Prospect Info: 2019 - 2020 Top 20 Blues Prospect List - #5

[MortiestOfMortys]

Mikkola got off to a fast start in this poll with a sizeable lead, but I knew Reinke would close the gap and surpass Niko.

Looks like Reinke
Mikkola
Perunovich
Toropchenko
....the abyss

Alexandrov, Tucker, the goalies, Poganski and Joshua, and *then* the abyss.

 

[kimzey59]

I also think people are short changing Alexandrov a bit if you don’t think he’s a legit prospect.

Other than Perry, who I think is shortchanging a lot of our prospects with his arbitrary line; I don't think it's that people are short changing him.
I think people are just giving a lot of weight to NHL readiness at this stage in the voting.
Mikkola and Rienke are both right on the cusp of getting some NHL looks(heck, Reinke already has). They are both older guys(as far as prospects go) and much closer to the NHL than the rest of the prospect pool.
Perunovich is also a bit on the "older" side of the prospect spectrum, has huge offensive upside and there's a good chance that he fast tracks his way to the NHL after he leaves College.

After those 3, I think people start looking at raw upside and that's when Alexandrov will jump up the list.

The confusing part to me is why MacMac isn't getting any votes. He's already shown that he can be a solid 4th line NHL'er. My guess is that people are doing a silent protest because he doesn't fit their definition of a prospect, but he's on the list so he should be given the same treatment as the rest of the pool.

Also, I agree that Joshua and Poganski should be added. Really intrigued to see how Joshua looks in camp. Might be another Sundqvist.

 

[simon IC]

I give more edge för dmens who defend better, but not produce that much compare to bad defend and better produce.

Me too.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

I disagree about putting Perunovich into the 'suspect and not a prospect' side of the line as he was our 2nd round pick just last summer and then had a really good sophomore NCAA season. He finished 3rd on his team in scoring en route to his second straight National Championship. After being the leading scorer the year before. That's a pretty damn good resume for a 20 year old and I'm not sure what else he realistically could have done to keep himself out of the 'suspect' list unless you just think his size is just an insurmountable obstacle. I also think Fitz is a prosepct, but I understand looking at any goalie prospect outside of the truly top end as just random chance.

Regardless, even if the prospects turn into suspects at your line, we are still talking about that line being after prospect #7, which isn't devastatingly shallow when you consider Thomas, Binny, and Blais all 'graduated' this year and we have a pretty strong core of guys under the age of 30. We don't really have many openings for prospects to step in over the next 2-3 years. Blais, Sunny, Mac, Barby and Sanford should provide plenty of cheap depth over the next 2-3 years, so by the time I expect our current 5th best (or worse) forward prospects to compete for those jobs, we will have had another couple drafts to shore up the pool. Same thing at D. With Petro/Parayko/Dunn almost certainly a part of the organization medium-long term (plus Gunny for a couple years and maybe Ed/Bortz), how important are the D prospects after Reinke, Mikkola, and Perunovich (and Walman/Schmaltz if you consider them still potential options)?

Don't get me wrong, it is currently a shallow prospect pool. I just think the top end of that pool combined with our current NHL roster prevents the future from looking bleak based on the current shallowness.

Watch Perunovich play, and then against a roster of 20 guys better than the 1 guy on a college roster that might make it. Honestly, I don't see it.

 

[Brian39]

Watch Perunovich play, and then against a roster of 20 guys better than the 1 guy on a college roster that might make it. Honestly, I don't see it.

I have watched him play. I didn't see anything in his game that suggested it that it absolutely won't translate to the next step. You can make the same criticism of any guy coming out of college or junior. I don't think he is a can't-miss prospect, but he is certainly a legitimate prospect and not some guy with a snowball's chance in hell of every making it. At the end of the day, he has done significantly more than Reinke did at this point in their careers and he made the jump from the USHL to NCAA a year younger than Reinke did. He's two and a half years younger than Reinke, so it makes sense that Reinke is much more NHL ready than him.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

I have watched him play. I didn't see anything in his game that suggested it that it absolutely won't translate to the next step. You can make the same criticism of any guy coming out of college or junior. I don't think he is a can't-miss prospect, but he is certainly a legitimate prospect and not some guy with a snowball's chance in hell of every making it. At the end of the day, he has done significantly more than Reinke did at this point in their careers and he made the jump from the USHL to NCAA a year younger than Reinke did. He's two and a half years younger than Reinke, so it makes sense that Reinke is much more NHL ready than him.

Reinke did it all for his college team (honestly...I wasn't that impressed with that signing, and he has turned out much better than anticipated.), Reinke was not a power play specialist taken out in situational defense. Points are inflated. Perunovich reminds me of Shattenkirk without a shot and much less defensively sound...if that is possible. He does have good vision.

 

[Brian39]

Reinke did it all for his college team (honestly...I wasn't that impressed with that signing, and he has turned out much better than anticipated.), Reinke was not a power play specialist taken out in situational defense. Points are inflated. Perunovich reminds me of Shattenkirk without a shot and much less defensively sound...if that is possible. He does have good vision.

Last time I checked, 20 and 24 points is significantly less than 36 and 29 points. Those are not at all the same accomplishments and Perunovich entered college a year earlier than Reinke and was born 6 months later into his age group. So through 2 year college careeers, Perunovich put up about 50% more points despite being 18 months younger.

As to the Shatty comparison, I don't think his shot coming through NCAA was much (if any) better than Perunovich and he was certainly not better defensively as a 19 and 20 year old. But even taking your comparison at face value, you just described a legitimate NHL prospect, not just some guy clogging up space on the depth chart with no shot at the NHL.