it's actually worth anything.

 

[Blueswin]

St. Louis Blues' Top 10 Prospects for 2024-25 Season - The Hockey Writers St Louis Blues Latest News, Analysis & More

Despite having just one top-10 pick in that span, the Blues have done a great job at finding high-upside prospects with their selections.

thehockeywriters.com

 

[SirPaste]

St. Louis Blues' Top 10 Prospects for 2024-25 Season - The Hockey Writers St Louis Blues Latest News, Analysis & More

Despite having just one top-10 pick in that span, the Blues have done a great job at finding high-upside prospects with their selections.

thehockeywriters.com

Well it’s certainly a list

 

[Celtic Note]

Well it’s certainly a list

I was kind of thinking the same, but maybe they will be right in the long run? Dunno

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Well it’s certainly a list

And not very impressive.

 

[TK 421]

And not very impressive.

I really enjoyed the lack of fact checking his own piece because it gave us gems like Bolduc "having the upside of a middle 6 center" and Dvorsky evidently developed in Slovakia and then went straight to Sudbury. Sweden doesn't exist and Dvorsky certainly didn't move there at 16 specifically for development or anything.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

I really enjoyed the lack of fact checking his own piece because it gave us gems like Bolduc "having the upside of a middle 6 center" and Dvorsky evidently developed in Slovakia and then went straight to Sudbury. Sweden doesn't exist and Dvorsky certainly didn't move there at 16 specifically for development or anything.

Totally! Swing and miss.

 

[joe galiba]

I really enjoyed the lack of fact checking his own piece because it gave us gems like Bolduc "having the upside of a middle 6 center" and Dvorsky evidently developed in Slovakia and then went straight to Sudbury. Sweden doesn't exist and Dvorsky certainly didn't move there at 16 specifically for development or anything.

I am pretty sure the internet told me that it is Finland that doesn’t exist, not Sweden

 

[Bobby Orrtuzzo]

I am pretty sure the internet told me that it is Finland that doesn’t exist, not Sweden

@Ranksu please confirm

 

[jiboy]

Hello guys in struggling to find much information about Colin Ralph, whats his path going forward and what kind of player he could be ?

 

[Beauterham]

 

[Mike Liut]

That was depressing

 

[Celtic Note]

I am leaning more and more towards I generally don’t love our draft. I am not sure if the big body focus just happened to play out that way or if it was intentional. But, the more I read about this draft it seems like the D we selected from the 2nd round and later are low ceiling players. But then again, I am not sure I like this draft much in general. So maybe this is just one of those drafts we look back on in a few years and just see it as forgettable.

This is in contrast to 2023 where the more I learned about our draft the more I liked it. But that draft was also loaded with talent.

 

[stl76]

Hello guys in struggling to find much information about Colin Ralph, whats his path going forward and what kind of player he could be ?

We are too haha, tough to get much info on a prep school guy who only played 2 USHL games!

Path forward, he’s committed to St. Cloud State but I’m not 100% sure if he will go straight there for play USHL next year. I’d bet on him going straight to college but honestly not sure.

As far as what type of player, really hard to say without more info. His counting numbers last season say he can move the puck well and watching him at the Blues prospect camp, he can definitely move well for his size. He seems like a somewhat raw prospect with great tools but relatively untested against top competition. I see a high ceiling low floor guy, but my viewings are extremely limited.

We will be playing for the US at the WJSS so you can see him there if you’re inclined to learn more. He played at the Blues development camp scrimmage which you can find on YouTube for free.

 

[stl76]

I am leaning more and more towards I generally don’t love our draft. I am not sure if the big body focus just happened to play out that way or if it was intentional. But, the more I read about this draft it seems like the D we selected from the 2nd round and later are low ceiling players. But then again, I am not sure I like this draft much in general. So maybe this is just one of those drafts we look back on in a few years and just see it as forgettable.

This is in contrast to 2023 where the more I learned about our draft the more I liked it. But that draft was also loaded with talent.

Funny, I feel the exact opposite specifically about our second round guys (Ralph and Fischer). I see high ceiling low floor picks.

Think the big body focus is 100% on purpose tho. Tim Taylor was interviewed at prospect camp specifically mentioned the organizational philosophy was big guys who can skate well. I’m paraphrasing, but that’s the gist as far as I can remember.

 

[bleedblue1223]

The way I view Ralph, clearly our scouting stuff was really high on him and didn't think he'd last much longer. For someone that's a bit off the wall, it'll either look like a very good pick down the road or a what were they thinking type pick. I don't want to get into an argument that our scouts can do no wrong, but they are better than average, so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, unlike other organizations that struggle in every round outside of the 1st.

If Ralph can develop into a big guy that can defend and skate well, we are golden. A Carlo or Orpik, even an Edmundson.

Will be interesting to see how Ralph, Fischer, and Fischer stack up against the other defensemen for USA.

While our defensive prospects lacks a true #1 type that we can lean on, and the top pair potential guys are limited to what Jiricek and Lindstein can do, I am pretty confident we'll have plenty to round out our 4/5/6 spots with.

 

[shpongle falls]

There is good post dispatch article on Ralph right now, here’s a snippet I found interesting:

The left-handed defenseman was one of the largest players in the draft this year, measuring in at 6-4 and 226, according to NHL Central Scouting. Among the 360 draft-eligible skaters that Central Scouting ranked, only one player weighed more than Ralph.
In 57 games last season, Ralph also had 66 points, the most by a Shattuck-St. Mary’s defenseman since Scott Morrow had 67 in 2019-20. Morrow is currently regarded as one of Carolina’s top prospects after completing a three-year career at UMass.

 

[jiboy]

Thanks guy much apreciated

 

[blue zone]

@Ranksu please confirm

@Ranksu was a Japanese fisherman all along

 

[ezcreepin]

I think it's really going to come down to can Ralph develop the way the Blues think he can. My guess is they liked Morrow, saw the production and play of Ralph, saw the size and compete, saw his skating wasn't terrible, and overall really like the package of the player. A player like Ralph is hard to project because he didn't play against competition like NCAA, CHL, or USHL, but if you are comping him to Morrow, then it seems like an ok assessment to assume he could be similar to that. Personally, I want him to continue working on his skating to get to a point where we marvel at it like Parayko, and show some decent offensive output. He ought to focus heavily on the defensive side since he's so big and has a great reach, and to that point I think the Blues feel they nabbed another Parayko.

 

[LetsGoBooze]

I think Ralph has #4, shutdown upside. He's gonna be a defensive defensemen which its odd to say but im excited thats what he is with the current state of our nhl backend. Would love for him to develop into the guy you pair with the offensive minded, rover type.