Completely agree. Its also so transitory. Dunn is not part of the Big 4 because he graduated, but is right there with them. Barbashev would have been but struggled and thus dropped out. Same with Walman. Will Tage be part of the Big 4 is he can cement his roster spot? Do we change it to the big 3? Also how big is big? As pumped as we are, this is not Matthews, Marner and Nylander. That's a big 3. The hype we have surrounding the "Big 4" is getting out of hand. Where does a player have to fall in national prospect rankings to be considered "Big"? Keep in mind that the Blues intentionally hyped the Oshie/Berglund/Perron group and it backfired in some way when they didn't live up to the hype, even though each one being a solid NHLer is actually a great track record for where they were picked. But hyping them as the next big thing creates expectations they may not be able to fill. We have no guarantees any of them will be able to carve a long term NHL career. Not Thomas who seems to check all the boxes, nor Kyrou who has elite speed, nor Thompson who is playing in the NHL has proven they will be a long-term success.
It was a term used by JR, and I believe, DA, in The Athletic. It's to distinguish them from the rest of our prospects easily, and they are the ones we are constantly getting calls about. JR also refers to them as blue chip prospects, but I disagree with him there.
But I agree, no names because things change, big is relative, and everyone here seems to be thinking that Thomas, Kyrou, Thompson, and Kostin are all for-sure top line players in the realm of Marner, Nylander, and Matthews.
Personally, I think Thompson is a 2RW projection, Thomas projects as a top-6 C with question marks to his offense, and both Kyrou and Kostin are 2RWers if they pan out. All have more upside than that, but that's where I view them, and I think that's pretty rational. Also, I've never been as big on Walman and Barbashev. Walman is good, and I think he will project as a #4/3 at best, but Barbashev has always looked like a decent to good 3C to me.