A few surprises creeping up in the St. Louis Blues Top 20 Rankings

[HF Article]

Photo: St. Louis Blues prospect Ivan Barbashev has shown a strong two-way game. (courtesy of Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)


 

The most significant change in the Blues’ pipeline is the graduation of Jake Allen.* He has spent parts of the past few seasons in the NHL and has looked good behind Brian Elliott. While Allen has done enough to graduate this season, several prospects have made a good impression with the coaching staff and are garnering much larger roles as the season progresses. The trade of the promising Maxim Letunov in the deadline deal for Zbynek Michalek also opens up a spot in this ranking.… read more

The post A few surprises creeping up in the St. Louis Blues Top 20 Rankings appeared first on Hockey's Future.



More...

Click to read more...

 

[2 Minute Minor]

This is Binnington's first AHL season. I'm not sure why this writer is so high on him, but talking like he could be in the NHL right now "skillwise" makes no sense to me.

Fabbri moved up to the 3rd ranked prospect (I'd put him as 1st based on his ceiling, but I have no problem with Barbashev being above him. They're both high ceiling guys. I just think Fabbri has a chance to be a star in the league.)

It does seem weird to see Jaskin at 4th. He needs to be off the list.

Should Lindbohm really be behind Parayko and Vanelli? I guess I'm just glad he made the rankings this time.

 

[542365]

Someone sell me on Barbashev being above Fabbri. What am I missing? I like his physical, two way game. I like him a lot as a prospect, and I think he's a pretty safe bet to make the NHL in some capacity, but I just don't see the upside that others seem to. I would trade him long before I'd consider moving Fabbri, even with Fabbri's injury troubles.

If I was using HF's system, I'd probably rate Barbashev a 7.5B and Fabbri an 8.5C/D.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Realistically, Barbashev becomes a Vermette and Fabbri becomes a Schwartz.

 

[DatDude44]

lmao the lack of actual hockey knowledge in this is funny....... all he says is "needs to improve two way game" "Needs to get bigger" lol..


Like do you have any more detail on that buddy?

what facets of his two way game does he need to improve? his neutral zone coverage forcing plays to the outside? How he engages and wins battles? his D-zone coverage? his effort backchecking? His ability to read the play and pick up his man on the backcheck while communicating with his defensemen? willingness to Block shots? Does he play the coaches system correctly?


It's so general that if the actual scouts and coaches at the Major junior, college and pro levels saw this they'd just laugh at......

 

[High n Wide]

There's always the issue of size to generically throw in when the writer doesn't know enough about the prospects to address specific concerns.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Hockey's Future is pretty much just a very well-run blog. It's been pretty clear for a few years that the Blues have just been assigned to someone that doesn't follow the Blues, but happens to follow certain prospects or teams with Blues prospects on them.

 

[KirkOut]

I can see Barbashev being better than Fabbri. If one of our top re-sign priorities like Lindstrom can be traded, anything can happen in this crazy league.

 

[2 Minute Minor]

I don't know what I expect from HF articles on the Blues. I guess they've been so superficial that I don't actually have any expectations any more. Its just an event to trigger discussion, not any useful information in and of itself.

 

[MissouriMook]

Realistically, Barbashev becomes a Vermette and Fabbri becomes a Schwartz.

Not trying to pick a fight, but I can't really agree with either of those comparisons.

Barbashev has the size and snarl to be much more like Backes than Vermette. Whether he reaches that ceiling is TBD, but I don't consider Vermette to be a particularly physical player and physicality is what is going to open the door to this league for Barbashev. For all the talk about Fabbri making the team next season, I could actually see Barbashev making the cut as the #4C out of camp.

The Fabbri-Schwartz comparison holds up comparing their size and heart, but Schwartz is much more of a board battler where Fabbri is more of shift disturber up the middle with speed to burn. Schwartz is sort of sneaky in his physicality where Fabbri is more of an in-your-face type. I could see Fabbri being our very own "little ball of hate" in 5 years in that he reminds me a lot of Marchand with more speed and skill. In my mind, there is much more that is dissimilar in their games than is similar.

Again, not trying to flame, but couldn't help but disagree with the comparisons.

 

[bleedblue1223]

They were just very vague and general comparisons based on production that I anticipate from them.

Barbashev will be much more like Vermette though and not like Backes. A 50ish point 2-way center, that is physical, but not in a Backes way, and has more skill, but won't be a top producer like a Kopitar.

 

[Lord Helix]

They were just very vague and general comparisons based on production that I anticipate from them.

Barbashev will be much more like Vermette though and not like Backes. A 50ish point 2-way center, that is physical, but not in a Backes way, and has more skill, but won't be a top producer like a Kopitar.

This. I was/am a Barbashev fan, but he doesn't look like he'll have the size and strength of someone like Backes to throw his weight around like he does in juniors. He seems to have the "compete level" that will do wonders for him if he directs all that energy in the right place, so coaching will be a big part of how good he can become...But Fabbri's still a much bigger offensive threat. The hockey IQ difference between the two is a pretty big gap, IMO.

 

[Stopsight]

They were just very vague and general comparisons based on production that I anticipate from them.

Barbashev will be much more like Vermette though and not like Backes. A 50ish point 2-way center, that is physical, but not in a Backes way, and has more skill, but won't be a top producer like a Kopitar.

I think of Barbashev more like Mikko Koivu

 

[Thallis]

Someone sell me on Barbashev being above Fabbri. What am I missing? I like his physical, two way game. I like him a lot as a prospect, and I think he's a pretty safe bet to make the NHL in some capacity, but I just don't see the upside that others seem to. I would trade him long before I'd consider moving Fabbri, even with Fabbri's injury troubles.

If I was using HF's system, I'd probably rate Barbashev a 7.5B and Fabbri an 8.5C/D.

Completely agree. I see people around here talk about how they think Barbashev will become a Bergeron type but I just don't know if he has the offensive upside to be more than a third liner at the NHL level.

 

[Lord Helix]

Completely agree. I see people around here talk about how they think Barbashev will become a Bergeron type but I just don't know if he has the offensive upside to be more than a third liner at the NHL level.

A better Sobotka?

 

[Thallis]

A better Sobotka?

Sounds pretty good to me, but I've never seen him have the speed or spark-plug qualities that made Sobotka so loved here. Maybe a Sobotka - Berglund blend.

 

[Lord Helix]

Sounds pretty good to me, but I've never seen him have the speed or spark-plug qualities that made Sobotka so loved here. Maybe a Sobotka - Berglund blend.

I can see that. The problem with the Sobotka comparison to me is that Sobotka is very patient with the puck, maybe almost to a fault. He was really good at gaining the zone or maintaining a cycle, but the puck just didn't find a way to a scoring area often enough. Barbashev's play-making should be better that both, at least if he hits his potential. It'll be interesting to see how much muscle the training team will be pushing Barbashev to gain, as he does have a decent frame.

 

[The Grouch]

Is Jani Hakanpaa a non-factor for the Blues at this point? It seemed like he was really on track a season or two ago. At this point does anyone expect him to be a regular NHLer?

Also, slightly off topic as I know he isn't a Blues prospect anymore, but what happened with Cade Fairchild? I see he's playing in the KHL this season. He was a player that seemed to have a strong development arc, but ultimately fizzled out. Does anyone know what happened, specifically with regard to his developmental deficiencies.

 

[BadgersandBlues]

I think Jaskin should be off the list. Maybe he's still technically a prospect today, but by the end of the season he's going to surpass the eligibility cut off.

I'd rank our top 10 (b/c after that it doesn't matter) as:

1. Fabbri
2. Barbashev
3. Schmaltz
4. Rattie
5. Lindbohm
6. Parayko
7. Binnington
8. Vanelli
9. Edmunson
10. Husso

 

[SirPaste]

Is Jani Hakanpaa a non-factor for the Blues at this point? It seemed like he was really on track a season or two ago. At this point does anyone expect him to be a regular NHLer?

Also, slightly off topic as I know he isn't a Blues prospect anymore, but what happened with Cade Fairchild? I see he's playing in the KHL this season. He was a player that seemed to have a strong development arc, but ultimately fizzled out. Does anyone know what happened, specifically with regard to his developmental deficiencies.

From what Ive seen of Hakanpaa, which admittedly is pretty limited, his skating was really bad. Unless he improves drastically in that area I dont see him having much of an NHL future. Im sure someone like ChicagoBlues would know a lot more than myself though.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Is Jani Hakanpaa a non-factor for the Blues at this point? It seemed like he was really on track a season or two ago. At this point does anyone expect him to be a regular NHLer?

Also, slightly off topic as I know he isn't a Blues prospect anymore, but what happened with Cade Fairchild? I see he's playing in the KHL this season. He was a player that seemed to have a strong development arc, but ultimately fizzled out. Does anyone know what happened, specifically with regard to his developmental deficiencies.

No, I'd be surprised if he became an NHL regular at this point. Him being ranked pretty highly in this article was one of many glaring inaccuracies I noticed...but I'll leave it at that as I think we've beat up the writer of these articles enough recently.

Back to Hakanpaa, he's just a step too slow IMO. Both in terms of his skating/foot speed and as well as his thinking. If he's having problems with the pace of the AHL, then he's likely never seeing the NHL.

Regarding Fairchild, he was a classic tweener IMO. Good in the AHL but just a few too many weaknesses to make it in the NHL. IMO, he was talented enough to be an NHLer but not talented enough to overcome his size disadvantage.

 

[David Dennison]

Vannelli and Husso are too high. Vannelli has holes in his game and Husso is a 20 year old goalie, he has a long way to go.

 

[Captain America*]

Realistically, Barbashev becomes a Vermette and Fabbri becomes a Schwartz.

I was thinking more realistically like a Federov & Parise.

 

[Lord Helix]

I was thinking more realistically like a Federov & Parise.

Well, Schwartz is our Parise, so...

 

[Captain America*]

Well, Schwartz is our Parise, so...

No he's not, he said he doesn't want to be.

He wants to be his own player.