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Defensemen who I thought would be very good/great

Renard

Renard

Registered User
Nov 14, 2011
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St. Louis, MO
This one goes back a ways. Some of the guys I mention had decent NHL careers, but not with the Blues and not as good as I expected.

Gilbert Delorme, who was a sensation for a while.

Roman Polak. Big and strong, very good skater, good shot from point. Couldn't fight well.

Jim Pavese. Also big and strong. A tough guy, son of NY city cop.

Robert Dirk. For a while, he and Michael Dark were our top prospects.

Brian Maxwell. He could do a lot of things and was a tough fighter.

Charlie Bourgeois. Another policeman's son. Charlie came to us in the Mullen trade.


Do you have any names that belong on this list?
 
I know it was probably because I was young and didn't really understand hockey as well as I do now. But I remember thinking Cade Fairchild was going to be a top 4/top 2 defensemen when I was younger. I think I was like 14 or 15. To be young and dumb.
 
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Renard said:
This one goes back a ways. Some of the guys I mention had decent NHL careers, but not with the Blues and not as good as I expected.

Gilbert Delorme, who was a sensation for a while.

Roman Polak. Big and strong, very good skater, good shot from point. Couldn't fight well.

Jim Pavese. Also big and strong. A tough guy, son of NY city cop.

Robert Dirk. For a while, he and Michael Dark were our top prospects.

Brian Maxwell. He could do a lot of things and was a tough fighter.

Charlie Bourgeois. Another policeman's son. Charlie came to us in the Mullen trade.


Do you have any names that belong on this list?
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I had high hopes for many myself:

Bret Hedican
Chris McAlpine
Alex Pietroangelo
Mike Van Ryn
Jake Walman
Libor Zabransky
 
Ian Cole never really got a true shot with the Blues but has had a good career since leaving. Lindbohm looked really promising at one point and could never establish himself again. Schmaltz probably shouldn't have been drafted as high, but I had hoped he would at least be a top 4 d-man. The next crop will eventually be Walman and Mikkola once they've been supplanted by other guys.
 
Blueston said:
I had high hopes for many myself:

Bret Hedican
Chris McAlpine
Alex Pietroangelo
Mike Van Ryn
Jake Walman
Libor Zabransky
Click to expand...
remember all the hype with Zabransky?? or am I thinking of Roman Vopat? teams around the league wanted him in every trade rumor. with Vopat, I think LA demanded he be part of the Gretzky trade

I'll add Bobby Hess. damn shame about the back issues.. sigh... what coulda been

I HATED that Dirk went in that VAN trade... well... I hated that trade period.. I was never as enamored with Caron as GM as others are

Jamie Rivers was another that was hyped big time, and he was the definition of a journeyman
 
I feel like Erik Johnson has to be #1 on this list.

Many attribute his struggles to his knee injury but he had his best season right after returning from the injury. I remember him adding a lot of weight after that first season back from injury and his mobility went way down and he was not the same.

He also lacked hockey IQ. He was just a physical specimen when drafted. When he added the muscle and lost mobility, he didn’t make up for it with smarts.

Watching him and Pietrangelo develop in the NHL at the same time was quite a contrast. Pietrangelo continually made the right play. EJ did not. It was so clear Petro was going to be our #1 elite defenseman.

EJ has gone on to have just 3 seasons of 30+ points. He’s a had a nice career by most standards but very disappointing for a 1st overall pick.
 
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Jonas Junland
Cade Fairchild
Brett Ponich
Petteri Lindbohm

Those are the first 4 that come to mind from recent drafts

Have to do some more digging on names on old names, but lot of them have been mentioned.

Christian Backman is one that hasn't been mentioned yet.
 
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What was the hype around Shawn Belle when he was drafted? I was too young to really be following the draft/prospects at that time, but obviously in hindsight that pick hurts knowing who all went in the picks not long after him.
 
I was super young but I loved Steve Wagner. He was an unreal skater at the time and could handle the puck. Super rare combo for a D that sucked lmaooo but it was 2008 I think
 
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I thought Dunn would point more. 40 points, instead of 30.

Thought Pietro would be really good.

Hoped EJ would be good, but after seeing him play after we drafted him, I didn’t really see #1 quality talent.

I thought Ponich would be what Hakenpaa is now. Same for Petteri Lindbohm.

I thought Cade Fairchild would at least see some NHL PP time when he was first drafted.

Nikitia Nikitin thought he could be a 3rd pairing guy.
 
DatDude44 said:
I was super young but I loved Steve Wagner. He was an unreal skater at the time and could handle the puck. Super rare combo for a D that sucked lmaooo but it was 2008 I think
Click to expand...

Yeah I loved Wagner then and then he got a slightly bigger role and fell apart lol
 
DatDude44 said:
I was super young but I loved Steve Wagner. He was an unreal skater at the time and could handle the puck. Super rare combo for a D that sucked lmaooo but it was 2008 I think
Click to expand...
I remember him making a long pass to give Perron a breakaway goal against Detroit one time, I think it was Perron’s rookie season. When Detroit was good. It was very exciting
 
By all accounts, Junland should have gotten a better chance here than he did. Doing nothing with a player with his resume was peak rebuild-era Blues. Couldn’t get out of our own way for so long.
 
Rundblad had a great D+1 season. I thought he’d be better. I loved the trade at all times but I thought he’d be better.

This thread reads cumulatively like half the Blues drafted defensemen were supposed to be very good to great.
 
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But Shawn Belle was supposed to greatest defenseman of all time.

Seriously, though, there is only one defenseman drafted by the Blues who I thought would be better and that is Mikkola.
 
ChicagoBlues said:
But Shawn Belle was supposed to greatest defenseman of all time.

Seriously, though, there is only one defenseman drafted by the Blues who I thought would be better and that is Mikkola.
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Belle was a reach and always low probability. Thankfully we were able to deal him for.. uh, nevermind. Cash was worse.
 
Blueston said:
Belle was a reach and always low probability. Thankfully we were able to deal him for.. uh, nevermind. Cash was worse.
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We are way more informed than we were back then (2003), with the internet still being, primarily, dial-up. Once fiber optics became prevalent, people were able to upload content that would be beneficial to fans in their attempt to understand a drafted player.
 
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