Prospect Info: Who is the Blues #13 Prospect - 2023

[Majorityof1]

You’re right in that I should’ve mentioned his shot. From a technical standpoint, it’s a thing of beauty. But I don’t agree he gets it off quickly. From what I’ve seen, he needs quite a bit of time and/or space to utilize his shot, which greatly lowers its impact. He has a very nice shot that looks fantastic in drills but he’s so far not overly able to utilize it much in game situations.

Agree I don’t see him as much at all comparable to Toropchenko either other than they may be vying for the same spot someday - just in way different roles. Would depend on what type of attributes Chief would think the team needed more at the time.

I also don’t really question Robertsson’s hockey sense. I see it as basically average. I just don’t see him having a skill or area of the game where he stands out to where he could really help a team with that attribute, so that’s mostly why I think he’ll just fade into the background and end up with a European career eventually.

It seems like he’s been around for quite a while the Blues still have almost 2 more full years to decide if they want to offer him a contract or not. I bet they eventually do but he just seems like a Simon Hjalmarsson type to me. Not the exact same strengths/weaknesses as SH, but about that level of player IMO.

I'll trust your opinion about getting his shot off quickly, or the lack of it. That would honestly explain a lot. In highlights I have seen, he has been quick to shoot. But that's self selection bias, as when he gets it off quick he scores and it's a highlight vs all the times he does not get it off quickly with no highlight. He doesn't play enough in SHL to warrant watching. So most if my viewings are highlight reels.

 

[Majorityof1]

Having a nice shot that you can’t consistently get off doesn’t seem all that useful. Robertsson seems like guy who has tools but no box. I expect Torpo ends his career with more nhl goals than robertsson.

I'd describe Torop similarly, but with less tools. You may be right though. Torop uses what he has to gain a NHL role. His size is a tool few have, especially combined with his speed. And he has enough tool box to use those enough to carve out a very simple role. He'll get a few NHL goals because of it. But he's not a guy I want in my top-12 long term.

 

[Blueston]

I'd describe Torop similarly, but with less tools. You may be right though. Torop uses what he has to gain a NHL role. His size is a tool few have, especially combined with his speed. And he has enough tool box to use those enough to carve out a very simple role. He'll get a few NHL goals because of it. But he's not a guy I want in my top-12 long term.

I like Torpo a good bit as 4th liner. Size, speed, tenacity, and plays hard. This is the simple game we wanted Kostin to play and he couldn’t or wouldn’t do it. I suspect that is how robertsson is going to have to play if he wants to carve out nhl career because I don’t see him having enough skill or sense to be effective in top half of lineup.

 

[Beauterham]

I went with Kessel again. I think a lot of fans are writing him off because he didn't put up huge numbers in his first year in the NHL, but I think he will be a solid bottom pairing guy. I think he will get his cup of tea this year, because he is RHD and we will have injuries at some point. But I get why others are taking Zherenko. He had a respectable season last year.

I have Kessel as my number 2 dman in our system.

Why would you think that? I don't think I've seen a single post on this forum suggesting that? It's just that our prospect pool seem to be in a better state than what we were used to in the last decade. Guys who we normally had at 7-12 are going 15-20 this year. That's not a slight on a prospect like Kessel, it's exciting we seem to have more top end guys and I fully think we might have 20-ish guys who could potentially have a shot at making the NHL. I personally think Kessel could one day be a bottom pairing defenseman and have him on par with a guy like Leo Lööf.

 

[Stealth JD]

If Robertsson could be a bigger, faster (and left-handed) version of Eric Boguniecki, I think we'd all be pleased. Don't know if he's got 50-pt upside that EB nearly hit, but 15-20-35 seems reasonable if he can force a role onto the big-club. Play a simple north-south game, forecheck and get pucks on net. He's got a good enough shot to beat goalies from distance, but he'll need a line-driver to play with if he's going to be successful in the NHL. Don't see the numbers game working out for him, so I've got him waaaay down the list as a result.