Draft: 20-Something Area Picks

[seattleblue]

Assuming the Blues don’t make it to the Conference Finals or beyond, they’ll go into the draft with the 19th overall selection. Not really too dissimilar to where they were last year - 16th.

I see the tiers similar to Kimzey. I’ve seen a drop off after the top-9 for a while so when the Blues were in the range, I really didn’t want them to move past 9. But they blew past it and that’s a good thing. Finishing the best team to not make the playoffs like last year? That would’ve been bad. But the playoff experience for the young guys and playing meaningful games is worth dropping down a bit.

1-2: Schaefer, Misa
3-5: Frondell, Desnoyers, Hagens
6-9: O’Brien, Martone, McQueen, Eklund
10-22: Smith, Hennsler, Martin, Carbonneau, Bear, Mrtka, Lakovic, Reschny, Aitcheson, Kindel, Spence, Brzustewicz, Reid

The two I’ll mention are Cole Reschny and Ben Kindel as I haven't seen anyone mention them yet. Both are undersized forwards but very skilled. Honestly, I really want to see what both measure out at at the Combine. I’ve seen them listed at both 5’10” and 5’11”. I’d be much more open to drafting them at 5’11”. But even at 5’10”, they could be a Jaden Schwartz sort of player which would be excellent at 19.

I expect I’ll have some favorites closer to the draft but as of now, I don’t see a lot of separation from the 10-20 range.

I’ll never advocate for drafting for need, particularly in the 1st round but I’m really hoping the Blues don’t end up with a LD as their 1st. Our pool of stock full of those already.

Even though he’s a RD, I’m just not a fan of Fiddler. Seems pretty hockey dumb to me.

I think for me I've been giving Reschny (undue) short shrift since I saw him collect about 10pts in 2 games against Stancl's hapless Kelowna when he was making a big late season move. But that is one of the definitions of appealing about a prospect when they start coming on strong. And right now he is leading the WHL in playoff scoring up there with Catton and Cristall (who have 49 effing points combined in 10 games with one of them missing one game). Kindel is kind of similar I may have shared a video with you where Jecho made a bad turnover and Kindel sure Schwartzed it up in response, that would be a good way to put it. I like both of them. Way more than Cam Schmidt. like way way more. And I like Reschny & Kindel more than Cootes.

If we are going to go with a little guy and take a chance on that player profile then Cullen Potter is up there in the conversation about best skater in the draft.

[Bluesfan1978]

Justin Carbonneau. I think the second ish clip in this package of him scoring every goal he scored this year was against Moncton when I was watching a Pekarcik game and it caught my attention and I deep dived him. Take a look at this player's method of offensive attack and tell me this player wouldn't look good on the Blues ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uck97UXkPxM

The final Central Scouting has him #16 NA skater

Would love this pick...

That right there is a package of pro style goals. I kind of don't think he's going to be there at 19. But if this kid drops and is available there's a good chance he's my preference. I could so easily envision this set of skills complementing the core we already have.

And to Tim's point about Lakovic he got everyone's attention in a CHL-USA two-game set earlier this year and yeah, if he is there at 19 which I doubt he will be then he'd be a very good pick. Not as physical for the size he has, but he has the competitiveness gene that beginning today we get to see why matters so much, the real season.

Watching the highlights he reminds me of Holloway.

[seattleblue]

Justin Carbonneau. I think the second ish clip in this package of him scoring every goal he scored this year was against Moncton when I was watching a Pekarcik game and it caught my attention and I deep dived him. Take a look at this player's method of offensive attack and tell me this player wouldn't look good on the Blues ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uck97UXkPxM

The final Central Scouting has him #16 NA skater

Would love this pick...

That right there is a package of pro style goals. I kind of don't think he's going to be there at 19. But if this kid drops and is available there's a good chance he's my preference. I could so easily envision this set of skills complementing the core we already have.

And to Tim's point about Lakovic he got everyone's attention in a CHL-USA two-game set earlier this year and yeah, if he is there at 19 which I doubt he will be then he'd be a very good pick. Not as physical for the size he has, but he has the competitiveness gene that beginning today we get to see why matters so much, the real season.

Watching the highlights he reminds me of Holloway.

Carbonneau or Lakovic? I think you mean Carbonneau if I had to guess

[Bluesfan1978]

Carbonneau. The amount of goals from pretty much everywhere in the O-zone and many from near the front of the net. There was one goal in the highlight pack you shared that he went through everyone against Quebec I think. Not sure if he has the same mentality for getting the puck back or not but thats part of development. What he does do well in driving the net and scoring from the hard areas is hard to teach. Any line could use that type of player.

[SameOldBlues]

Seattle, Stl in MN, and Pierre…what do you guys think of Kashawn Aitcheson? I love everything ive seen and read about him and think he’d be perfect for our defense, and if he isnt there when we pick at 19, he should be close enough to trade up for if the Blues scouting staff were to fall in love with em too.

[seattleblue]

Seattle, Stl in MN, and Pierre…what do you guys think of Kashawn Aitcheson? I love everything ive seen and read about him and think he’d be perfect for our defense, and if he isnt there when we pick at 19, he should be close enough to trade up for if the Blues scouting staff were to fall in love with em too.

I think there are four main defenders in this draft at the top

Schaefer because he has the hype of "is this guy the next Dennis Potvin" so yeah, he's #1
Jackson Smith because if you miss out on Schaefer this is the next one you hope can be an all arounder
Mrtka is a size project. Right now he looks like an impoverished man's Chara (I don't like his skating style or his puck skills at all), but he is only 18 so someone will take a chance on him. I am more than fine the Blues not taking on that project.
Aitcheson is a big boy, super physical. He has a definable attribute which is why he is standing out ahead of other defensemen who may be more well rounded like Reid or others. I watched him contribute to a goal yesterday as Barrie tried and failed to eliminate Burns' Kingston team. Note: he is one of the oldest players in his draft class & if he'd been born a week earlier would be Lukas Fischer's age. I would also suspect he will be taken before 19 because he is rising, from midseason ranked 15 to 9 on the Central Scouting ranking which indicates a stronger second half which is valued in a draft year. But again he is a tad older.

On that note, I was very impressed with the Game 6 Burns had yesterday. I love the way he was skating, it looked solid pro. Had Burns' team lost yesterday his junior career would have been over & he might be on his way to Springfield right now. But they won in OT to force Game 7 tomorrow. I bring it up because Aitcheson was involved in the first goal yesterday & was thinking about him.

I'm also not going to make a whole thread about it but our very best defensive prospect is Lindstein and those who have a VPN can probably easily stream his Game 2 of the SHL finals today. I think the game is at 1pm central. He is #4 and they'll be in black today. Lot of good players on his team. A defenseman who gets more ice time is Victor Soderstrom who Bill Armstrong drafted 11 overall a couple years ago.

I watched Jiricek have a fairly brutal defensive game yesterday and his team which was the higher seed get eliminated by Oshawa in 6 games. So it is possible Jiricek joins Springfield in the same way Fischer is currently on them. Unlikely to get playoff minutes. Springfield plays a best of three this week against Providence, they play Wednesday Friday Sunday for those who are interested.

Sorry for the tangents after the Aitcheson question, I don't feel like making a whole thread. If both Burns & Jiricek had gotten eliminated yesterday I would have.

[Emma bleeds blue]

I don't really know anything about the draft or the players in it, but I saw one mock draft had the Blues selecting Ravensbergen. I've picked up that this is a bit of a weaker draft, but it also seems goalies with round 1 potential is kind of rare too.

It has me curious - if you figure it may take 4-5 years to see if he can develop into an NHL goalie - it may line up with the end of Binner's contract/career. Just curious for the draftniks in the thread if this is something that would get you excited, or nah?

[seattleblue]

On the Ravensbergen question I was paying some attention since he is projected as the top goalie. He actually didn't have a great 7 game series (which his team lost) and my own goalie philosophy is please do not take them with a first round pick unless you have multiple of them and there's a truly outstanding one and then think about it even then. Long live Marek Schwarz. I do think the Blues could stand to draft another goalie this year but not with their first round pick.

Carbonneau. The amount of goals from pretty much everywhere in the O-zone and many from near the front of the net. There was one goal in the highlight pack you shared that he went through everyone against Quebec I think. Not sure if he has the same mentality for getting the puck back or not but thats part of development. What he does do well in driving the net and scoring from the hard areas is hard to teach. Any line could use that type of player.

I have read where Carbonneau has been compared to Boeser. I like what you picked up on about the nature of his goals, I definitely immediately thought "Holloway" was a good description of Carbonneau just double checking before I made an assumption. That is how I feel about it. Another Holloway available in the mid first? Done.

[kimzey59]

I don't really know anything about the draft or the players in it, but I saw one mock draft had the Blues selecting Ravensbergen. I've picked up that this is a bit of a weaker draft, but it also seems goalies with round 1 potential is kind of rare too.

It has me curious - if you figure it may take 4-5 years to see if he can develop into an NHL goalie - it may line up with the end of Binner's contract/career. Just curious for the draftniks in the thread if this is something that would get you excited, or nah?

I would be majorly ticked off if we put our 1st round pick into a goalie.
- Goaltending does not hold that much value to me.
- Goaltending is WAY too difficult to project for me to give a goalie a legit 1st round grade.
- We still have Zherenko and Ellis in Springfield and both/either are deserving of an NHL trial.

I do think that we need to grab a developmental goalie this year; simply because we haven't taken one since 2020. But not with our 1st round pick. You can use one of our two later picks to grab a decent goalie prospect.

[Emma bleeds blue]

On the Ravensbergen question I was paying some attention since he is projected as the top goalie. He actually didn't have a great 7 game series (which his team lost) and my own goalie philosophy is please do not take them with a first round pick unless you have multiple of them and there's a truly outstanding one and then think about it even then. Long live Marek Schwarz. I do think the Blues could stand to draft another goalie this year but not with their first round pick.

Carbonneau. The amount of goals from pretty much everywhere in the O-zone and many from near the front of the net. There was one goal in the highlight pack you shared that he went through everyone against Quebec I think. Not sure if he has the same mentality for getting the puck back or not but thats part of development. What he does do well in driving the net and scoring from the hard areas is hard to teach. Any line could use that type of player.

I have read where Carbonneau has been compared to Boeser. I like what you picked up on about the nature of his goals, I definitely immediately thought "Holloway" was a good description of Carbonneau just double checking before I made an assumption. That is how I feel about it. Another Holloway available in the mid first? Done.

Whoa, I had no idea the Blues had selected a goalie in the first round in the past 20 years. Looks like the Blues picked Binner at 88, and Bishop at 85. Maybe their winning formula is 3rd round goalies

[Emma bleeds blue]

I don't really know anything about the draft or the players in it, but I saw one mock draft had the Blues selecting Ravensbergen. I've picked up that this is a bit of a weaker draft, but it also seems goalies with round 1 potential is kind of rare too.

It has me curious - if you figure it may take 4-5 years to see if he can develop into an NHL goalie - it may line up with the end of Binner's contract/career. Just curious for the draftniks in the thread if this is something that would get you excited, or nah?

I would be majorly ticked off if we put our 1st round pick into a goalie.
- Goaltending does not hold that much value to me.
- Goaltending is WAY too difficult to project for me to give a goalie a legit 1st round grade.
- We still have Zherenko and Ellis in Springfield and both/either are deserving of an NHL trial.

I do think that we need to grab a developmental goalie this year; simply because we haven't taken one since 2020. But not with our 1st round pick. You can use one of our two later picks to grab a decent goalie prospect.

That's a great point - I saw Seattle mention Marek Schwarz (who I had no idea who he even was). Kind of seems like 1st round goalies are boom or bust. Appreciate the perspective!

[SameOldBlues]

Seattle, Stl in MN, and Pierre…what do you guys think of Kashawn Aitcheson? I love everything ive seen and read about him and think he’d be perfect for our defense, and if he isnt there when we pick at 19, he should be close enough to trade up for if the Blues scouting staff were to fall in love with em too.

I think there are four main defenders in this draft at the top

Schaefer because he has the hype of "is this guy the next Dennis Potvin" so yeah, he's #1
Jackson Smith because if you miss out on Schaefer this is the next one you hope can be an all arounder
Mrtka is a size project. Right now he looks like an impoverished man's Chara (I don't like his skating style or his puck skills at all), but he is only 18 so someone will take a chance on him. I am more than fine the Blues not taking on that project.
Aitcheson is a big boy, super physical. He has a definable attribute which is why he is standing out ahead of other defensemen who may be more well rounded like Reid or others. I watched him contribute to a goal yesterday as Barrie tried and failed to eliminate Burns' Kingston team. Note: he is one of the oldest players in his draft class & if he'd been born a week earlier would be Lukas Fischer's age. I would also suspect he will be taken before 19 because he is rising, from midseason ranked 15 to 9 on the Central Scouting ranking which indicates a stronger second half which is valued in a draft year. But again he is a tad older.

On that note, I was very impressed with the Game 6 Burns had yesterday. I love the way he was skating, it looked solid pro. Had Burns' team lost yesterday his junior career would have been over & he might be on his way to Springfield right now. But they won in OT to force Game 7 tomorrow. I bring it up because Aitcheson was involved in the first goal yesterday & was thinking about him.

I'm also not going to make a whole thread about it but our very best defensive prospect is Lindstein and those who have a VPN can probably easily stream his Game 2 of the SHL finals today. I think the game is at 1pm central. He is #4 and they'll be in black today. Lot of good players on his team. A defenseman who gets more ice time is Victor Soderstrom who Bill Armstrong drafted 11 overall a couple years ago.

I watched Jiricek have a fairly brutal defensive game yesterday and his team which was the higher seed get eliminated by Oshawa in 6 games. So it is possible Jiricek joins Springfield in the same way Fischer is currently on them. Unlikely to get playoff minutes. Springfield plays a best of three this week against Providence, they play Wednesday Friday Sunday for those who are interested.

Sorry for the tangents after the Aitcheson question, I don't feel like making a whole thread. If both Burns & Jiricek had gotten eliminated yesterday I would have.

No need to be sorry about the novel, I cant get enough talk about prospects from you guys.

Id be interested in Kimzey’s opinion on him too since I just saw a post from em.

Ps. I tried to just isolate your ‘Sorry for the tangent’ portion of your post so that there wouldnt be even more scrolling for those who mainly use their phones on tge site, but didnt know which part of the HTML to delete and which part needed to remain. Yippieeee

[STL fan in MN]

Seattle, Stl in MN, and Pierre…what do you guys think of Kashawn Aitcheson? I love everything ive seen and read about him and think he’d be perfect for our defense, and if he isnt there when we pick at 19, he should be close enough to trade up for if the Blues scouting staff were to fall in love with em too.

I like Aitcheson. He’s physical and plays hard. Seems like the type that could develop into a fan favorite type. Maybe like a Jackman if he hits his top end potential? He’s the sort of d-man I’d project around 25-30 most years but have him around 15-20 this year as it’s a bit weaker draft than most years.

I like him but honestly, I’d prefer he not be who the Blues draft. As Seattle mentioned, he’s one of the oldest players in this draft (first time eligible anyway). If he was born one week sooner, he would’ve been drafted a year ago. Lukas Fischer is not quite 2 weeks older than Aitcheson but one fell on one side of the NHL draft age cutoff and one on the other side. But both played their 18 year old seasons this year and honestly, I thought Fischer was better. But the main reason why Aitcheson wouldn’t be my optimal pick at 19 is because he’s a 6’1” LD. We have sooo many LD prospects already. I’m absolutely against drafting for need so if a LD is the clear cut BPA then I’d take the LD but to me, Aitcheson is in a fuzzy 10-15 player tier where any of them could really be considered BPA so for that, he wouldn’t be my pick. But I do like him and think he’ll have a good NHL career as a hard nosed 2nd to 3rd pairing d-man.

[STL fan in MN]

I don't really know anything about the draft or the players in it, but I saw one mock draft had the Blues selecting Ravensbergen. I've picked up that this is a bit of a weaker draft, but it also seems goalies with round 1 potential is kind of rare too.

It has me curious - if you figure it may take 4-5 years to see if he can develop into an NHL goalie - it may line up with the end of Binner's contract/career. Just curious for the draftniks in the thread if this is something that would get you excited, or nah?

I wouldn’t be happy with that. There’s a reason why so few goalies are drafted in the 1st round - that position is absolutely the hardest to project as a 17-18 year old. Lots of goalies start going off the board in rounds 2 and 3. There’s plenty of Round 1 success stories but also a ton of absolute whiffs as well when it comes to goalies.

Regarding Ravensbergen specifically, I don’t really see the hype. I bet he’ll go in the late 1st as this is a weaker draft but he’s the type id normally slot in the mid to late 2nd or even 3rd. I liked the goalie crops the last 2 drafts quite a bit more than this year’s crop. But I also don’t scout goalies extensively unless one really catches my eye. One hasn’t so far this year. But agree with Kimzey that it may be time to throw a flyer at a goalie with a mid to later round pick (keeping in mind the Blues don’t have a ton of picks this year). Like, if their Russian scout has an eye on the next Zherenko and wants to take a flyer on some kid like that in the 5th-7th round*, then go for it IMO.

*the Blues don’t currently own a 7th this year but it’s not hard to acquire one if they’d really want to. I see it every year. Some of the last picks in the draft getting swapped for a 7th the following year. This will happen if the team due up has no more players on their list and there’s a team that has a guy on their list they want to take a flyer on.

[SameOldBlues]

Seattle, Stl in MN, and Pierre…what do you guys think of Kashawn Aitcheson? I love everything ive seen and read about him and think he’d be perfect for our defense, and if he isnt there when we pick at 19, he should be close enough to trade up for if the Blues scouting staff were to fall in love with em too.

I like Aitcheson. He’s physical and plays hard. Seems like the type that could develop into a fan favorite type. Maybe like a Jackman if he hits his top end potential? He’s the sort of d-man I’d project around 25-30 most years but have him around 15-20 this year as it’s a bit weaker draft than most years.

I like him but honestly, I’d prefer he not be who the Blues draft. As Seattle mentioned, he’s one of the oldest players in this draft (first time eligible anyway). If he was born one week sooner, he would’ve been drafted a year ago. Lukas Fischer is not quite 2 weeks older than Aitcheson but one fell on one side of the NHL draft age cutoff and one on the other side. But both played their 18 year old seasons this year and honestly, I thought Fischer was better. But the main reason why Aitcheson wouldn’t be my optimal pick at 19 is because he’s a 6’1” LD. We have sooo many LD prospects already. I’m absolutely against drafting for need so if a LD is the clear cut BPA then I’d take the LD but to me, Aitcheson is in a fuzzy 10-15 player tier where any of them could really be considered BPA so for that, he wouldn’t be my pick. But I do like him and think he’ll have a good NHL career as a hard nosed 2nd to 3rd pairing d-man.

Oh wow, didnt realize he’s an overager or whatever its called. I could see where that’s drop em down a peg if he has a year headstart on his development compared to others. Id still be happy if they drafted him tho

[kimzey59]

Seattle, Stl in MN, and Pierre…what do you guys think of Kashawn Aitcheson? I love everything ive seen and read about him and think he’d be perfect for our defense, and if he isnt there when we pick at 19, he should be close enough to trade up for if the Blues scouting staff were to fall in love with em too.

I think there are four main defenders in this draft at the top

Schaefer because he has the hype of "is this guy the next Dennis Potvin" so yeah, he's #1
Jackson Smith because if you miss out on Schaefer this is the next one you hope can be an all arounder
Mrtka is a size project. Right now he looks like an impoverished man's Chara (I don't like his skating style or his puck skills at all), but he is only 18 so someone will take a chance on him. I am more than fine the Blues not taking on that project.
Aitcheson is a big boy, super physical. He has a definable attribute which is why he is standing out ahead of other defensemen who may be more well rounded like Reid or others. I watched him contribute to a goal yesterday as Barrie tried and failed to eliminate Burns' Kingston team. Note: he is one of the oldest players in his draft class & if he'd been born a week earlier would be Lukas Fischer's age. I would also suspect he will be taken before 19 because he is rising, from midseason ranked 15 to 9 on the Central Scouting ranking which indicates a stronger second half which is valued in a draft year. But again he is a tad older.

On that note, I was very impressed with the Game 6 Burns had yesterday. I love the way he was skating, it looked solid pro. Had Burns' team lost yesterday his junior career would have been over & he might be on his way to Springfield right now. But they won in OT to force Game 7 tomorrow. I bring it up because Aitcheson was involved in the first goal yesterday & was thinking about him.

I'm also not going to make a whole thread about it but our very best defensive prospect is Lindstein and those who have a VPN can probably easily stream his Game 2 of the SHL finals today. I think the game is at 1pm central. He is #4 and they'll be in black today. Lot of good players on his team. A defenseman who gets more ice time is Victor Soderstrom who Bill Armstrong drafted 11 overall a couple years ago.

I watched Jiricek have a fairly brutal defensive game yesterday and his team which was the higher seed get eliminated by Oshawa in 6 games. So it is possible Jiricek joins Springfield in the same way Fischer is currently on them. Unlikely to get playoff minutes. Springfield plays a best of three this week against Providence, they play Wednesday Friday Sunday for those who are interested.

Sorry for the tangents after the Aitcheson question, I don't feel like making a whole thread. If both Burns & Jiricek had gotten eliminated yesterday I would have.

No need to be sorry about the novel, I cant get enough talk about prospects from you guys.

Id be interested in Kimzey’s opinion on him too since I just saw a post from em.

Ps. I tried to just isolate your ‘Sorry for the tangent’ portion of your post so that there wouldnt be even more scrolling for those who mainly use their phones on tge site, but didnt know which part of the HTML to delete and which part needed to remain. Yippieeee

For me; I'm not overly wild about Aitcheson.
- As STL fan in MN just said; we are loaded on LHD prospects.
- I tend not to be enthused by prospects who's main attribute as a prospect is their physical play. That aspect of the game doesn't translate well the higher you get(it's not nearly as easy to intimidate an NHL'ers as it is a player in Jrs.) and it often distracts prospects from developing more meaningful skill sets. I'm not saying I want "soft" players, but there needs to be more than just a psychotic edge. I'm not sure I see it with Aitcheson. I think his actual defensive play needs a lot of work and I don't think his offensive ability is anything overly special. At the moment, I see Trouba more than anything else and that just doesn't really excite me. IF he's the only guy that slips to 19, I'd probably take him; but he's at the bottom of the list of the guys in that bracket IMO.