Prospect Info: Who is the Blues #8 Prospect - 2023

[Stupendous Yappi]

Blues Prospects by Forum Ranking
1) Dalibor Dvorsky - 82%
2) Jimmy Snuggerud - 93%
3) Joel Hofer - 39%
4) Zachary Bolduc - 59%
5) Otto Stenberg - 42%
6) Jake Neighbors - 45.5%
7) Zach Dean - 64%

Click to read more...

 

[542365]

Went Alexandrov. Made a big developmental step last year and looks ready for a full time role in the NHL. Considered Tucker and Buchinger too, but I think Nikita is the safer bet to be an impactful NHLer.

I think the settings on this poll are messed up as you can select multiple players.

 

[Celtic Note]

Lindstein is a fairly easy choice for me here.

But this next tier is going to be really complicated.

Do you go with high upside, but an unclear floor with Pekarcik, Zherenko, Vorobyov, Kessel, Gaudet or Buchinger?

Do you go with a high floor and lower ceiling with Tucker or Alexandrov?

Lots of options in this next tier and frankly I have no idea who I will pick yet.

It’s probably between Tucker, Alexandrov and Pekarcik. Leaning Pekarcik, but that could change with the Canadian wildfire laced winds.

 

[Xerloris]

I voted Loof because his name is awesome.

 

[Robb_K]

I had to choose Lindstein. I think he has the highest upside and less to work on than Robertson, Alexandrov, or Pekarcik. It's too early to compare the forwards to Kessel or Tucker.

 

[stl76]

But this next tier is going to be really complicated.

I’m fascinated to see who wins #9, should be fun!

 

[Blueston]

This might be easiest choice yet.

 

[BlueDream]

The great thing about this is that I look at that list and feel like Dean is being disrespected by being ranked 7th.

Really that just shows how deep our pool has gotten.

But that said, I do think he will be a big surprise and end up better than half those guys ahead of him.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Lindstein then Buchinger then Alexandrov.

 

[Majorityof1]

I am very, very torn. I originally had Zherenko next, but he is really close to Lindstein. They are the last 2 in my 3rd tier. Its a floor versus ceiling debate. I normally go with ceilings, but goalies are so hard to judge.

Lindstein projects to be a solid 2nd pair option who will provide strong defense and decent transition. He is good at a lot of things, but doesn't really excel anywhere that I can see. I've read that he can at times play an overly physical and aggressive game,. He gets away with it at lower levels, but not against men, and less so as he plays against better men. I've not seen this in my viewings too much, but it is based on multiple scouting reports. Regardless, he needs to get stronger and more explosive in his skating to continue to play that style, or any style. In his favor, he does fit a huge area of need, which is leading me to want to change my original ranking.

Zherenko on the other hand does not lack explosiveness. He is one of the most athletic goalies I have seen and his side to side movement looks like he was shot out of a cannon. He is a good size for a goalie with height and bulk while still maintaining A+ mobility. He came over from Russia last year, which causes a lot of goalies to struggle with their angles. He didn't very much at all. He had a .913 save percentage in the AHL in his first year in America. If he can work on his technique, angles and puck handling a bit more, he has the size and athleticism to be elite, I mean really elite. His explosiveness and recovery ability remind me of Hasek (not saying he'll get there or close but he has high-end athletic ability in explosivness, flexibility and recovery). The issue is it is not as much a position of need as we do have Hofer. Hofer plays a calmer more steady game (Brodeur vs Hasek, again, not saying either gets close to that, just based on style), so we may never give Zherenko the chance he needs to show what he can do.

I'm going to go with.......Lind...no Zheren...no Lindst....uggh....Ok Lindstein. That's it, That's who I'm going with.

I vote Zherenko.

 

[ToastedRavioli]

Lindstein would be my choice. I think this is the easiest choice since Snuggerud at #2. After this it gets interesting. I think Buchinger probably deserves to be at #9 but there are a lot of other prospects in the same tier, specifically Zherenko and Alexandrov, who can challenge him for #9.

 

[kimzey59]

Lindstein for me.

After this I think it gets a bit interesting.
I'm not sure there's really another clearly defined tier to lump together. There's Tucker and Alexandrov who are really NHL'ers masquerading as prospects; but neither really has a ton of upside.
There's the D group(Buchinger, Burns, Kessel, Fischer, Loof, Gaudet, Koromyslov), but most of them are too far out to have a good read on.
Same thing with the next batch of forwards(Dickinson, Pekarcik, Robertsson, Stancl).
And then there's Zherenko.

I'm strongly inclined to go with Tucker/Alexandrov next, but I'm honestly not sure which way to go after that. My gut tells me it should be Zherenko; but my head tells me it should probably be the D men.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

Huge Lindstein fan, but Buchinger has been the best defenseman the last two prospect camps. Definitely looks like a legitimate top 4. Either player you can’t go wrong.

 

[LogosBlue]

By the end of next season, Lindstein will be ranked alot higher than #8.

 

[joe galiba]

Lind-Steen

 

[Blueston]

By the end of next season, Lindstein will be ranked alot higher than #8.

I think there is real possibility of that. I like him a lot but as a 18-year-old defenseman with an underdeveloped body he feels a long way from nhl. that is why i voted him at end of this tier, as lack of readiness makes his projectible outcomes broader and increases risk a bit. But if he has strong year and begins to grow into his body, i could see him easily moving up into top 3-5 for us.

 

[kimzey59]

By the end of next season, Lindstein will be ranked alot higher than #8.

Not sure I agree.
Neighbours and Hofer likely graduate this year, so there's 2 spots.
But he still has Dvorsky, Snuggles, Bolduc, Dean and Stenberg ahead of him.
Unless Bolduc has a rough year and plummets, I can't see Lindstein being higher than #5 in the next go around.

Might just be me, but I don't consider jumping 2-3 spots to be "alot". That's not meant to be a slight against Theo; it's just a testamate to where our system is right now.

 

[542365]

Not sure I agree.
Neighbours and Hofer likely graduate this year, so there's 2 spots.
But he still has Dvorsky, Snuggles, Bolduc, Dean and Stenberg ahead of him.
Unless Bolduc has a rough year and plummets, I can't see Lindstein being higher than #5 in the next go around.

Might just be me, but I don't consider jumping 2-3 spots to be "alot". That's not meant to be a slight against Theo; it's just a testamate to where our system is right now.

And we will also likely add another early to mid 1st round pick as well as two 2nds to the pool. Unless he has a Tucker-like offensive explosion in his D+1, he’s probably going to be right around the same spot next year.

 

[Bluesguru]

I went with Lindstein but I’m high on Leo Loof.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I went with Lindstein but I’m high on Leo Loof.

Oogachaka!

 

[STL fan in MN]

You don’t get many landslides at spot 8 but there’s a clear top-8 IMO so I guess it makes sense.

Gets interesting from here. I have Tucker, Alexandrov, Buchinger, Zherenko and Pekarcik all in the same tier.

 

[Majorityof1]

You don’t get many landslides at spot 8 but there’s a clear top-8 IMO so I guess it makes sense.

Gets interesting from here. I have Tucker, Alexandrov, Buchinger, Zherenko and Pekarcik all in the same tier.

The top 8 is Hofer and every 1st round pick in our prospect pool. Is it a clear top 8 or are people just reluctant to vote for someone drafted outside the first. Hofer, the only non 1st so far, has been the most complained about pick.

I'm not saying they are the wrong picks, just that there is a pattern worth considering.

 

[Brian39]

You don’t get many landslides at spot 8 but there’s a clear top-8 IMO so I guess it makes sense.

Gets interesting from here. I have Tucker, Alexandrov, Buchinger, Zherenko and Pekarcik all in the same tier.

Alexandrov and Tucker both had really good seasons of development last year and look poised to make the full-time NHL roster as age 23 players in their (officially) sophomore NHL seasons. They both look like they have "legit NHL player through their mid-20s" floors. While neither has a sky high ceiling, I think decent 3rd liner and #4/5 D man are reasonable target for them over the half decade of team control we still have over them.

The fact that these guys weren't even close to cracking our top 7 skater prospects in this vote really speaks volumes about the top of our prospect pool.

 

[Brian39]

The top 8 is Hofer and every #1 pick in our prospect pool. Is it a clear top 8 or are people just reluctant to vote for someone drafted outside the first. Hofer, the only non 1st so far, has been the most complained about pick.

I'm not saying they are the wrong picks, just that there is a pattern worth considering.

I think it is less about "they were 1st rounders" and more because a higher ceiling (without the safe floor) has a greater chance of truly altering the franchise than a lower ceiling (with a safe floor).

I think Tucker and Alexandrov both have a good chance of genuinely contributing at the NHL level on cost-controlled contracts for the next 3-5 years. That absolutely has value. But that value just isn't on par with the ceilings of the guys already voted on. I liked what I saw from both Alexandrov and Tucker last season and I want both on the NHL roster full-time in 2023/24. But I will be surprised if either of them are ever part of the 8-10 most important players on a Blues team that makes the playoffs during their tenure here. While not all of the 8 guys we've already selected will reach that goal, I wouldn't be surprised if any of them hit that milestone in a season. The potential of being in that group of 'most important' players on a playoff team is more valuable than the confidence that we have a decent support player.

Edit: I really considered voting Alexandrov over Lindstein here because I do value his NHL-readiness and his AHL production gives me reason to believe that he could be a legit 3rd liner in the not-too-distant future. I'm also not quite as sold on Lindstein's ceiling as others here. I have Alexandrov a hell of a lot closer to Bolduc than a lot of people here as well. But I just don't believe that Alexandrov has the potential to be a 2nd liner and if he turns into a middle 6 guy I think he will be on the low end of that.

 

[Frenzy31]

The top 8 is Hofer and every 1st round pick in our prospect pool. Is it a clear top 8 or are people just reluctant to vote for someone drafted outside the first. Hofer, the only non 1st so far, has been the most complained about pick.

I'm not saying they are the wrong picks, just that there is a pattern worth considering.

Part of it may be 1st round bias. It could also be recent bias, as he was just drafted and hasn't had a chance to disappoint us yet (so his ceiling may appear higher, then a Tucker, Buchinger, etc.).

I picked him myself, but it was difficult, as you could justify Alexandrov, Tucker (both being NHL ready for full time next year), Buchinger (had a successful 1st season in the CHL), Kessel (transitioned well to the AHL). I like this kind of discussion as it is a good way to get others ideas on prospects and how they rank them.