GDT: St. Louis Blues 2022 Draft Thread

[AVictoryDive]

Is his poor skating a result of lack of fundamentals or is he just slow? There is only so much hard work can do. Skating is a natural talent. It can be improved a bit with work, but unless a player has severely bad fundamentals, they are not going to go from below average to above average.

A few scouting reports say that he has improved this area and it’s not as much of a concern. He’s shown that he is willing to improve and keep putting in the work. I’m loving these shoot first players Bolduc and Snuggerud. We need these guys to compliment our playmakers.

 

[rumrokh]

I'll give you hockey sense, but we like guys who are defensively responsible, go to the dirty areas and have a good work ethic. The problem with work ethic is that if a guy is working his ass off to compete with the talented slackers, there is no where else for him to go. But if you get a talented slacker and manage teach him work ethic.....the skies the limit.

It's a bit of a false dichotomy. In my experience, most perceived talented slackers in almost all disciplines are either 1. incredibly and obviously good, in which case, most people can't even tell they're slacking (or don't know what they're talking about when they accuse them of slacking); or 2. the slacker is eye-catching in some respect, but not actually that great overall.

And one of the reasons #2's slack is because, deep down, they believe even if they worked that much harder, they wouldn't be that much better. Which is often false, but it's not actually a matter of simply gaining better habits, it's a matter of rebuilding their image of themselves. But it's really difficult to get a kid that age, who has the expectations and praise, to admit they don't actually believe they're good enough. Even if you can chunk through those layers, the sky is often still not the limit.

 

[Majorityof1]

Consider that we flipped Sammy Blais for Buchnevich. The guys we value and develop are valued league-wide eventually, and that productive, bottom-6 players are usually the guys going for high prices at the trade deadline every year. This pick is "safe," but it's smart. You take guys that will push for playing time in the NHL. The last two times we went for upside, it blew up in our faces spectacularly (Bokk, Kostin). When you're picking in the twenties in weak draft years, just take the guy you think that will for sure make it. Is Snuggerud that guy? Time will tell, but it seems like he's got the qualities we value, a low-ceiling high-floor kind of guy that we like, like Neighbours, who was similarly unexciting at the time. If our bottom-6 is full of 1st rounders 5-6 years from now, who is complaining about that? Probably nobody, provided that Doug continues to stock the top-6 with good picks in strong draft years (Thomas, Kyrou) or through trade/free-agency. Big ifs there, obviously. But this is a "whatever" pick for me right now, regardless. Weak year, our strongest needs (D) were gone by the time we picked, this guy will likely play... I get it. Good luck to Snuggy at Minny next year, hope he shows what he's worth there!

Blais was a 6th round pick for us though. Grab those guys with later picks, and reach for the top 6 talent with your high picks. its much easier to grab solid low ceiling high floor guy on day 2 than it is to grab a top 6 guy.

 

[Blueline2757]

Lambert to the Jets

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Name an NHL player with average skating but fantastic defense and stickwork?

I'll give you a hint. His name sounds like Dark Bone.

Or like Myan Snow Filey.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

A few scouting reports say that he has improved this area and it’s not as much of a concern. He’s shown that he is willing to improve and keep putting in the work. I’m loving these shoot first players Bolduc and Snuggerud. We need these guys to compliment our playmakers.

Watching highlights he looks like good passer too. Maybe more that he has nice shot than he thinks only shot.

Blais was a 6th round pick for us though. Grab those guys with later picks, and reach for the top 6 talent with your high picks. its much easier to grab solid low ceiling high floor guy on day 2 than it is to grab a top 6 guy.

I expect that just like with Neighbors (and Oshie and Schwartz years ago), we think he has top 6 talent.

 

[AVictoryDive]

Blais was a 6th round pick for us though. Grab those guys with later picks, and reach for the top 6 talent with your high picks. its much easier to grab solid low ceiling high floor guy on day 2 than it is to grab a top 6 guy.

Snuggerud was projected to go from the mid teens to right around our pick give or take a few. Blais was a boom or bust pick with meh skating and was drafted at 5’10” ish then hit a growth spurt. He had to change his game from being offensive to more of a grinder type because he didn’t always keep his head up. Snuggerud has the shot and has the hockey IQ to have a top 6 ceiling but worst case be in the top 9. So many people seem to compare him to Saad.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Blais was a 6th round pick for us though. Grab those guys with later picks, and reach for the top 6 talent with your high picks. its much easier to grab solid low ceiling high floor guy on day 2 than it is to grab a top 6 guy.

I mean, Blais hit his growth spurt after we drafted him. He was tiny we we grabbed him in the 6th. The point I'm trying to make is that the type of player that Blais grew into, and the type of player that Neighbours and Snuggerud appear to be, has value in the league. Grab them where you want, but the important part is that they contribute. Blais is an outlier, in that (a) he grew, and (b) as a 6th rounder he amounted to anything worth trading for. Why? Because he developed into the player that Neighbours and Snuggerud appear to be out-of-the-box. You hope they hit, either way. But you have better likelihood taking them in the 1st, obviously. When there are no better options, you take the big swing on a guy who has big offensive skill who either hits and is awesome, or fails and is worthless. Or you take the guy who you know can play in the league and see what you can do with him. When Robert Thomas is available in the 20's you take him every time, no question. In absence of that, you do what you can, and the guys we like seem to also be guys whom teams that take the former option seem to eventually come around on. So, we keep them and they contribute, or we flip them and get a haul for the top 6. Sometimes, you just don't have many options in a bad draft year. Just get the guy that'll play.

 

[cmcalum]

Really surprised the Blues made no moves tonight?

 

[Celtic Note]

Watching highlights he looks like good passer too. Maybe more that he has nice shot than he thinks only shot.


I expect that just like with Neighbors (and Oshie and Schwartz years ago), we think he has top 6 talent.

His passing looks strong. I would like to see him get it off faster, so it can continue to be an asset when there is less time and space.

His passive may very well be better than his shot in terms of how he contributes to his teams.

 

[Blueline2757]

I’m surprised the Blues didn’t make a move

 

[AjaxManifesto]

 

[Celtic Note]

Really surprised the Blues made no moves tonight?

Not really.

I can see us keeping Tarasenko for another crack at the Cup. Army’s comment about not being worried about Tarasenko next season could support that thought. And just because Tarasenko has a trade request out there, it doesn’t mean Army has to oblige.

If there are no takers for Krug at good price, then Army can and tends to show patience. He doesn’t tend to try and force things to happen by making subpar moves.

I think FA may be a better/another time to lookout for a trade.

 

[cmcalum]

Since the choice of Snuggerud seems so similar to Neighbors, perhaps it means that Neighbors is moved to strengthen the LD. Maybe in a trade for Chychrun. I guess one can only hope.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

If we were doing the summer prospect ranking today, I'd put Jimmy in the same bracket as Dylan Peterson. Good skills, good size, wtf is going on with his numbers, both have skating issues, but he's going on to college so maybe he gets the chance to figure it out there. Disappointing for the first round? Yeah, probably, but in this draft it's about as good as you're gonna do in the 20s. If either of them turn out to be another Sam Kurker, I'll be bummed about it, but at the same time, this draft is a down year for sure, so what can you expect?

 

[kimzey59]

Since the choice of Snuggerud seems so similar to Neighbors, perhaps it means that Neighbors is moved to strengthen the LD. Maybe in a trade for Chychrun. I guess one can only hope.

After what Romanov went for; I stay far away from the defensive trade market this summer.

 

[cmcalum]

After what Romanov went for; I stay far away from the defensive trade market this summer.

You may be right but I would be uncomfortable going into next year with the same D as last year.

 

[BlueMed]

If we were doing the summer prospect ranking today, I'd put Jimmy in the same bracket as Dylan Peterson. Good skills, good size, wtf is going on with his numbers, both have skating issues, but he's going on to college so maybe he gets the chance to figure it out there. Disappointing for the first round? Yeah, probably, but in this draft it's about as good as you're gonna do in the 20s. If either of them turn out to be another Sam Kurker, I'll be bummed about it, but at the same time, this draft is a down year for sure, so what can you expect?

I completely forgot about that guy...

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

I completely forgot about that guy...

Nobody would blame you, it was a completely forgettable pick... unfortunate that we made it in the 2nd round. One hopes that Snuggerud goes in an opposite trajectory, but he has the advantage of playing for USNDTP, and on their top line no less. So, room for optimism.

 

[Ranksu]

We really didn't take Lambert who was available...

 

[rumrokh]

Nobody would blame you, it was a completely forgettable pick... unfortunate that we made it in the 2nd round. One hopes that Snuggerud goes in an opposite trajectory, but he has the advantage of playing for USNDTP, and on their top line no less. So, room for optimism.

I remember watching Kurker in a couple games early in his first year at BU and he looked like he had legit ability. Good size, athleticism, puck skills, and shot. And I didn't readily notice tremendous deficiencies. If anything, it's almost like he was unlucky. Created good chances other players couldn't, but also couldn't quite convert. But I could definitely see why the Blues and BU liked him. I recall commentators praising both his play in those games and what he'd become in the future. I've seen some Blues fans talk about him after the fact like he was always a bad pick, but, to me, it was weird that he fizzled so hard, so quickly.

 

[TK 421]

We really didn't take Lambert who was available...

Red Flag City DND for me.

 

[Majorityof1]

Red Flag City DND for me.

Only flag Ranksu cares about is the Finnish one

 

[Ranksu]

Only flag Ranksu cares about is the Finnish one

Lambert is high skilled. Was tem Finland best player in wjc. Reminds so much of Aho.
Btw he is half Canadian too, but...

 

[TK 421]

19th - 24th played out rough for my personal list of guys I was interested in.

First Ohgren goes to MIN at 19th, if we were taking a winger I wanted him. Not unexpected but disappointing.

Then Pickering goes 21st to PIT and I'm immediately without hope of taking a D, ok, really not happy here but not unexpected.

Next pick Gaucher, defensive monster, 6'3, 207 C, R shot. Gone to ANA @ 22nd. Really didn't think he'd go before we picked but there you go.

At this point I want Yurov or Chesley and we take Snuggerud. I'm not complaining but man that sequence was tough. I'm sure I'll end up liking Snuggerud, he's highly regarded for his shot and now we have another dangerous weapon up front.