Blues Prospects Thread 2019-2020

[execwrite1]

Colten Ellis off to a good start - 9-3-2, 2.61, .905

 

[Vladys Gumption]

He may stay down if our PTOs are any indication.

I posted that right before I saw the news of the PTOs. So with that information now, I agree with you. But I think it’s stupid to not give Kyrou a shot.

 

[Blueston]

But it was the second round! There was plenty of dmen with good size and arguably higher upside at that spot. And most prognosticators had Perunovich going in the mid-to-late rounds, as it was his third draft. Idk, it was just a bizarre move that left a lot to be desired, and imo it will end up being looked back on as a mistake. I hope I’m wrong, certainly Scotty Hockey has done a lot right in his college career. But will it translate to Blues hockey? Idk that it will.

Lots of folks liked Perunovich. Pronman had him going 2-3 round. He has fantastic hockey sense and is great with puck. Bruins are generally big team who plays physical hockey and yet Krug is perhaps their best D and Grizzly is regular. We need mix of Mikkolas and Perunoviches bc you ain't gonna have all Prongers and Petros.

 

[Bluesnatic27]

But it was the second round! There was plenty of dmen with good size and arguably higher upside at that spot. And most prognosticators had Perunovich going in the mid-to-late rounds, as it was his third draft. Idk, it was just a bizarre move that left a lot to be desired, and imo it will end up being looked back on as a mistake. I hope I’m wrong, certainly Scotty Hockey has done a lot right in his college career. But will it translate to Blues hockey? Idk that it will.

Just a quick look around and Perunovich's name comes up a lot around pick #63, so at the very beginning of the 3rd round. That's not much of a reach for a mid 2nd round pick at all.

Also, while there are certainly players that look high end after Perunovich was picked, not many are left-handed defensemen that are substantially bigger. I'm assuming that the Blues wanted a defensemen at that point in the draft based on Perunovich's selection, so looking at other left handed players, the list includes:

Martin Fehevary - I don't think anyone had this guy on their radar this high up, but I could easily be wrong on that.
Johnny Tychonick - a popular name at the time who is now finding his stride for UND, but is currently the #4 on the team.
Adam Ginning - A defense first player with little offensive flair.
Kevin Bahl - Big and likes to take penalties.
Jakob Ragnarsson - No Earthly idea who this is.
Jordan Harris - An interesting prospect to say the least but is 5'11", and not substantially bigger than Perunovich.
Slava Demin - Another interesting player that I don't know anything about but has played reasonably well thus far.
Nico Gross - An unfortunate last name that I'm sure would have been an easy target for ridicule had the Blues picked him in the 2nd round.

And that's it. All the LHD that were picked after Perunovich but before Hofer. All-in-all, not the most impressive list and none of these players have accomplished anything close to what Pernovich has in their respective development times except maybe Fehevary (Fehevary has played in a few NHL games). Again, the obvious flaw in this analysis is that I restricted my search to just LHD that were bigger than Perunovich (which, admittedly, wasn't the most restrictive constraint). But opening up the selection to any player seemed like too easy of a rabbit hole to fall into.

Will Perunovich be a Blues defenseman? That remains to be seen of course. But it's not like Perunovich has done anything to suggest he wasn't worthy of his selection number. As stated, he's accomplished quite a bit in his time at U. of Minnesota-Duluth, and has consistently been one of the program's top players. Frankly, the only people who don't like the pick now are the one's that didn't like it at the time. In no way has this pick been proven to be a mistake at this point.

Hopefully it stays that way. And if you believe in PNHLe metrics, then it certainly seems like it will (Scott Perunovich).

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Just a quick look around and Perunovich's name comes up a lot around pick #63, so at the very beginning of the 3rd round. That's not much of a reach for a mid 2nd round pick at all.

Also, while there are certainly players that look high end after Perunovich was picked, not many are left-handed defensemen that are substantially bigger. I'm assuming that the Blues wanted a defensemen at that point in the draft based on Perunovich's selection, so looking at other left handed players, the list includes:

Martin Fehevary - I don't think anyone had this guy on their radar this high up, but I could easily be wrong on that.
Johnny Tychonick - a popular name at the time who is now finding his stride for UND, but is currently the #4 on the team.
Adam Ginning - A defense first player with little offensive flair.
Kevin Bahl - Big and likes to take penalties.
Jakob Ragnarsson - No Earthly idea who this is.
Jordan Harris - An interesting prospect to say the least but is 5'11", and not substantially bigger than Perunovich.
Slava Demin - Another interesting player that I don't know anything about but has played reasonably well thus far.
Nico Gross - An unfortunate last name that I'm sure would have been an easy target for ridicule had the Blues picked him in the 2nd round.

And that's it. All the LHD that were picked after Perunovich but before Hofer. All-in-all, not the most impressive list and none of these players have accomplished anything close to what Pernovich has in their respective development times except maybe Fehevary (Fehevary has played in a few NHL games). Again, the obvious flaw in this analysis is that I restricted my search to just LHD that were bigger than Perunovich (which, admittedly, wasn't the most restrictive constraint). But opening up the selection to any player seemed like too easy of a rabbit hole to fall into.

Will Perunovich be a Blues defenseman? That remains to be seen of course. But it's not like Perunovich has done anything to suggest he wasn't worthy of his selection number. As stated, he's accomplished quite a bit in his time at U. of Minnesota-Duluth, and has consistently been one of the program's top players. Frankly, the only people who don't like the pick now are the one's that didn't like it at the time. In no way has this pick been proven to be a mistake at this point.

Hopefully it stays that way. And if you believe in PNHLe metrics, then it certainly seems like it will (Scott Perunovich).

No I completely agree with you, I *like* Perunovich, that isn’t my beef with the pick. My beef is that we’re a team who just unloaded Fabbri for de la Rose, and have consistently struggled to make smaller guys work in the lineup. It isn’t that Perunovich *can’t* do it, and certainly the Torey Krug in Boston comp is a good example of a smaller guy fitting into a smash mouth team. It’s that I don’t think *the Blues* are willing to make it work. Maybe both parties will surprise me, and I really really hope they do.

I just won’t be all that surprised when we flip Scotty Hockey for a 6’4” “two-way” 4th-liner. Which begs the question: if that’s what we like/want/know works in our system, why not pick those players? Again, BO Groulx went a few picks later and he’d fit our team quite well with his skill set. And if he didn’t, centers are more valuable in the trade market than smaller dmen. I have nothing against smaller dmen, but that’s just the reality of the situation. It’s just a lot of value to leave on the board in the second round for a 3x overager with some question marks.

 

[Blueston]

No I completely agree with you, I *like* Perunovich, that isn’t my beef with the pick. My beef is that we’re a team who just unloaded Fabbri for de la Rose, and have consistently struggled to make smaller guys work in the lineup. It isn’t that Perunovich *can’t* do it, and certainly the Torey Krug in Boston comp is a good example of a smaller guy fitting into a smash mouth team. It’s that I don’t think *the Blues* are willing to make it work. Maybe both parties will surprise me, and I really really hope they do.

I just won’t be all that surprised when we flip Scotty Hockey for a 6’4” “two-way” 4th-liner. Which begs the question: if that’s what we like/want/know works in our system, why not pick those players? Again, BO Groulx went a few picks later and he’d fit our team quite well with his skill set. And if he didn’t, centers are more valuable in the trade market than smaller dmen. I have nothing against smaller dmen, but that’s just the reality of the situation. It’s just a lot of value to leave on the board in the second round for a 3x overager with some question marks.

Schwartz is small. Thomas isn't that big. But both of them win puck battles and are defensively sound. I think Army recognizes you don't want team stocked with just talentless bruisers.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Schwartz is small. Thomas isn't that big. But both of them win puck battles and are defensively sound. I think Army recognizes you don't want team stocked with just talentless bruisers.

Ok, but Schwartz plays on L1, and is good enough to be there. Outside of Schwartz, I struggle to recall the last sub-6’0 player to be successful here, much less a defenseman. Andy McDonald? Derek Roy? I don’t think you can make the argument (yet) that Perunovich’s skills can overcome his size disadvantage, there’s just no way to know that. But what we do know is that our defensive scheme is built around a specific kind of defenseman that is strong and either tall or quick enough to drive plays wide. Dunn’s no giant, but he gets by on his speed. He’s also got a few inches on Perunovich. We also know that outside of Schwartz who is an elite player in this league, no sub-6’0 player sticks around here for very long. So, again, why draft for it?

 

[Blueston]

Ok, but Schwartz plays on L1, and is good enough to be there. Outside of Schwartz, I struggle to recall the last sub-6’0 player to be successful here, much less a defenseman. Andy McDonald? Derek Roy? I don’t think you can make the argument (yet) that Perunovich’s skills can overcome his size disadvantage, there’s just no way to know that. But what we do know is that our defensive scheme is built around a specific kind of defenseman that is strong and either tall or quick enough to drive plays wide. Dunn’s no giant, but he gets by on his speed. He’s also got a few inches on Perunovich. We also know that outside of Schwartz who is an elite player in this league, no sub-6’0 player sticks around here for very long. So, again, why draft for it?

Let's assume you are right, that only really, really good small players have a spot here. I we can agree that if we had a Spurgeon or Krug or Ryan Ellis we would find place for him. So if you think Perunovich can be a real quality player you take him late 2nd. As someone else pointed out, not like there were lots of great skilled LHD alternatives (which was position of organizational need) on board there. So yeah, Perunovich becomes higher risk pick bc he is maybe unlikely to stick around as depth piece but they probably figured if he were 3 inches taller he would be high 1st so worth a shot. Are they right? I dunno but he has looked impressive in my limited viewings.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Let's assume you are right, that only really, really good small players have a spot here. I we can agree that if we had a Spurgeon or Krug or Ryan Ellis we would find place for him. So if you think Perunovich can be a real quality player you take him late 2nd. As someone else pointed out, not like there were lots of great skilled LHD alternatives (which was position of organizational need) on board there. So yeah, Perunovich becomes higher risk pick bc he is maybe unlikely to stick around as depth piece but they probably figured if he were 3 inches taller he would be high 1st so worth a shot. Are they right? I dunno but he has looked impressive in my limited viewings.

Yeah, by my reckoning that’s about as close as I’ve been able to get to justifying it too. It just seems like that thinking is counting on a lot of hard-to-verify things being true or happening. But let’s say he three-peats this year and wins the Hobey Baker... maybe that makes me less nervous about the whole thing. Suffice it to say he isn’t signed with us either at this point, he isn’t guaranteed to come here at all next summer. That’s an added layer of risk some other guys wouldn’t have had (Calen Addison, for example).

 

[Blueston]

Yeah, by my reckoning that’s about as close as I’ve been able to get to justifying it too. It just seems like that thinking is counting on a lot of hard-to-verify things being true or happening. But let’s say he three-peats this year and wins the Hobey Baker... maybe that makes me less nervous about the whole thing. Suffice it to say he isn’t signed with us either at this point, he isn’t guaranteed to come here at all next summer. That’s an added layer of risk some other guys wouldn’t have had (Calen Addison, for example).

I don't disagree. He wasn't my preference at the time either. I liked Addison or Tychonick. And while I didn't know enough of Fehervary to want him at the time, he looks impressive now. But I also like that we took a shot at someone we think can be really good rather than have settled for someone like Bahl.

 

[Ranksu]

I posted that right before I saw the news of the PTOs. So with that information now, I agree with you. But I think it’s stupid to not give Kyrou a shot.

Kyrou hasnt deserved his shot, like many others have said Walker should get call-up.

 

[execwrite1]

Tyler Tucker is playing for the OHL team in tonite's game of this year's Canada-Russia series. He was plus 2 with an assist in the previous game.

Tyler Tucker – The St. Louis Blues prospect gets his second opportunity with Team OHL and is currently tied for eighth in scoring among defencemen with 16 points in 14 games for the Barrie Colts.

And Mathias Laferriere is on Team QMJHL.

 

[Blueston]

Tyler Tucker is playing for the OHL team in tonite's game of this year's Canada-Russia series. He was plus 2 with an assist in the previous game.

Tyler Tucker – The St. Louis Blues prospect gets his second opportunity with Team OHL and is currently tied for eighth in scoring among defencemen with 16 points in 14 games for the Barrie Colts.

And Mathias Laferriere is on Team QMJHL.

Thanks. Didn’t catch the first 2 periods but Tucker hasn’t played much in 3rd. When he has he looks slow.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Kyrou hasnt deserved his shot, like many others have said Walker should get call-up.

Be careful. If he keeps getting to play some AHL games, he will be ready to call up. It doesn’t have to take long. Don’t act like these situations aren’t dynamic. The same as Binnington’s starting goalie cred.

 

[EXTRAS]

Do you guys think Nolan stevens will eventually be a bottom 6 NHL'er? How does he looks in San Antonio?

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Do you guys think Nolan stevens will eventually be a bottom 6 NHL'er? How does he looks in San Antonio?

He’s been PPG this year, so he’s finding a way to get to his game, which is good to see. I know @RampageNate has liked his game so far.

He’s in that group of guys like Poganski and MacEachern that could probably carve out a spot in the bottom-6 at some point, but maybe not while we’re still committed to prioritizing veteran experience over giving prospects a shot. Idk if Stevens has a “distinguishing skill” that sets him apart from the others, but he seems to be a fine playmaker with some foot speed questions. We’ll see, it’s a big year for a lot of these guys.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Tyler Tucker is playing for the OHL team in tonite's game of this year's Canada-Russia series. He was plus 2 with an assist in the previous game.

Tyler Tucker – The St. Louis Blues prospect gets his second opportunity with Team OHL and is currently tied for eighth in scoring among defencemen with 16 points in 14 games for the Barrie Colts.

And Mathias Laferriere is on Team QMJHL.

Hofer is on the WHL Super Series roster as well.

Somewhat notable that Ellis was left off the Q roster. He must’ve been pretty bad in that summer camp.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Hofer is on the WHL Super Series roster as well.

Somewhat notable that Ellis was left off the Q roster. He must’ve been pretty bad in that summer camp.

He’s injured

 

[Frenzy31]

Alexandrov is also injures.

 

[Frenzy31]

Kexandrov is still inured and Lafrierre didn’t dress in the last game.

Seems like the baby blues are getting hit with injuries also.

 

[execwrite1]

Keean Washkurak game on NHL Network Saturday afternoon.

 

[Celtic Note]

Keean Washkurak game on NHL Network Saturday afternoon.

Thanks for sharing. I am not going to be able to watch but would appreciate a scouting report if anyone is willing.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Thanks for sharing. I am not going to be able to watch but would appreciate a scouting report if anyone is willing.

He’s been pretty mediocre. There was some hope that he would take off and be a scorer/point-producer this year, but it just hasn’t happened

 

[Ranksu]

I bet Granlund is low value rental at this point. Could he be decent addition for bottom 6 role?

 

[Beauterham]

Scott Perunovich seems to be having a really good season. He has 17 points in 11 games. Leading NCAA defenseman in PPG.