Biggest surprises for the Blues?

[stlweir]

Lets have some fun. Perry had me thinking about busts, how about biggest suprises?

Click to read more...

 

[SirPaste]

Roman Polak is the obvious one for current players, but I would even go as far as to say Petro, I never thought he would be so good so quick.

 

[David Dennison]

Steen- When we made that trade, Carlo was the guy people thought might be the best part of the deal if he could stay healthy. Steen has been far away the best player in the trade, and become one of our core forwards.

Sobotka- Kind of looked like a AAAA guy when we traded for him (and we got him for peanuts), but he has certainly carved out a niche in STL.

Elliott- We'll see if he continues his strong play, but no one thought he was going to be a league leader statistically playing 30someodd games for us last year.

 

[Multimoodia]

From the Draft:

Cliff Ronning: I never thought the little guy was going to be that good...best hope was that he would be a powerplay specialist or something similar.

Brett Hedican: The only defenseman I ever saw less physical than Bruce Affleck. No way would he make it in the NHL, I completely dismissed this pick.
Whoops.

 

[PocketNines]

Lee Stempniak – 5th round. Overachieved for my two favorite teams in the world: Blues and Dartmouth men's hockey.

Getting Doug Gilmour in the 7th round (would be 5th today) was pretty sweet, what was crappy was the whole way he wound up leaving town.

 

[Robb_K]

Frank St. Marseille-he had been playing (as a career player) in the lowly IHL (something like the ECHL is now (possibly a little lower)), when The Blues signed him to fill out their KC Blues CHL roster (IF he'd make it). He turned into a solid NHLer.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

How about undrafted free agent Joe Mullen. I think he had at least a cup of coffee in the NHL.....ha ha

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

11th round draft pick the mini d-man Risto Siltanen carved out a pretty good career as an offensive NHL defenseman. He had 3-15+ goal seasons and one point a game season with 15 goals and 48 assists. We traded him and Tom Roulston for an announcer...ha ha.

 

[h22prelude93]

Elliott- We'll see if he continues his strong play, but no one thought he was going to be a league leader statistically playing 30someodd games for us last year.

This. Elliott was a huge surprise last season. And although I don't think he'll be able to put up those same kind of numbers every single season...I do think his confidence is soaring now and he knows he has what it takes to be good in the NHL. Quite an impressive story...going from being traded to the Avalanche to barely being able to find a job to returning back to Ottawa an All-Star. Pretty awesome.

 

[STEVIE RAY BLUES]

I'd have to say Demitra tops the list considering it was a nothing kind of trade for Christer Ohlsen. Would totally agree on Steen also...never thought we had acquired that kind of worker at the time of the trade.

 

[The Grouch]

Edit: Wow! Beaten by 1 minute.

 

[STEVIE RAY BLUES]

Nothing but love for Pavol...I'd have to say I think the only thing St. Louis hated about him was that Keenan gets credit for the trade!

 

[BlueSinceBirth]

Nothing but love for Pavol...I'd have to say I think the only thing St. Louis hated about him was that Keenan gets credit for the trade!

Keenan would have traded Olsson for anything. Most people tend to think that Keenan knew very little about Demitra. I still think Pavol Demitra was underrated his whole career.

 

[BlueDream]

Yeah I agree with Pietrangelo, Steen, and Elliott. Didn't think any of them would be as good as they are.

Let me also put Ryan Reaves' name out there. Had no idea he would be as good of a 4th-liner as he is. He's underrated IMO. He's easily one of the best hitters in the league as he consistently freight trains guys on every shift. He's also a great fighter, and he can skate and play in the offensive zone pretty well for an enforcer. I just think he's a very solid piece on our team and can definitely take a regular shift. Hope he sticks around for a long time.

 

[Robb_K]

Remember, too, that Curtis Joseph was an undrafted Blues' signee. I admit that he was known to have a fair amount of talent. But, I think his NHL career exceeded the expectations of a lot of people.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

Remember, too, that Curtis Joseph was an undrafted Blues' signee. I admit that he was known to have a fair amount of talent. But, I think his NHL career exceeded the expectations of a lot of people.

He did fair better than Cody Rudkowski... Mullen and Joseph both had stellar careers and went undrafted.

 

[bleedblue1223]

If we go back to what we thought at the draft, I'd say Oshie was a huge surprise. His selection was completely out there, but it definitely worked out in a major way.

 

[stlweir]

My initial thoughts were Mullen and Joseph, both undrafted free agents. But how about Hull and Oates? Who could have imagined the would become hall of famers?

 

[Gullibull]

Yeah I agree with Pietrangelo, Steen, and Elliott. Didn't think any of them would be as good as they are.

Let me also put Ryan Reaves' name out there. Had no idea he would be as good of a 4th-liner as he is. He's underrated IMO. He's easily one of the best hitters in the league as he consistently freight trains guys on every shift. He's also a great fighter, and he can skate and play in the offensive zone pretty well for an enforcer. I just think he's a very solid piece on our team and can definitely take a regular shift. Hope he sticks around for a long time.

Hell yes! Having a guy like Reaves on our 4th line makes it that much harder for teams to compete against us. Steen was also a huge surprise. A team full of Steens would make the opposition's head spin.

 

[member 83027]

Myself I would tend to leave both Mullen and Joseph of this list. Of course they were undrafted FA's but they were both sought after by many teams; not just the Blues.

Also if you take a look at their College history that would be another factor in not including them here.

Joe Mullen:
He set Boston College season & career record for Goals; career record for Points and good enough to be named to the ECAC all decade (1970's) team among other achievements.

Curtis Joseph:
First player to win WCHA MVP, Player of year & Rookie of year in the same season as well as set mark for GAA & save % at Wisconsin.

To me a surprise non drafted FA would like Kelly Chase or Floyd Thomson. Guys who were not heralded as players and were pretty much unknowns.

I would also exclude Gilmour for the same reasons. He was fantastic at Cornwall and Led the OHL in Goals (70) Assists (107) Points (177) & PP Goals (23) 1982-83.

Now I will say in no way could one have envisioned the level of success they had but not surprised they had success in the NHL. Of course everyone has their own set of criteria as to what it means to them.


I would go with a guy like Hedican (who has been mentioned and drafted out of High School) or Guy Hebert who was a lower round pick out of D-2 College. Of course both of these guys had more success wearing a jersey other than the Bluenote.