Blues 2024-2025 Prospect Thread

[MortiestOfMortys]

Big fan of Pekarcik. But I don’t see a future star. I see him having a good shot at being a future 3rd line LW though.

Problem is we have a lot of those.

Holloway, Neighbours, Buchy and Bolduc on the main team. Bolduc and sometimes Buchy play RW but they’re all lefties that primarily all played LW before a couple were forced to the right side because we’re very short there.

Stenberg - 2/3LW potential
Pekarcik - 3LW potential
Kaskimaki - 3LW potential
Stancl - 3/4LW potential
Kos - 3/4LW potential
Mrsic - 3LW potential

They can’t all play 3LW for the Blues! Some will obviously not make it but it could get crowded soon…but that’s a good problem to have. They’d be able to trade from strength.

Robertsson and Susuyev are lefties too but pretty sure both prefer to play the right side.

Some of these dudes need to learn how to take a faceoff

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Some of these dudes need to learn how to take a faceoff

Word

 

[joe galiba]

Word

Oh, word up! (Up!)
Everybody say
When you hear their call, you've got to get it underway

 

[execwrite1]

Pekarcik's has 8G and 10A in 15 games for Moncton in the QMJHL playoffs.

Pekarcik was second star in Game #1 of finals. Moncton up 2-0.

 

[Mike Liut]

Pekarcik's has 8G and 10A in 15 games for Moncton in the QMJHL playoffs.

Pekarcik was second star in Game #1 of finals. Moncton up 2-0.

He has great playmaking ability. From what I’ve seen, I’d describe him as…

High motor, high compete level, pretty physical, pretty aggressive, good shot, good skill level, very good playmaker. He’s also 6’2 205. All that and he’s only 19

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

I don't think many fans think of Leo Loof as a prospect, but I hope he has an impressive camp this summer, and makes our team.

He won't score much, but he will knock a lot of opponents to the ice.

I think you are limiting his ability a bit. His job this year was to be Samuel Johannesson's partner. Samuel is a puck mover who is under 6'0" and very slight in build. He isn't much of a factor defensively, but is a pretty good "thief" stealing pucks. So his job was to be Carl Gunnarsson and let him be a puck mover. He had to be the big body on the ice. He was also excellent on the penalty kill. He did that very well. He was very Kasparitis like in timing a hit at least 2-3 times a game. That will make any forward think twice as to whether he is on the ice, because you don't want to take that kind of hit. The thing that goes underrated is his ability to make a first pass and carry the puck out of trouble. He is a decent skater and has a few moves up his sleeve. Don't look at the goal totals and say well he has no offensive skills. He is snakebitten and hasn't gotten the puck luck like McGing was all year. (Hugh McGing should've had 40-45 goals with the passes Stenberg, Robertsson, and Kaski were feeding him.) I wouldn't be surprised if Loof put up 7 or 8 goals next year kind of like Skinner did.

Tucker does have more offensive ability than Loof. Both make their share of mistakes with turnovers. I think Loof is the kind of guy you could put with a Faulk, Parayko or a Petro and they may or may not mesh. If they do, then their games will take off offensively and complement Loof defensively anchoring the boat on the 2 or 3 on 1s that they tend to leave their partner with occasionally Loof handles well. Loof will handle the front of the net for them and board battles. He would've looked a lot better in board battles at times if he had more support down low from the forwards as that was an issue for Springfield all year that led to a lot of shots on goal. (thank you Mr Ellis!) I don't see that as much of a problem in St Louis. I think he is blossoming into a 5-7 guy. Give him time.

 

[execwrite1]

I think you are limiting his ability a bit. His job this year was to be Samuel Johannesson's partner. Samuel is a puck mover who is under 6'0" and very slight in build. He isn't much of a factor defensively, but is a pretty good "thief" stealing pucks. So his job was to be Carl Gunnarsson and let him be a puck mover. He had to be the big body on the ice. He was also excellent on the penalty kill. He did that very well. He was very Kasparitis like in timing a hit at least 2-3 times a game. That will make any forward think twice as to whether he is on the ice, because you don't want to take that kind of hit. The thing that goes underrated is his ability to make a first pass and carry the puck out of trouble. He is a decent skater and has a few moves up his sleeve. Don't look at the goal totals and say well he has no offensive skills. He is snakebitten and hasn't gotten the puck luck like McGing was all year. (Hugh McGing should've had 40-45 goals with the passes Stenberg, Robertsson, and Kaski were feeding him.) I wouldn't be surprised if Loof put up 7 or 8 goals next year kind of like Skinner did.

Tucker does have more offensive ability than Loof. Both make their share of mistakes with turnovers. I think Loof is the kind of guy you could put with a Faulk, Parayko or a Petro and they may or may not mesh. If they do, then their games will take off offensively and complement Loof defensively anchoring the boat on the 2 or 3 on 1s that they tend to leave their partner with occasionally Loof handles well. Loof will handle the front of the net for them and board battles. He would've looked a lot better in board battles at times if he had more support down low from the forwards as that was an issue for Springfield all year that led to a lot of shots on goal. (thank you Mr Ellis!) I don't see that as much of a problem in St Louis. I think he is blossoming into a 5-7 guy. Give him time.

Like Loof a lot. Saw a few games on TV and he doesn't always clear the puck out of the corners smoothly.

Another year of experience in Springfield and then see where he is and who the Blues need on the backline. I think he is a solid candidate for the third pair at a reasonable price.

 

[execwrite1]

Pekarcik and Moncton on NHL Network tonite at 7 p.m. eastern

 

[Mike Liut]

Pekarcik and Moncton on NHL Network tonite at 7 p.m. eastern

Pekarcik already scored

 

[ScratchCatFever]

Pekarcik already scored

 

[barriers]

Korotky with the assist through traffic but SKA 1946 lost Game 1 yesterday

 

[STL fan in MN]

Looks like we may be at risk of losing Zherenko to the KHL.



I read this as Dynamo intends to pursue Zherenko more than Zherenko is definitely leaving. But he will be a RFA on July 1 so free to sign with a KHL team then.

Ideally, I’d like to keep Zherenko. Ellis passed him this season but he still has some good qualities. That said, I could see from his perspective that he’d prefer to play in the KHL than AHL if he feels his chances of ever getting to the NHL are slim. That’s simply a risk with the Russians as they'll always have that option of playing near home in a top league. We saw that last summer where we qualified Abramov but he signed with a KHL team. Alexandrov also took a super long time to sign as well. My guess is he was considering a KHL option…and he’s a RFA again this summer too so he’d also be someone we could lose to the KHL.

Also, I’ll note I wondered if it signaled anything when the Blues re-signed Cranley. Perhaps they already knew this was likely. I guess we’ll find out as the summer progresses.

Here’s the original source:
Translated Russian article

- Do you have any North American players on your list who might return to Moscow?
- Of the Russians whose rights we own?

- Yes.
- Here is a short list: Chernyshov, Ryabkin, Zherenko, Kisakov, Trineev. But probably only Kisakov and Zherenko can potentially return, the rest are all under contracts. There is no point in even talking about the others, they have valid contracts.


- Are you waiting for them?
- We are waiting for everyone, but the question is in the contractual relations and the wishes of the players themselves.

 

[Mike Liut]

I was impressed with Zherenko all the times Ive seen him.

 

[SirPaste]

Interesting, I hope he stays and we sign him but TBH I can't say I would really blame him if he does go back over there, How would that work with his RFA rights, would we still have his rights for a couple more years?

 

[STL fan in MN]

Interesting, I hope he stays and we sign him but TBH I can't say I would really blame him if he does go back over there, How would that work with his RFA rights, would we still have his rights for a couple more years?

Assuming the Blues qualified him, they’d retain his NHL rights. So if he ever returned over here, we’d still own his rights.

This is precisely what we did with Abramov. He’s still technically a Blues RFA.

The KHL must have a similar system as the way the question is asked suggests the Dynamo own Zherenko’s KHL rights.

Perhaps this is obvious but the Blues would receive no compensation if Zherenko signed with a KHL team.

 

[SirPaste]

Assuming the Blues qualified him, they’d retain his NHL rights. So if he ever returned over here, we’d still own his rights.

This is precisely what we did with Abramov. He’s still technically a Blues RFA.

The KHL must have a similar system as the way the question is asked suggests the Dynamo own Zherenko’s KHL rights.

Perhaps this is obvious but the Blues would receive no compensation if Zherenko signed with a KHL team.

Yea I knew we wouldnt receive compensation was more just worried we would retain his rights, would hate for him to go over there and tear it up then sign with some other team after a year or two.

 

[Brian39]

I agree with @STL fan in MN about not seeing a future star in Pekarcik. I really don't see anything in him that I didn't see in Barby at the same age and I saw more scoring ability from Barby than I do Pekarcik. To be clear, that is far from an insult. Barby was my favorite Blues prospect, one of my favorite Blues, and is currently one of my favorite non-Blues in the NHL. He turned himself into a hell of an NHL player and I'll be pretty damn excited if Pekarcik becomes Barby 2.0 (especially if he either hits his prime faster or plays a role similar to Barby in a Cup run).

But it is pretty far away from being a future star. 24 goals and 67 points as a D+2 19 year old in the Q doesn't scream future star. Neither does 9 goals and 59 points in 43 USHL games as a D+1 18 year old.

I think that he can (like Barby) turn himself into a really nice NHL player. He's got a lot of tools I like a lot and he seems to have the vision/IQ to actually do useful things with those tools. I could absolutely see myself eventually buying a jersey with his name on it because he's a personal favorite. I just don't see much to convince me that he's on the path to stardom. My gut tells me that he is most likely to make some kind of NHL impact on his ELC and then make his most significant contributions as a cheap, non-core support piece who noticeably outperforms his cheap bridge deal 4-5 years from now when we are in need of good players on cheap contracts. I'd be thrilled with that.

 

[Brian39]

Zherenko owes it to himself to go play in the KHL if they offer him a contract for any real money.

He's 24 and has pretty clearly become 4th on the depth chart in our organization. The guy who jumped him got a 2 year contract extension and noticeably outplayed him in Springfield this past year. The team seems pretty happy with their NHL goaltending, so the odds of getting to the NHL for anything more than a cup of coffee in the next 2 years are extremely slim. He made no NHL money on his ELC, which means that he's made $450k (including bonuses) over the last 3 years. Any contract offer by the Blues will be a pay cut from the $150k he made this past year and will likely be less than $100k.

His odds of getting to the NHL and sticking around for a few years aren't great. If the money is similar in the AHL, then it might make sense to stick around and see if he can work his way up the depth chart. But if he can get a noticeable raise in Russia, he should bank that money, because his career path is pretty damn short.

 

[MissouriMook]

I feel pretty confident that Pekarcik will end up somewhere between Barbashev and Torpochenko in terms of his impact. I think of him as a tools-ier Torpochenko, but I don't see those tools reaching the point where he could fit in a team's Top 6 on an extended basis. I think he will be a 3rd liner that will be hell to play against, but I see him topping out as a 15/25/40 player who forechecks like crazy and lays some hits from time-to-time.

Given some of the discussion we've seen in other threads about guys who are or aren't built for the playoffs, I don't think we'll have to worry about a guy like him disappearing this time of year. The playoffs will be his time to shine.

 

[Mike Liut]

I feel pretty confident that Pekarcik will end up somewhere between Barbashev and Torpochenko in terms of his impact. I think of him as a tools-ier Torpochenko, but I don't see those tools reaching the point where he could fit in a team's Top 6 on an extended basis. I think he will be a 3rd liner that will be hell to play against, but I see him topping out as a 15/25/40 player who forechecks like crazy and lays some hits from time-to-time.

Given some of the discussion we've seen in other threads about guys who are or aren't built for the playoffs, I don't think we'll have to worry about a guy like him disappearing this time of year. The playoffs will be his time to shine.

With the right line mates, and even on the 3rd line, I think he has 20g 50pt potential and play the style you just described.

 

[STL fan in MN]

With the right line mates, and even on the 3rd line, I think he has 20g 50pt potential and play the style you just described.

Yep, possibly. IMO, with who they have currently on the team and then also in the pipeline, I think we’re just starting a new era where the Blues should be able to construct 3 solid scoring lines for years. But I still see Pekarcik on the 3rd of those 3 lines if/when he makes it.

Good game from him last night though. A goal and an assist as Moncton is now just 1 win away from winning the Q. He was smashed face first into the boards but appeared no worse for wear and quickly set up a PP goal. The opposing player was a little lucky it was only called a 2 min penalty.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

With the right line mates, and even on the 3rd line, I think he has 20g 50pt potential and play the style you just described.

At this point, all I want to see with Pekarcik is his reaction times and if he can think and feel the game at the NHL level.

Next season in Springfield will be a major test for him. Obviously……

 

[Mike Liut]

Yep, possibly. IMO, with who they have currently on the team and then also in the pipeline, I think we’re just starting a new era where the Blues should be able to construct 3 solid scoring lines for years. But I still see Pekarcik on the 3rd of those 3 lines if/when he makes it.

Good game from him last night though. A goal and an assist as Moncton is now just 1 win away from winning the Q. He was smashed face first into the boards but appeared no worse for wear and quickly set up a PP goal. The opposing player was a little lucky it was only called a 2 min penalty.

I’m thinking 4 scoring lines. You might see a Stancl - Jecho - Pekarcik 4th line.

Edit: Pekarcik and Stancl are both LW, and so is Toro.

Maybe Pekarcik as 3LW.

Stancl - Jecho - ?

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

I’m thinking 4 scoring lines. You might see a Stancl - Jecho - Pekarcik 4th line.

Edit: Pekarcik and Stancl are both LW, and so is Toro.

Maybe Pekarcik as 3LW.

Stancl - Jecho - ?

No problem. Pekarcik plays rw.

 

[Mike Liut]

No problem. Pekarcik plays rw.

Oh crap. I thought he was a LW. My bad