Prospect Info: Blues 2024-2025 Prospect Thread

[Bye Bye Blueston]

The proficiency I was talking about was in reference to the Petro comparison.

One of the bigger questions I have is Jiricek just trying to do too much because he can get away it against lessor competition and he will smarten up against better competition? Or, is he just feeling out the game because he is still developing and still needs to build that foundational awareness? Or, will he always lack hockey sense in selecting when to be aggressive vs passive?

I have a lot of hockey sense questions and missing a year at a critical juncture doesn’t help us get a good sense of the answers to questions surrounding his hockey sense.

I do believe he will get better in that regard. The main question for me being: how much?

I think you nailed it. That is the risk of picking him, as the missed year risk more than the injury itself makes it harder to foresee the likelihood of whether he can be a 1D or if he tops out as a severson type 4D who has talent but tortures his teams’ fans.

 

[Kshahdoo]

Koromyslov led his team in TOI with 19:48 in his 2nd game of the season. He's now 6'5, 181, but it's by EP. The KHL site says he's 6'3, 185 which I think closer to reality.

 

[execwrite1]

Anyone with up-to-date scouting reports on the Blues four Russians - they all seem promising.

Arseni Koromyslov D
Nikita Susuyev RW
Ivan Vorobyov RW
Matvei Korotky C

 

[Linkens Mastery]

 

[jura]

Mršić, Gudelj, Majić Croatian boys

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Mršić, Gudelj, Majić Croatian boys

That's kinda cool. I recall an Albanian coming through in Palushaj and there have been other Albanians, although I know that they were not part of Yugoslavia. They get lumped in anyway because of Kosovo.

But we are missing Slovenia (Kopitar), Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. We need more hockey players from Southern Europe.

I've had my sights on Croatia. I'd like to live in another country again and Italy is on my list, but Croatia is right there and is very closely tied to Northern Italian culture.

 

[execwrite1]

Prospect tournament info

Games will streamed live at stlouisblues.com and the Blues App, along with live audio on 101 ESPN.

 

[Frenzy31]

I really miss the Traverse City Tourny. I really enjoyed going to the games and watching the kids play competitive games.

 

[oPlaiD]

I really miss the Traverse City Tourny. I really enjoyed going to the games and watching the kids play competitive games.

My family has a cabin up in Traverse I vacation at most Summers, but my time up there only overlapped with the tourney once. I always planned to make the trip during the right time to watch at some point, but alas I waited too long.

 

[Brian39]

I was looking through some of EPs older draft guides and found this gem of a scouting report.

Jake Neighbours - Rank: DO NOT DRAFT

View attachment 905515
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I was wondering why I couldn't find him in their top player rankings. Such a shame the Blues drafted a kid with such little potential.

Hard to see him ever doing something like scoring 27 goals in his first full NHL season.

Having him as 'do not draft' is silly, but I think that pretty much all of their criticism is dead-on accurate if you remove the benefit of hindsight.

He has developed his ability/willingness to go to the dirty areas, but he is much better at going there while teammates have the puck than he is at getting the puck from the perimeter to a scoring area himself. His play off the puck (including finding open space) still leaves a ton to be desired. He isn't a guy who excels at carrying the puck through the neutral zone for a controlled zone entry. He isn't a line driver at the moment. He still has plenty of room to improve these areas and he certainly didn't fluke his way into 27 goals.

But a lot of these flaws to his game were (and some still are) very real. There are plenty of Blues fans wanting to laugh at this report today who had pretty damn similar criticisms for Neighbours 12 months ago. This board voted him as our 6th best prospect last summer and there was a strong 'his ceiling isn't that high' pushback to people voting for him in the top 5.

 

[BlueMed]

Having him as 'do not draft' is silly, but I think that pretty much all of their criticism is dead-on accurate if you remove the benefit of hindsight.

He has developed his ability/willingness to go to the dirty areas, but he is much better at going there while teammates have the puck than he is at getting the puck from the perimeter to a scoring area himself. His play off the puck (including finding open space) still leaves a ton to be desired. He isn't a guy who excels at carrying the puck through the neutral zone for a controlled zone entry. He isn't a line driver at the moment. He still has plenty of room to improve these areas and he certainly didn't fluke his way into 27 goals.

But a lot of these flaws to his game were (and some still are) very real. There are plenty of Blues fans wanting to laugh at this report today who had pretty damn similar criticisms for Neighbours 12 months ago. This board voted him as our 6th best prospect last summer and there was a strong 'his ceiling isn't that high' pushback to people voting for him in the top 5.

If Neighbours becomes a consistent 20-25 goal and 20-25 assist player as our 3LW, then I wouldn't be disappointed. In that case, I'd classify him as a really good complimentary player (e.g. Brenden Morrow). However, I'd be thrilled if he could bump that up to 25-30 goals and assists and label him as a core player (e.g. Dustin Brown).

 

[blue zone]

I think in Neighbors you are looking at a guy that in a good season nets 25-30, and gets 20 assists. His distribution game really did not look that different last season.

 

[MissouriMook]

I think in Neighbors you are looking at a guy that in a good season nets 25-30, and gets 20 assists. His distribution game really did not look that different last season.

He's a guy that is likely going to get a good chunk of his assists from outlet passes from his zone (secondary), from his teammates deflecting his shots (primary) or putting back rebounds from his shots (primary). He'll also likely get a good chunk of his goals on deflections and rebounds, as we saw last season. I don't think he'll ever be viewed as a "playmaker."

 

[ChicagoBlues]

That bit about Jake’s “playmaking ability” is funny.

 

[Blueswin]

The Top 23 NHL Prospects Under 23

www.sportsnet.ca

 

[BlueMed]

The Top 23 NHL Prospects Under 23

www.sportsnet.ca

Prospect rankings are all over the place.

 

[aceoutdoor]

Last year Neighbor's play style was dog on bone no doubt. But that's a great thing. He has a bigger tool box than most think. As he matures he will pass more, he is like the opposite of Thomas. Of any young players we have with future captain potential, I would say #63 is at the top. He is a leader and has a higher ceiling than most think I believe. That an $5 will get you a soda or coffee.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Last year Neighbor's play style was dog on bone no doubt. But that's a great thing. He has a bigger tool box than most think. As he matures he will pass more, he is like the opposite of Thomas. Of any young players we have with future captain potential, I would say #63 is at the top. He is a leader and has a higher ceiling than most think I believe. That an $5 will get you a soda or coffee.

It's a terrible review on Jake Neighbours.

 

[BleedBlue14]

The Top 23 NHL Prospects Under 23

www.sportsnet.ca

What a wild list. Lots of Russian prospects on there

 

[blue zone]

What a wild list. Lots of Russian prospects on there

I think it is a bit of the old " look at those numbers and that size" thing working it's way in on players that have really very little exposure.
I thought Nikishin being at 3 was kind of a highlight of that thinking. He's big, he's scoring, he's captain. It ignores how loaded 24 SKA is (our own Matvei Korotky is in this system). Can't see the play, can only see the numbers

 

[Bobby Orrtuzzo]

 

[STLegend]

The size on that 4th line

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

That Pekarcik-Dvorsky-Robertsson line could be nasty.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Interesting to see Bolduc at RW.

I’ll admit, every time I think of what the Blues lines could be this season, the hardest part IMO is projecting who will play RW behind Kyrou. Maybe this is Bolduc’s path to making the team and they’re trying him out to see how he looks on his off-wing?

Then again, it could be as simple as someone has to play RW. All 9 of that top-9 are lefties. Only 3 righties in the whole lineup from what I see.

4 counting Dorian but he’s scratched.

 

[Robb_K]

Last year Neighbor's play style was dog on bone no doubt. But that's a great thing. He has a bigger tool box than most think. As he matures he will pass more, he is like the opposite of Thomas. Of any young players we have with future captain potential, I would say #63 is at the top. He is a leader and has a higher ceiling than most think I believe. That an $5 will get you a soda or coffee.

I remember when that and a NICKEL would get you a cup of coffee! And that cup would be followed by a cost-free refill!!! That was back when I was a young "whipper-snapper", and NHL players had to sell pots and pans, vacuum cleaners, or encyclopedias, door-to-door, during the off-season, to keep paying the rent and putting food on the table! Some of The Prairie Provinces' farm boys, would need to return to their parents' farms to work (and build up muscle from tossing hay bales)!