Prospect Info: Who is the Blues #9 Prospect?

[EastonBlues22]

1) Allen 53%
2) Fabbri 45%
3) Jaskin 39%
4) Rattie 61%
5) Barbashev 86%
6) Schmaltz 79%
7) Parayko 33%
8) Lindbohm 40%

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[Meatwagon]

Binnington
Letunov
Vanelli

Up next for me, then after that, it's a real crap shoot. Binnington may have NHL potential. Letunov may have NHL potential. Vanelli may have NHL potential. After that, they are all a bunch of long shots.

I would rank them something like this:

Husso-Could be an absolute steal. Played lights out in Finlands top professional league. Was rated the top Euro goalie by most publications, gotta love Finish goalies!

Edmundson/Hakanpaa-need to show good progress this year. With all of the depth signings, maybe the Blues don't believe they are close to NHL fill-in duties. Which is OK. But if they can't crack the roster by 2015-2016 as call-ups, there time in the org maybe coming to a close.

Walman-had a good showing in camp. Very good skater, will be interesting to watch his development in the NCAA. Could turn into a 30pt offensive dman type if every thing works out. Biggest problem is it may not be with the Blues. With Petro,JBO,Shatt, Schmaltz, Lindbohm all ahead of him, it might take a mini miracle for him to crack the roster in the next 5 years. But the Blues can give him ALL the time he needs.

Everyone else? Who knows at this point?

P.S.-who keeps voting for Beach? And may I ask why?

 

[Majorityof1]

P.S.-who keeps voting for Beach? And may I ask why?

Multimoodia because a) he likes being contrary or b) he likes saying "Son of a Beach", take your pick.

I vote Vannelli for the 3rd poll in a row. There is a reason we picked this guy in the 2nd round last year and the others being voted for were drafted later. That is not dispositive as players stock can rise and fall. However, Vannelli has done nothing in the one year since he was chosen for his stock to fall. In fact, he put up good numbers in juniors. He still needs to work on his defensive game, but it did improve. I don't think anyone else has done enough for the stock to rise substantially and be worth more than Vannelli, including Lindbohm and Parayko (the latter is close).

 

[Robb_K]

Binnington looks like he'll be able to play in The NHL. But goalies at his age are very unpredictable. I still have to go with Letunov. All he has to do is fill out his frame, and put on strength. I think he'll do that.

 

[Multimoodia]

Multimoodia because a) he likes being contrary or b) he likes saying "Son of a Beach", take your pick

You greatly underestimate the intangibles of Cody Beach and you will likely regret doing so when he leads the Blues to a cup.

Probably 48 oz. styrofoam to keep things cool while golfing.

And admittedly the opportunity to refer to a variety of things as "beaches" which I need for what small shreds of sanity I have left.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

Multimoodia because a) he likes being contrary or b) he likes saying "Son of a Beach", take your pick.

I vote Vannelli for the 3rd poll in a row. There is a reason we picked this guy in the 2nd round last year and the others being voted for were drafted later. That is not dispositive as players stock can rise and fall. However, Vannelli has done nothing in the one year since he was chosen for his stock to fall. In fact, he put up good numbers in juniors. He still needs to work on his defensive game, but it did improve. I don't think anyone else has done enough for the stock to rise substantially and be worth more than Vannelli, including Lindbohm and Parayko (the latter is close).

Then why not vote for Edmundson instead? He was a 46th overall pick? or Wannstrom who was a 44th overall pick? Sure he put up some good offensive stats. He was +4 on a team that had many players +30. He has a long long ways to go on his side of the ice. I'm leaning Edmundson with this next pick after Binnington. He did have a good rookie campaign with Chicago. Has some work to do, but no finished products or sure things at this point. Husso, Hakanpaa, MacEachern, and Letunov are also solid picks.

 

[Celtic Note]

Season Awards by season
2010-2011 CHL Goaltender of the Week (May 15)
CHL Memorial Cup All-Star Team
CHL Memorial Cup Most Outstanding Goaltender
CHL Top Prospects Game
OHL Champion
2011-2012 CHL Goaltender of the Week (Feb. 12)
2012-2013 OHL First All-Star Team
OHL Goaltender of the Year
OHL Lowest Team GAA "Dave Pinkney Trophy"

 

[Majorityof1]

Then why not vote for Edmundson instead? He was a 46th overall pick? or Wannstrom who was a 44th overall pick? Sure he put up some good offensive stats. He was +4 on a team that had many players +30. He has a long long ways to go on his side of the ice. I'm leaning Edmundson with this next pick after Binnington. He did have a good rookie campaign with Chicago. Has some work to do, but no finished products or sure things at this point. Husso, Hakanpaa, MacEachern, and Letunov are also solid picks.

2nd rounder last year vs 2nd rounder 3 and 4 years ago. It might be newer toy syndrome but to me, I just haven't been as impressed with Edmondsun and Wannstrom's development. In this case, smaller sample size helps. While I agree that Vannelli has work to do in his own zone, he improved in his one year. He had a ton of work to do coming into this past season as he was a complete liability and he definitely improved in that area. Edmondson actually saw slight regression stat-wise in his CHL career. I am not familiar enough with Wannstrom's career in Sweden, so I cannot comment on that.

Neither set the world on fire in the AHL. Edmundson is the better option. He was getting consistent time in his AHL rookie year and was solid but not world-beating. My opinion is that he is a big-kid and a hard-worker but doesn't have the natural talent that other players have. Size and hard work are great, but at some point you run into a wall that only talent can overcome. Wannstrom, in his second year, was a healthy scratch for many games. He may still be adjusting to the North American game, but I haven't see enough to judge as he was scratched in all the games I saw. To me, Edmundson tops out as a bottom pairing, maybe a weak middle pair, defenseman. I don't see Wannstrom making the NHL team in any meaningful fashion, but again, I need to see more of him.

If Vannelli continues to improve at the pace he has, he could be a solid second pair offensive defenseman, akin to Shattenkirk. His defensive stick-work is actually quite good and his positioning is improving. He is just scrawny, so he can't win battles or clear the crease at all. He needs to add bulk and play much, much more physical which will hopefully come with the bulk. But he is a great skater with and without the puck, a good passer and has a good shot (better wrister but hopefully slap shot improves with added muscle). So that top-end potential gives him the nod for me. If he does not continue to add mass and make big strides in his own end next year, he may slip in my mind. But for now, he is doing what he needs to do.

 

[Multimoodia]

At this point it's a coin flip between Vannelli and Binnington which should nicely round out the top 10.

At that point though, if someone is not voting Beach(I don't understand why they wouldn't but it's not my lot in life to figure that out) then they had better be looking at Letunov. After finding some more in-depth scouting on him and chatting with some folks that really follow the USHL it sounds like the issues he suffers from the most are all related to him being scrawny.
Since the Blues have no reason to rush him and he's going to college in Boston (after another year in the USHL) that should take care of a couple of issues at once:
1) Letunov is going to put on muscle mass in college, more so than he would if he were in almost any other league. Maxim dedicates himself in the gym and 3-4 years from now he could be scary.
2) By going the college route, the Blues don't have to have him signed to a contract thus taking up one of their fifty contract spots. Boston U is then on the hook for Letunov's development until he leaves them.

Give a year, maybe two in the AHL with appropriate continued work and the Blues could have themselves a very good #2 center.

 

[STL fan in MN]

There are lots of guys in this range that I rank pretty much the same. Going to go with Binnington here though.

How I see things:

Binnington - goalies are a crapshoot but he's been successful at every level so far. If he does well in AHL Chicago this season, he moves up the list. If not, he probably moves down.

Vannelli - offensively gifted and a very good skater but his defensive game needs a lot of work, he's undersized, weak and not very physical. To me, he's a smaller, less talented version of Rundblad. If Vannelli can improve his weaknesses (especially his defensive game as size/strength will come with development) then he could be another Shattenkirk. If not, he's a minor league/European player.

Edmundson - less upside than Vanelli but is more projectable. A booming shot but still pretty rough around the edges. This will be a big season for him.

Husso - I've never seen him play but a 1.99 GAA and .923 SV% as a 18/19 yr old in the SM Ligga is pretty darn impressive. Again, goalies are super hard to project but he's already been successful in a men's pro league so he's one to certainly keep an eye on IMO.

Letunov - very skilled but needs to round out into form. I live just a couple miles away from where the USHL Des Moines Buccaneers play so I'll be sure to go to the games when Letunov and his Youngstown team visits.

Hakanpaa - he's huge but still quite rough around the edges. He was a healthy scratch quite a bit for the Wolves last season and when he did play, it was as the team's 6th or 7th d-man (there were a decent number of games they would dress 7 d-men). He needs to really step it up IMO to stay a legit prospect.

Shields - did quite a bit better with the Wolves last season than I expected. He's still a longshot to make it as an everyday NHLer but he's decent both offensively and defensively. Could easily get stuck in the "tweener" role though.

Andronov - he always seems to impress in training camp and will even get called up to the Blues but never seems to get into a game. He's got decent scoring ability and decent checking/grinding ability which makes him a decent option for either a top-6 or 3rd/4th line role...but he keeps getting passed by guys that are better than "decent" in either category. He's still an unsigned RFA - I expect the Blues to eventually get him signed but I wouldn't be surprised if he never really made it to the NHL and eventually returns home to the KHL. I really like him as a depth option though and I greatly respect his willingness to keep trying to make it to the NHL when he could almost certainly be making quite a bit more in the KHL than he's been making in the AHL the last couple of seasons.

Wannstrom - again, another tweener type that seems to be decent at both scoring and checking/grinding. Just isn't sticking out in any particular way.

Beach - tall but skinny. Tough but not overly skilled. He has a chance to make it as a 4th line agitator/enforcer type.

Lundstrom - he's had ok numbers over in Sweden and will now play in the ECHL this season. If he can be a top ECHL goalie, he has a chance to make it. If not, he's pretty much done.

Veilleux - brings decent intangibles to the table, could make it as a 4th liner eventually.

Pochiro - he'll be a rookie pro this season - he could end up in AHL Chicago but with the depth the Blues have I could see him getting pushed to ECHL Kalamazoo. It's pretty hard to project guys that have top-end potential of a 3rd/4th liner before they've even started their pro careers.

Tesink - very similar player to Pochiro. That knee injury seemed to hurt him a good amount. He was AHL eligible last season but was assigned back to the QMJHL instead. Like Pochiro, he'll be a rookie pro this season and could also find himself in ECHL Kalamazoo.

Walman - it's pretty hard to project a kid that has only played in the OJHL and is about to start his freshman season for NCAA Providence College. If he adjust well to the college game, he could move up this list quite a bit.

Poganski - a power forward who had good but not great numbers in the USHL last season who will be a freshman at NCAA North Dakota this season. NoDak always has a good, deep team so it can be quite hard for good but not great freshman to get icetime on a team like that. Will he develop into something or will he crap out like Max Gardiner, Sam Kurker and Travis Erstad before him?

Descheneau - he's very skilled but he's also 5'9". Still, I like his chances of making it more than your typical 5th rd pick. Yes, he plays with Sam Reinhart on WHL Kootenay, which does inflate his numbers, but he's also quite skilled himself. He'll play one more season in the WHL and then we'll get to see if he has enough skill to overcome his size disadvantage in the pro game. He's 19 so he's probably pretty much done growing but if he can get a late spurt and get to 5'10" or 5'11" then he could be a steal.

Saari - he did fairly well last season playing Jrs and minor pros over in Finland but his Finnish team, Jokerit, is moving to the KHL this season (and they could possibly talk Teemu Selanne into playing for them) so that would be a pretty huge jump for Saari. If he plays in the KHL, I could see him struggle. I could also see him get loaned out to another team in a lower league so he's playing at a level better suited for him at this time.

MacEachern - ok college numbers. Don't see him projecting to much at this point but we'll see.

I may have missed someone but pretty much anyone else that I didn't mention above is someone I consider to be a pretty huge longshot to make it at this point...or they're a newer late round draft pick I don't feel comfortable ranking quite yet.

 

[medkit]

I went with Binnington.

Letunov is really, really far out. But if you're voting based on ceilings he should be the pick here. He's got great offensive skills despite being tiny. Being 155 pounds he's completely untrained in the gym so I imagine those first 10-15 pounds at least should come pretty easily, but he's still a solid 4-5 years away.

The biggest thing he needs to improve is his defense. The third knock I have on him is that a guy who watched him a lot was posting about him pre- and post-draft saying he didn't understand the hype at all. Obviously that's not worth much but at this point I don't think many of us have seen much of him. I just think overall he's probably our biggest boom/bust prospect so he's kind of impossible to place. It was probably a reach in terms of where we took him, but you sort of have to trust the scouts if they were that determined to make sure they got him.

 

[Multimoodia]

From others I've spoken to that have seen him, Letunov has some pretty serious skill although it's not overly flashy. More like Barbashev's. Point is he's just good and has really good vision.

The problem is that he gets bounced off the puck like a 10 year old girl would in the AHL; not for lack of tenacity but because he weighs less than the aforementioned preteen. He needs to be downing protein shakes and hitting the gym for 4 days a week for a while. See if that helps him.
This lack of strength and physicality also contributes to his play in the defensive zone. He takes a lot of stick swings instead of getting in the way and he's hopeless at grinding the puck out of the zone.

 

[KirkOut]

Voted Vanelli but Binnington is an obvious wild card. Could end up as a solid NHL starter or could never sniff the NHL.

 

[Jzk]

Went with Andronov. He defiantly has 3rd line NHL talent. I doubt he ever regularly plays with the Blues tho. We have too much 2nd/3rd line talent as is.

 

[JustOneB4IDie]

Binnington looks like he'll be able to play in The NHL. But goalies at his age are very unpredictable.

Binnington is deserving of a top 10 Blues prospect ranking, he's been successful in every league he's played in, but that's a correct assessment on the Goalie position, they beat to a different drum for sure.

 

[Bluesnatic27]

It looks like Binnington won this one

 

[Daley Tarasenkshow]

Went with Vannelli.

 

[Multimoodia]

It looks like Binnington won this one

Cody Beach may still make a comeback.