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Prospect Info: Blues 2024-2025 Prospect Thread

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Has there been a significant influx of North American players going over to play in the SHL the last 3-5 years? Just peeking at some of the other top prospects from around the league, low minutes appear to be a common trend for D+1/D+2 players. At the surface, it's not surprising, but minutes appear lower than normal across the board for high end draft picks and risers.

Or is it more a matter of the clubs investing a lot more in the younger players they know/think are unlikely to run off to the NHL?

Relegation is the big stick in the corner, but this trend seems to root beyond the teams floating at the bottom.
 
taylord22 said:
Has there been a significant influx of North American players going over to play in the SHL the last 3-5 years? Just peeking at some of the other top prospects from around the league, low minutes appear to be a common trend for D+1/D+2 players. At the surface, it's not surprising, but minutes appear lower than normal across the board for high end draft picks and risers.

Or is it more a matter of the clubs investing a lot more in the younger players they know/think are unlikely to run off to the NHL?

Relegation is the big stick in the corner, but this trend seems to root beyond the teams floating at the bottom.
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Pure speculation, but I'd be somewhat curious if SHL has more Euro players that otherwise would have played in Russia. I imagine on some level, players are a bit more likely to play in Sweden than Russia now than previous seasons.
 
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PocketNines said:
Someone posted that can't remember who offhand, but then it was pointed out he hasn't been traded yet. I refreshed the WHL deadline blog yesterday and nothing, so the deadline is passed. Maybe the two Euro rule limited where he can go?

So assuming he's still on ~8th place Kelowna who just traded Andrew Cristall, Stancl's 2PPG+ linemate, then he will be here in Seattle (Kent WA) next weekend going up against Mrtka 6"6" draft eligible D. Seattle also has Cootes
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Cam Robinson threw that rumor out on his podcast with Peters. It’s called “called up”. Good stuff.
 
bleedblue1223 said:
Pure speculation, but I'd be somewhat curious if SHL has more Euro players that otherwise would have played in Russia. I imagine on some level, players are a bit more likely to play in Sweden than Russia now than previous seasons.
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It would make sense for a multitude of reasons. I did hear recently that KHL guys are no longer being paid in cash that they have to stuff into their shoulder pads during games. Phones, evidently, are a different story ;)
 
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PocketNines said:
Someone posted that can't remember who offhand, but then it was pointed out he hasn't been traded yet. I refreshed the WHL deadline blog yesterday and nothing, so the deadline is passed. Maybe the two Euro rule limited where he can go?

So assuming he's still on ~8th place Kelowna who just traded Andrew Cristall, Stancl's 2PPG+ linemate, then he will be here in Seattle (Kent WA) next weekend going up against Mrtka 6"6" draft eligible D. Seattle also has Cootes
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If he wasn’t traded, then Springfield could be stacked for the playoffs with Stenberg and Stancl added.
 
PocketNines said:
I dunno, they aren't giving him so many minutes they will react this way, and they know he is leaving soon regardless


Yeah he is constantly getting chances and making plays. It's just all about whether it can translate as he tries to level up. Maybe it's the way he wears his hip pads but he seems bigger on the ice than he really is
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Yeah I doubt it translates but it looks good for the cameras….
 
STL fan in MN said:
What the article doesn’t state is where he’ll be playing next. It said NHL but that’s just that the Blues are putting him somewhere else. He’s not NHL ready so he wouldn’t go there.

This is all very odd and interesting. So he’s been in N.A. this whole week and we didn’t know. And he hasn’t been assigned to a team so my guess is the Blues are trying to find a good landing spot for him. Maybe Springfield? I don’t recall him ever being drafted by a CHL team but I’ll go look that up now I guess.

Edit: he was never drafted by a CHL team. I’d assume he’d still be able to join one as a free agent but CHL teams are restricted to 2 Euros each and I’d bet almost all of them have their 2 spots filled already so finding a spot for him on a quality CHL team may be hard unless a team is willing to ditch one of their current Euros for Otto (which is what Sudbury did to add Dvorsky a year ago).

My guess is he ends up in Springfield but tbh, the CHL would likely be a better place for him.
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Worth noting that Springfield's last game was 1/3/25 before the end of the WJC. They don't play until tomorrow (1/11/25), so we haven't had a deadline where he 'needed' to be put on the Thunderbirds roster in order to play their next game. AHL practices aren't exactly well-covered by the media. Malmo played 1/7 and 1/9. Stenberg's final WJC game was 1/5, but it was in North America 6 hours behind Swedish time. There was basically no chance that he'd hop on a plane to play in Sweden on 1/7 and it wouldn't have been all that odd for him to not be ready to play by 1/9 either. Even if it was viewed as odd, any reporting of it would be in Swedish and wouldn't occur until he wasn't on the ice.

I don't find it too odd that no reporters caught wind of him remaining in North America even if the team was only 'hiding' it by simply not announcing it. Whether he has been sitting in a hotel or actually joined the Thunderbirds a few days ago, it seems fairly normal that no one would have noticed/reported on it.

Regardless, I'm excited. I am really liking this trend where we draft out of Europe but then take an extremely active role in their development. Stenberg will make 5 prospects out of the 2023 and 2024 drafts who we drafted out of Europe that are now playing North American hockey. I'm very pleased with the way Dvorsky, Stancl, and Pekarcik are developing on that path and we don't have nearly enough data to judge Jiricek yet. But this is a path I'm a big fan of.
 
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SirPaste said:
EP has Stenberg listed as a member of the Springfield Thunderbirds so not sure if they know something we don't yet or just put him there as a likely spot.
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I think they’re updating their data based on others apis and not manually adjusting every prospect. Maybe some backend ahl system has already made the transaction.
 
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I found this article, FWIW. Here are some snippets of what Firefox translated:

19-year-old Stingers-educed forward Otto Stenberg leaves the Malmö Redhawks for play in the AHL team Springfield Thunderbirds, which is part of the NHL team St.Louis Blues. Otto will be moving to the United States next week.
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“On the day, Malmö Redhawks have been reached by St. Louis' desire to break the loan agreement early. A wish that Malmö Redhawks has met,” Malmö writes on its website.

“Now St. Louis and Otto instead concluded that his development is best to go over to North America already now and we do not think it is in our interest to try to force players with us” says Oscar Alsenfelt, sporting director of Malmö Redhawks sporting director, about the player who at 25 SHL matches was listed for three goals and three assists.
Knew it could happen
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For the ST magazine, Otto says that on Wednesday he received a call from Alexander Steen, who works for St. Louise Blues with players from Europe, with a simple question: “Are you eager to move to the United States?”
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How much did Malmö have to say about this?

– Steen has talked a lot with Alsenfelt and they knew that I was loaned from St. Louis. It wasn’t impossible for it to happen. St. Louis has the right to do this.
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When asked if Otto needed to think about it, he replies:

Yes, but of course I started thinking. I have enjoyed Malmö with the team, so it was not quite clear. But when St. Louis wants me there and showed that they wanted me there and believe me, so it was a pretty obvious choice for me to go there.

"The would have been silly not to go there when they wanted it," Otto said of the transition that was completed Thursday night.
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Do you think your effort in the JVM preciped some kind of crucial thing for St. Louis wants you to move now?

- I think so. Playing on a little rink makes them maybe see something they want to build on.
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St. Louis Blues want him but the next game he's going to play in the U.S. won't be for the NHL club.

"There's in the AHL club Springfield Thunderbirds and then we'll see how it goes," Otto said of the team that is geographically located in the city of Springfield in the state of Massachusetts in the northeastern United States and has about 160 000 inhabitants.

Is it okay for it to be Springfield?

Yes, that’s what you’re set on. Not many people go straight to the NHL. Springfield has quite a few Swedes that I know and it is a fairly young team, says Otto who lists Simon Robertsson, Marcus Sylvegård, Samuel Johannesson and Leo Lööf.

Otto Stenberg will play in Springfield in spring out and then participate at St. Louis Summercamp to fight for a place in the 2025/26 NHL team.

“Smold I should have gone over when the season was over and played there next year. Now it was a few months earlier. It’s just an advantage for next year that you’re a little more prepared and know how it works.
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As we all know, Springfield very rarely plays teams that aren’t on the east coast.

Depending on which location is easiest for you guys on here, if you want to see Dvorsky, Stenberg, etc. play, they’ll be in the Midwest over the next month or so.

Jan 31st & Feb 1st @ Iowa Wild
Feb 12th @ Grand Rapids Griffins
Feb 13th @ Milwaukee Admirals
Feb 15th @ Rockford Ice Hogs

I’ll probably go up to the Rockford game, since it’s the closest to me.
 
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