Prospect Info: Blues 2024-2025 Prospect Thread

[bleedblue1223]

I'm more or less fine with where we are ranked. Reality is, we lack someone like a top 5 pick, someone that has a very high liklihood of reaching their top potential. Some of our previous prospect pools had guys like Pietrangelo that was very high end when he was drafted and continued to dominate or someone like Tarasenko that was viewed as a very high-end prospect and fell due to Russian factor. Thomas was someone viewed highly due to his great D+1 year.

Our prospect pool would be viewed differently if instead of Jiricek, we got one of the dmen drafted ahead of him, who all varied in rankings, but each were reasonably viewed as the 2nd best in the draft. If we had one of them, I could easily say we have a top 10 prospect pool.

I'd still argue that Dvorsky's season this year should give confidence that he's more likely to hit the higher end of his potential than not. He's clearly outperforming the guy picked ahead of him Danielson. I'm confident that our forward core will be very good. If anything, to contend we can add a piece here or there, similar to what we had to do with our 2019 group.

Our big area of somewhat concern is defense. Do we have an all-situations guy that can take over for Parayko? I don't know if we do, but I do think we can acquire that player, and that's what Army/Steen are banking on with our quality depth in our prospect pool. I like that our defensive future will have guys like Broberg, I think Lindstein is a safer bet, even if his upside won't be of a #1, and Jiricek has a bunch of potential, but certainly plenty of risk. I think we have other depth pieces to round out of defensive core, but it needs that #1 guy.

Now, Parayko is having a career season, he's 16th in 5v5 points among defensemen, tied for 7th in goals. Maybe he can be one of those defensemen that beats the aging curve. He's on pace for 45 points and 15 goals, while not really having PP production to boost those numbers. If he ages well, that lack of high upside defensive prospects becomes less of an issue, and easier to solve through trades and free agency.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I also honestly don't care about prospect rankings and I give guys like Wheeler, Pronman, and others slack for what they do. What they do is an impossible job to do well. They are responsible for evaluating gguys for the upcoming drafts and well as evaluating prospects in their post-draft years. Do people realize how many prospects they are responsible for? That's why sometimes in reports, you'll get a copy and paste or slightly edited version of the report they had from the previous year or from their draft year.

And for a bulk, they'll have to stat watch. Take Kaskimaki for example. Watching him, I think it's clear he either leveled up or just needed a change for his development, he looks a lot better in our prospect pool this season than previous seasons. That being said, if you are just stat watching him, you might wonder if he is just another Alexandrov type that can put up numbers at AHL level and struggle at NHL level, and that's a reasonable take if you aren't able to watch a ton of either player, and there isn't enough time in the day for these writers to watch enough film on all these prospects.

Blues have proven to be at least above average at drafting and developing, and that's good enough for me.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Yup! That’s good enough for me, too.

 

[greybush314]

Does Hobey Baker mean much for a Junior? Celebrini winning as a 17-year old freshmen, sure, that is impressive. But Perunovich won the Hobey Baker. Adam Gaudette won as a junior. Snuggerud's a junior and older than most if not all of the impact NHLers were when they won the award.. Should an Adam Gaudette level prospect be highly rated. Staying in college for 3-4 years, a fringe NHL can win at 21-22.

Being the best player in NCAA hockey means alot but doesn't mean you're a sure fire star by any means. Also don't think age matters. Would you knock someone for rookie of the year because he was a few years older than other rookies? I wouldn't. College hockey is more competitive now than it's been in decades too.

 

[Majorityof1]

Being the best player in NCAA hockey means alot but doesn't mean you're a sure fire star by any means. Also don't think age matters. Would you knock someone for rookie of the year because he was a few years older than other rookies? I wouldn't. College hockey is more competitive now than it's been in decades too.

When it comes to projecting out their ceiling as a pro, I absolutely would hold it against someone for winning rookie of the year at 25 as opposed to 18. There is a reason they don't let 22-year-olds play in the U20 World Junior tournament.

 

[PocketNines]

Burns scored a goal in a 9-5 loss but was a +1. (stat watched it)

 

[bleedblue1223]

Burns scored a goal in a 9-5 loss but was a +1. (stat watched it)

That's crazy to lose that bad, handle tough defensive minutes, and finish +1.

 

[Blanick]

Ok so here is the thing that bugs the shit out of me. It's when these professional evaluators say shit like "no game breakers." How the hell do they do know? They base it all on draft position, if your not a top 5 pick you are at best a depth guy. Let me ask you this was O'Reilly a game changing talent when he was drafted? How about Schwartz? Parayko? Perron? Cause we don't win a cup without those "depth guys." After the day they are drafted it's about development. Are they staying on a upward trajectory? Because when one of these guys breaks out and becomes a star these same experts will say something like," they always had that potential, it was just a question of if they would hit it."

If you follow prospect rankings and such a lot you will notice this pattern. Pick a few darlings, downplay the rest and but use purposely vague language to shield your evaluations so you can come back and claim that they always liked them.

 

[PocketNines]

That's crazy to lose that bad, handle tough defensive minutes, and finish +1.

Looks like he was actually +2 lol

 

[bleedblue1223]

Looks like he was actually +2 lol

And he's miles ahead of everyone else on his team. Kind of excited to see what he looks like when he turns pro.

 

[bleedblue1223]

And while I'd also agree that teams like Buffalo have had and will probably always have better prospect pools than us, the difference is those teams suck at developing and only rank high because they just constantly have high draft picks.

To that point, since Monty took over, Bolduc has 10 points in 21 games, +8, and hasn't had a game under 11 minutes, something that was common under Bannister. A 40ish point pace would be a pretty successful season for him IMO, and sets him up for a bigger breakout next season.

 

[sfvega]

Does Hobey Baker mean much for a Junior? Celebrini winning as a 17-year old freshmen, sure, that is impressive. But Perunovich won the Hobey Baker. Adam Gaudette won as a junior. Snuggerud's a junior and older than most if not all of the impact NHLers were when they won the award.. Should an Adam Gaudette level prospect be highly rated. Staying in college for 3-4 years, a fringe NHL can win at 21-22.

That's a fair question. Snuggy has had an up and down development. I'm still relatively high on him, but I can understand when we're talking top 5/10 prospect pools where he'd be under more scrutiny.

 

[BleedBlue14]

And while I'd also agree that teams like Buffalo have had and will probably always have better prospect pools than us, the difference is those teams suck at developing and only rank high because they just constantly have high draft picks.

To that point, since Monty took over, Bolduc has 10 points in 21 games, +8, and hasn't had a game under 11 minutes, something that was common under Bannister. A 40ish point pace would be a pretty successful season for him IMO, and sets him up for a bigger breakout next season.

I was curious so I went back and looked at Kyrou and Thomas' first full season just to see production, and I know it's different due to those teams being better and ice time harder to come by. But Bolduc is pacing really well for a young player in terms of production. If he takes the next step we have a real abundance of NHL wingers. I like that he's almost added/gained/focused on adding a physical level of play. It's an exciting thing to see. Just from the eye test, I see him make alot of mistakes still, but that's to be expected. I'd like to see him moved up to where Saad has been, but i don't think he's really ready for it. I think it's just such a drag putting that type of player on a line with Sunqvist right now. I think Sunny does alot of little things well, but my lord he is slow, and doesn't have much offensive touch anymore. Fwiw and this is personal opinion off of strictly eye test, I don't think Neighbors has a ton of offensive ability either, or at least to a degree of above average, not saying I dislike him at all wonderful player. But moreso, I think it would be nice to see Bolduc play with Thomas and Buch to see what happens there and if it can unlock the offensive ability a bit more.

 

[PocketNines]

There are no prospects in action today, and tomorrow it's the Blues and Mrsic in action. Mrsic's game starts an hour after the Blues game.

 

[PocketNines]

The thing that makes Mrsic stand out to me among all our prospects even Snuggy is his shot. His games are fun to watch because every power play he is generally getting quality chances, and he is dynamic off the rush with his shot. His shot is elite. Dvorsky, Snuggy, Bolduc, Stancl, all really good shooters. The reason Perry and I don't think it will translate is in the NHL he isn't going to get that kind of space to creep in and take shots. NHL PKs have guys boxed out at the point or wider on the dot. Mrsic is dangerous all over the offensive zone. He has a lightning release and he picks corners. We just don't think he will have the space to do what he's doing where he's doing it right now so it's difficult to judge whether it will still work from farther out, with less of the slot available to him

 

[bleedblue1223]

The thing that makes Mrsic stand out to me among all our prospects even Snuggy is his shot. His games are fun to watch because every power play he is generally getting quality chances, and he is dynamic off the rush with his shot. His shot is elite. Dvorsky, Snuggy, Bolduc, Stancl, all really good shooters. The reason Perry and I don't think it will translate is in the NHL he isn't going to get that kind of space to creep in and take shots. NHL PKs have guys boxed out at the point or wider on the dot. Mrsic is dangerous all over the offensive zone. He has a lightning release and he picks corners. We just don't think he will have the space to do what he's doing where he's doing it right now so it's difficult to judge whether it will still work from farther out, with less of the slot available to him

Yeah, he could be a Mike Hoffman, but he could also be a guy that struggles to score at AHL level and heads to Europe. It's a good lotto ticket to have for a 4th rounder.

 

[BadgersandBlues]

I'm honestly not too worried about where our prospect pool ranks - not sure if this is a real quote from Herb Brooks or they cribbed it for the movie Miracle, but he makes some comment that he's not looking for the best players, he's looking for the right ones.

That's where I think our prospect pool shines, even more-so now with Broberg and Holloway. We have the right prospects, but maybe not the best ones. (With one major caveat) Thomas is a bona-fide #1 C. His defensive metrics have uncharacteristically cratered under Monty, but I think they are both smart enough to figure out how to get him back on track, and any defensive deficiencies have been more then made up for on the offensive side of the puck, as he is playing looser and more aggressively in the offensive zone. I am more then comfortable claiming that we can win a Cup with Thomas as our top C.

Right now we need (Depending on what we can expect from Schenn moving forward) either a 2C or a 3C. Dvo looks fairly ready for 3C duty now, but I'd rather wait to make sure we're not rushing him. If Schenn can keep up this level of play, Dvo as our 3C starting next year is perfectly reasonable, with Sunny or UFA as our 4C. We also have Zach Dean, who unfortunately has lost a significant amount of development time this year due to injury floating around as a potential 4C in the future. Then we have Stancel, who's so hot right now - but seriously, he could potentially move into the 3C/4C convo in a couple of years, or possibly into the winger convo. We might not have the best center prospects, but the ones we have fit our timeline and needs extremely well.

Then we look at wings. We have three clear top-6 guys on the NHL roster right now with Buch, Holloway, and Kyrou. I also feel pretty comfortable saying that Neighbors and Bolduc are already reasonable top 9 players. I'm fairly confident that one of Neighbors/Bolduc/Stenberg/Snuggy can turn into a top 6 guy, and even if they can't, we can always either do a quantity for quality swap, or we can go hunting in UFA with all the cap flexibility these younger players will afford us. Wingers are always the easiest position to fill. We also have a ton of exciting lottery tickets that could pop. We might not have the best winger prospects, but we have the ones that should fill our needs.

Then we get to D. This is the one place where it gets dicey. Broberg is a #3 right now, and still has room to grow - He was riding a massive PDO bender earlier in the season, and then got injured and we changed coaches, so it's not shocking he was a little slow out of the gate when he came back, but the last 5-6 games I think he's really turned it on. He's been extremely dangerous in the offensive zone and has had multiple grade A chances. Can he become more? I'm not sure. For this exercise let's claim he stays at a #3, which is still really valuable. Parayko looks every bit a true #1 again now that Fowler is here. How long does that last, since he's 31 and Fowler is 33? I have no idea. Parayko's age curve is going to massively impact our chances moving forward, but I think it's reasonable to think that even in 3 years he can still act as a top 4 guy, let's say he's a #4. That leaves us with Lindstein and Jiricik. I think Lindstein, if he hits, is Brodin 2.0. A great #2. Jiricik is the one that we have to hope pops, or we move him along with like a first and one of our other winger prospects to gain that true #1 (Preferably RH). We also have all our first round picks moving forward that we could potentially draft someone with as well.

Goalies - who gives a shit that's all f***ing voodoo.

Overall, I love where our prospect pool is, even if someone wants to tell me that a team like the Sabres or Wild have a better pool (Which I think they do). We shouldn't get too bogged down in where we are in the rankings, b/c our pool fits our needs extremely well, not that we drafted guys for that reason, it simply worked out that way.

 

[PocketNines]

We are past the point where we see Stancl as "a 4th round pick who could be on the 3d or 4th line if all continues to go well." That's like Toropchenko.

We are watching a very large, smart, poised player with a phenomenal shot dominate his peers with skill and effort. We need to really expand the possibilities of what this player is going to be. I see high quality NHL scoring forward, top 6 player every time I watch him. He is 1st round talent, 100%.

In about 10 weeks he's likely to get 10 AHL regular season games once his WHL season ends. Kelowna may not make the playoffs, they are in a clump of teams 8-10th place out of 11.

 

[BlueMed]

I'm honestly not too worried about where our prospect pool ranks - not sure if this is a real quote from Herb Brooks or they cribbed it for the movie Miracle, but he makes some comment that he's not looking for the best players, he's looking for the right ones.

That's where I think our prospect pool shines, even more-so now with Broberg and Holloway. We have the right prospects, but maybe not the best ones. (With one major caveat) Thomas is a bona-fide #1 C. His defensive metrics have uncharacteristically cratered under Monty, but I think they are both smart enough to figure out how to get him back on track, and any defensive deficiencies have been more then made up for on the offensive side of the puck, as he is playing looser and more aggressively in the offensive zone. I am more then comfortable claiming that we can win a Cup with Thomas as our top C.

Right now we need (Depending on what we can expect from Schenn moving forward) either a 2C or a 3C. Dvo looks fairly ready for 3C duty now, but I'd rather wait to make sure we're not rushing him. If Schenn can keep up this level of play, Dvo as our 3C starting next year is perfectly reasonable, with Sunny or UFA as our 4C. We also have Zach Dean, who unfortunately has lost a significant amount of development time this year due to injury floating around as a potential 4C in the future. Then we have Stancel, who's so hot right now - but seriously, he could potentially move into the 3C/4C convo in a couple of years, or possibly into the winger convo. We might not have the best center prospects, but the ones we have fit our timeline and needs extremely well.

Then we look at wings. We have three clear top-6 guys on the NHL roster right now with Buch, Holloway, and Kyrou. I also feel pretty comfortable saying that Neighbors and Bolduc are already reasonable top 9 players. I'm fairly confident that one of Neighbors/Bolduc/Stenberg/Snuggy can turn into a top 6 guy, and even if they can't, we can always either do a quantity for quality swap, or we can go hunting in UFA with all the cap flexibility these younger players will afford us. Wingers are always the easiest position to fill. We also have a ton of exciting lottery tickets that could pop. We might not have the best winger prospects, but we have the ones that should fill our needs.

Then we get to D. This is the one place where it gets dicey. Broberg is a #3 right now, and still has room to grow - He was riding a massive PDO bender earlier in the season, and then got injured and we changed coaches, so it's not shocking he was a little slow out of the gate when he came back, but the last 5-6 games I think he's really turned it on. He's been extremely dangerous in the offensive zone and has had multiple grade A chances. Can he become more? I'm not sure. For this exercise let's claim he stays at a #3, which is still really valuable. Parayko looks every bit a true #1 again now that Fowler is here. How long does that last, since he's 31 and Fowler is 33? I have no idea. Parayko's age curve is going to massively impact our chances moving forward, but I think it's reasonable to think that even in 3 years he can still act as a top 4 guy, let's say he's a #4. That leaves us with Lindstein and Jiricik. I think Lindstein, if he hits, is Brodin 2.0. A great #2. Jiricik is the one that we have to hope pops, or we move him along with like a first and one of our other winger prospects to gain that true #1 (Preferably RH). We also have all our first round picks moving forward that we could potentially draft someone with as well.

Goalies - who gives a shit that's all f***ing voodoo.

Overall, I love where our prospect pool is, even if someone wants to tell me that a team like the Sabres or Wild have a better pool (Which I think they do). We shouldn't get too bogged down in where we are in the rankings, b/c our pool fits our needs extremely well, not that we drafted guys for that reason, it simply worked out that way.

I agree with the sentiment here. However, I'm less optimistic about Neighbours becoming a top 6 forward (I'm more than happy with him as a 3LW), and I'm more optimistic about Broberg becoming a decent 1D. I think Army is modeling the Blues after a team like Dallas, which has very balanced scoring with a good mixture of veteran and young players in front of a good goaltender.

 

[DatDude44]

We are past the point where we see Stancl as "a 4th round pick who could be on the 3d or 4th line if all continues to go well." That's like Toropchenko.

We are watching a very large, smart, poised player with a phenomenal shot dominate his peers with skill and effort. We need to really expand the possibilities of what this player is going to be. I see high quality NHL scoring forward, top 6 player every time I watch him. He is 1st round talent, 100%.

In about 10 weeks he's likely to get 10 AHL regular season games once his WHL season ends. Kelowna may not make the playoffs, they are in a clump of teams 8-10th place out of 11.

He reminds me of what we all hoped Dmitrij Jaskin was gonna be.

I think one of the more impressive and important parts of Stancls game in my recent viewings isn't as much the physical tools(knew about the size/skill combo), but it's the high level mental processing and poise he possesses with and away from the puck. He's not reliant on being bigger or faster than everybody else to make plays or control the puck, He knows how to manipulate defenders and use his size/skill in a high level/transferable to professional hockey type of way. I thought he anticipated play very well and his details away from the puck are a breath of fresh air. Tons of upside in this kid.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

He reminds me of what we all hoped Dmitrij Jaskin was gonna be.

I think one of the more impressive and important parts of Stancls game in my recent viewings isn't as much the physical tools(knew about the size/skill combo), but it's the high level mental processing and poise he possesses with and away from the puck. He's not reliant on being bigger or faster than everybody else to make plays or control the puck, He knows how to manipulate defenders and use his size/skill in a high level/transferable to professional hockey type of way. I thought he anticipated play very well and his details away from the puck are a breath of fresh air. Tons of upside in this kid.

Spot on. His body positioning was very impressive at the WJC and he made very smart decisions with the puck. You can tell he was one of those players for whom the game seems to slow down. He doesn't need much space to make plays happen either.