Blues Prospects Thread 2019-2020

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MissouriMook

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At that size too. How’s his skating/ puck skills? Future 6’5 sundqvist kinda guy?
He's nearly at a PPG in the WHL as a 17 year old. I haven't seen him play at all, but that suggests he may be enough in demand that he's not around if we're picking in the 56-64 range.
 

simon IC

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Interesting possibility for late second round in draft

Jack Finley, 6'5' 207, Center

His main skillset strengths are translatable to pro hockey, such as commitment in all three zones, getting to the front of the net on offense, battling along the boards, and protecting the centre of the ice on defense.
With that description I want him already!!! Exactly my kind of player. I'm going to research him now and see if I can find some clips. I would be surprised if he's still around in the late 2nd, though.
 

MortiestOfMortys

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Wheeler's 2020 NHL prospect pool rankings: No. 27 St. Louis...

Fair assessment of our prospect depth. That Krag is on the list is pretty sad. Interesting that Wheeler likes Zherenko more than they like Ellis, but he’s probably seen more than one random Vimeo video of him from three years ago, so I’ll gladly defer to that judgement. If Zherenko pans out somehow, that’ll be a very interesting development (can the Blues finally get a Russian goalie to come to North America??). Otherwise, with a few minor quibbles (Hofer should be 2nd or 3rd), this is pretty much how I’d have our U23 prospects ranked right now.
 

Novacain

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Yeah, I can’t really disagree, though I think not having Mikkola and Walman on makes the “nobody age 23 or older” element kinda ridiculous. Mikkola is pretty clearly in the Perunovich class for our top prospect.
 

STL fan in MN

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Yeah, I can’t really disagree, though I think not having Mikkola and Walman on makes the “nobody age 23 or older” element kinda ridiculous. Mikkola is pretty clearly in the Perunovich class for our top prospect.

Yeah, the Blues group of prospects as a whole isn’t overly great but it does make it look worse when only players younger than 23 are counted. That removes Mikkola, Walman, Reinke, Husso, Poganski and Stevens from consideration.
 

Vincenzo Arelliti

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Kostin will start putting things together, but he’s likely to not be an impactful NHLer for another year, maybe two. The further out he gets from his injured draft season, the better he will look. He’s also getting used to the NA game.

I don’t think he has 1st line potential, but I do think he will at least be a middle-6 tweener. He needs to use his size more, but he has the tools to be a late-blooming power forward, or at the very least a third line scoring winger.
 

Mike Liut

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I don’t see why Kostin can’t develop into a Backes or a Keith Tkachuk type of player.
 

DatDude44

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I don’t see why Kostin can’t develop into a Backes or a Keith Tkachuk type of player.
It'll depend on his IQ honestly. I'd say he is a much higher end set of tools than backes ever did, it'll come down to his toolbox(brain) IMO. His potential is kinda crazy imo...he could either end up like Rick Nash or Chris Kreider or Backes or he could end up just being like a Tanner Pearson(doubtful) or Lucic(doubtful) it'll all depend on how he learns the pro NA style and adapts to the increased speed and control of the NHL game that separates it from any other league.
 
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ezcreepin

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Just checking up on Blues prospects, there hasn't been a lot worth mentioning right now. Either everyone was hurt or they played in the wjc, so not much to say. Washkurak has actually been on fire since coming back from injury, but he seemed to be getting it together too just before then. McGing is looking to not have a great season, but his team looks awful. He is the leading scorer on that team right now and his teammates look like 3rd liners at best. I think once he hits the AHL he should be just fine. I mean the guy had 16 goals last year so he can obviously score. Perunovich has not been great since January just based on the boxscores, but Laferriere has been really good since then. Michel has been so-so, but I don't think we expected anything crazy there. As for other players, I don't know, but that's all I've got.
 
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Beauterham

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Just checking up on Blues prospects, there hasn't been a lot worth mentioning right now. Either everyone was hurt or they played in the wjc, so not much to say. Washkurak has actually been on fire since coming back from injury, but he seemed to be getting it together too just before then. McGing is looking to not have a great season, but his team looks awful. He is the leading scorer on that team right now and his teammates look like 3rd liners at best. I think once he hits the AHL he should be just fine. I mean the guy had 16 goals last year so he can obviously score. Perunovich has not been great since January just based on the boxscores, but Laferriere has been really good since then. Michel has been so-so, but I don't think we expected anything crazy there. As for other players, I don't know, but that's all I've got.

Washer is still injured, and unfortunatly has been for a few weeks. Mississauga started the season bad and so has Washkurak, but he eventually picked things up and was almost at the PPG-mark when he got injured. I believe he should be back soon. The guy running the show in his abscence is James Hardie who has been great the last few weeks. As I said somewhere else, Hardie is one of my favorites to use a late round draft pick on.
 
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ezcreepin

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Washer is still injured, and unfortunatly has been for a few weeks. Mississauga started the season bad and so has Washkurak, but he eventually picked things up and was almost at the PPG-mark when he got injured. I believe he should be back soon. The guy running the show in his abscence is James Hardie who has been great the last few weeks. As I said somewhere else, Hardie is one of my favorites to use a late round draft pick on.
Well shoot, my eyes deceived me. I could've sworn he was back from injury. Well then, he WAS on fire before going down to injury
 

TheBluePenguin

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Well for starters he doesn’t appear to have the same level of skill, vision, or compete as either of those guys.

tenor.gif
 

execwrite1

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Potential free agent signing - Zane Franklin - RW, 5'9'' 200, 44 games, 25 goals, 47 assists, +32

There’s a new name at the top of the WHL scoring race, the captain of the Kamloops Blazers, Zane Franklin. Heading into Sunday’s matches, the centreman has racked up 25 goals, 47 assists, and 72 points in 43 games. He’s already set a new career-high in assists and points, beating last season’s totals (40 and 68, respectfully) in 25 fewer games.
He’s riding a seven-game point streak (17 points), coming after a nine-game streak (19 points). His current streak includes two four-point games of one goal, three assists (back-to-back) and 12 total assists. He leads the league in assists as well.
Franklin is 21 years old, meaning he’s ineligible for the 2020 NHL Draft (2019 was his last year of eligibility). That being said, this season may have earned him a free agent signing, or at the very least an invite to an NHL camp in September. After that, there’s no telling what could happen. The road isn’t over for this prospect, and he’s proving why this season.
 

MortiestOfMortys

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Potential free agent signing - Zane Franklin - RW, 5'9'' 200, 44 games, 25 goals, 47 assists, +32

There’s a new name at the top of the WHL scoring race, the captain of the Kamloops Blazers, Zane Franklin. Heading into Sunday’s matches, the centreman has racked up 25 goals, 47 assists, and 72 points in 43 games. He’s already set a new career-high in assists and points, beating last season’s totals (40 and 68, respectfully) in 25 fewer games.
He’s riding a seven-game point streak (17 points), coming after a nine-game streak (19 points). His current streak includes two four-point games of one goal, three assists (back-to-back) and 12 total assists. He leads the league in assists as well.
Franklin is 21 years old, meaning he’s ineligible for the 2020 NHL Draft (2019 was his last year of eligibility). That being said, this season may have earned him a free agent signing, or at the very least an invite to an NHL camp in September. After that, there’s no telling what could happen. The road isn’t over for this prospect, and he’s proving why this season.

Meh, I’m skeptical. His stat line looks like an undersized kid that, as he got older and started playing against guys 3-5 years younger, has started to play above his level. That’s all well and good, but once he gets to the pros, he’ll be right back at the bottom of the pile, playing against guys sometimes 10 years older than him. There’s always a few guys that do this every year (especially in the WHL), and they don’t go anywhere. I’d be fine with signing him, but probably not at the expense of a pro contract spot (I.e. I’m not giving him an ELC, but a two-way AHL/ECHL contract is worth the gamble).
 
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SneakerPimp82

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Meh, I’m skeptical. His stat line looks like an undersized kid that, as he got older and started playing against guys 3-5 years younger, has started to play above his level. That’s all well and good, but once he gets to the pros, he’ll be right back at the bottom of the pile, playing against guys sometimes 10 years older than him. There’s always a few guys that do this every year (especially in the WHL), and they don’t go anywhere. I’d be fine with signing him, but probably not at the expense of a pro contract spot (I.e. I’m not giving him an ELC, but a two-way AHL/ECHL contract is worth the gamble).

That's exactly what it is. It's his 4th year/overage year in the WHL, so definitely take these numbers with a big grain of salt. Brett Sonne, former Blues pick also did the exact same thing in his 4th year of WHL eligibility and never did much afterward.
 
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Brian39

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Wheeler's 2020 NHL prospect pool rankings: No. 27 St. Louis...

Fair assessment of our prospect depth. That Krag is on the list is pretty sad. Interesting that Wheeler likes Zherenko more than they like Ellis, but he’s probably seen more than one random Vimeo video of him from three years ago, so I’ll gladly defer to that judgement. If Zherenko pans out somehow, that’ll be a very interesting development (can the Blues finally get a Russian goalie to come to North America??). Otherwise, with a few minor quibbles (Hofer should be 2nd or 3rd), this is pretty much how I’d have our U23 prospects ranked right now.
I also think that is a fair assessment. With that said, I'm not all that concerned about being ranked 27 due to the contract structure of our NHL team and the number of young/growing players we have who aren't eligible for this list.

He is correct that there aren't really any potential top end guys in our prospect pool at the moment. However, we have 4 of our top 6 spots locked up through 2021/22 in ROR, Tarasenko, Schenn and Perron. Thomas is arguably already a top 6 level player, even though we have the luxury of using him mainly on the 3rd line. He is at a 50 point pace this season, looks dynamic, is already adequate defensively and we are still 5.5 seasons away from the earliest possible date he could hit UFA. I have zero hesitation relying on him to be an above average top 6 player over the next 5 years. Kyrou is further away, but he still very much has the potential to be a top end guy in the coming years. Schwartz is due a raise after 2020/21, but it is probably one we can afford if Kyrou doesn't meet expectations and we feel the need to keep him.

Up front, we don't need anyone from our prospect pool (as defined here) to be a top level guy. Over the next 3 years, the main contribution we will be looking for out of this pool are a couple guys who can be good middle 6 or bottom 6 guys. While the description of Kostin sounds critical, it is exactly the type of role we will be seeking to put him in. With Sunny locked up to an awesome contract, Barby cheap for next year (and then still an RFA) and Blais being a legit NHL guy (who will stay cheap due to his lengthy injury this season), there really aren't any big roles for this prospect pool to fill over the next 3 years. That is plenty of time to restock.

Same thing on D. Even if Petro walks, Parayko/Faulk on the right side means that there is major hole to fill on the right side that requires a top level prospect (and we might be able to rely on Reinke as a bottom pair guy). The left side is obviously weaker, but our top prospect on this list (Perunovich) plays on the left. It is pretty nifty that our top prospect just happens to play the one non-goalie position where we have a legitimate need for a top level prospect. Mikkola is also a LHD and he looked NHL ready in his few games here. J-Bo is aging, but will likely be capable of giving us good minutes next year. Dunn may not be the guy we hoped he'd be at this point in his career, but he is still very much a quality NHL D man who is cost controlled.

Obviously you want as good of a prospect pool as you can get. However, our mid-term outlook is much, much better than you would guess if you just saw that our prospect pool was ranked 27th. Army has done a very good job depleting the prospect pool in trades that help us long term rather than just short term.

Finally, goalies are voodoo. It's cool that we have a number of good goalie prospects on this list (plus Husso), but accurately predicting young goalies 3+ years out is possibly the hardest thing to do in sports.
 

DatDude44

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Agree the Blues are in good shape for the near term.

But it's very important now to hold on to draft spots and even add more to re-supply the pipeline for five years from now.
100% agree. I really don’t want to waste Thomas, Kyrou, Kostin, Blais, Perunovich and Miikolas primes mixed with most of the current core (Senko, ROR, Schenn,Petro, Parayko, Schwartz)
 

Frenzy31

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Another free agent to look at is Egor Sokolov. He has been passed over twice in the draft, but is putting up huge numbers playing in Cape Branson in the Q with Lafrierre.

6’4” 230 and scoring at 66 point in 35 games. Must be some other issues with him, but that production is hige.
 
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execwrite1

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Another free agent to look at is Egor Sokolov. He has been passed over twice in the draft, but is putting up huge numbers playing in Cape Branson in the Q with Lafrierre.

6’4” 230 and scoring at 66 point in 35 games. Must be some other issues with him, but that production is hige.

Good call. Seems there may be some question of his skating. Looks like Columbus almost signed him last year.
 

Beauterham

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Good call. Seems there may be some question of his skating. Looks like Columbus almost signed him last year.

He's still draft eligible, which explains why Columbus couldn't sign him last year. He plays wing on the Laferriere line. Speaking of, it seems Laferriere's got the message when he was healthy scratched a while ago due to bad play. Small sample size here, but from what I've seen he's been a lot better.
 
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