Looking fot info on Prospects

[Harry S Deals]

I don't have any knowledge, but second your question - especially around the defensive prospects. I'm not fully convinced the retool is over until the Blues graduate some younger defensive prospects to the NHL.

When Army says "the retool is over", he is not referring to the actual retool. He and we all know that Dvorsky, Lindstein, and Stenberg are not close to prime time NHL ready.

Army just doesn't want to ANSWER ANY MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RE-WHATEVER. He wants us all to believe that there is nothing to see here, folks.
Army wants to ANSWER TO ONE THING GOING FORWARD... "Are we 5% better in the regular season?", and guess what, we won't know that till March of next year. This is Army's way of not having to answer any questions about the RE-WHATEVER.

Everyone should be massively irritated about this.

hey dummy dvorsky will be here next year. he makes team out of camp.

Not so sure about that but that would be a great sign because it will mean DD improved a lot over this summer, as it is hes not ready

[STL fan in MN]

I don't have any knowledge, but second your question - especially around the defensive prospects. I'm not fully convinced the retool is over until the Blues graduate some younger defensive prospects to the NHL.

When Army says "the retool is over", he is not referring to the actual retool. He and we all know that Dvorsky, Lindstein, and Stenberg are not close to prime time NHL ready.

Army just doesn't want to ANSWER ANY MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RE-WHATEVER. He wants us all to believe that there is nothing to see here, folks.
Army wants to ANSWER TO ONE THING GOING FORWARD... "Are we 5% better in the regular season?", and guess what, we won't know that till March of next year. This is Army's way of not having to answer any questions about the RE-WHATEVER.

Everyone should be massively irritated about this.

hey dummy dvorsky will be here next year. he makes team out of camp.

Not so sure about that but that would be a great sign because it will mean DD improved a lot over this summer, as it is hes not ready

I think there’s a decent chance Dvorsky makes it out of camp next season. But it’ll depend on how much he can improve his game over the summer (World Championships will help although I bet Slovakia gets slaughtered by the top teams), who all Army adds do the roster this summer, injuries etc. And he may have to work his way in on LW at first as well.

My guess is he starts in Springfield next season but it’s not remotely out of touch to think he could make the team.

[BluesDom]

Here are two I like--

Pekarcik is in the QMJHL finals today. He's gonna be an NHL player IMO.
Looks like a player to me. Great at every level. Lots of Swagger.
Hes 6'2 200lbs. 19 yrs old. Time to thicken up. Loaded with talent.

Pekarcik's hockey sense is legitimate. He can see when a play is closed and when he needs to switch to a new lane or a different option and he does that at quite a high pace. He's also involved away from the puck, and he understands attacking layers, that it's better for the offence if players aren't clogged but taking more space on the ice. He drives inside, passes quickly, and can dangle through sticks. -EliteProspects

https://chl.ca/lhjmq/ todays game


Another third rounder from 23--
Quinton Burns had a nice year. He's 20. So we will see him in the AHL.
Looks like a legit prospect with some size and grit.

ELITE PROSPECTS--Quinton Burns is proven capable of handling long minutes and tough defensive assignments. His strength and balance will enable him to box out opponents from the front of the net and his mobility to neutralize passing lanes and deny space. Burns has all of the advanced transition ideas, he spins off checks, attacks the inside, looks cross-ice for options, and even manipulates incoming pressure


Lindstein Dvorsky and Stenberg are works in progress. My excitement has waned some. Still excited about. Not sure any will be top line guys.
Mrsic--amazing numbers--small guy. Small guys do seem to have a place in NHL. (Maybe not on Blues)
Lots of others to keep an eye on. Kaskimaki is ok--kind of middling.

[BluesDom]

Hockey writers:
Juraj Pekarcik has been one of the biggest risers in the draft world following the U18 World Junior Championship where he helped lead Slovakia to a fourth place finish. Dalibor Dvorsky has received much of the credit for Slovakia’s great stretch run and for pushing Canada to overtime in the Bronze medal game, but Pekarcik was a massive reason for the team’s success as well, and his rise up draft boards reflects that.

Pekarcik is one of the youngest players in the 2023 Draft class, an incredibly valuable piece of context for analyzing his game to this point. Only a small handful of days separate him from being eligible for the 2024 Draft, so while he may be behind some older draft eligible prospects like a Nate Danielson (who has quite an early birthday), he has plenty of time to make up some ground.

[STL fan in MN]

Here are two I like--

Pekarcik is in the QMJHL finals today. He's gonna be an NHL player IMO.
Looks like a player to me. Great at every level. Lots of Swagger.
Hes 6'2 200lbs. 19 yrs old. Time to thicken up. Loaded with talent.

Pekarcik's hockey sense is legitimate. He can see when a play is closed and when he needs to switch to a new lane or a different option and he does that at quite a high pace. He's also involved away from the puck, and he understands attacking layers, that it's better for the offence if players aren't clogged but taking more space on the ice. He drives inside, passes quickly, and can dangle through sticks. -EliteProspects

https://chl.ca/lhjmq/ todays game


Another third rounder from 23--
Quinton Burns had a nice year. He's 20. So we will see him in the AHL.
Looks like a legit prospect with some size and grit.

ELITE PROSPECTS--Quinton Burns is proven capable of handling long minutes and tough defensive assignments. His strength and balance will enable him to box out opponents from the front of the net and his mobility to neutralize passing lanes and deny space. Burns has all of the advanced transition ideas, he spins off checks, attacks the inside, looks cross-ice for options, and even manipulates incoming pressure


Lindstein Dvorsky and Stenberg are works in progress. My excitement has waned some. Still excited about. Not sure any will be top line guys.
Mrsic--amazing numbers--small guy. Small guys do seem to have a place in NHL. (Maybe not on Blues)
Lots of others to keep an eye on. Kaskimaki is ok--kind of middling.

Big fan of Pekarcik. High hockey sense and playmaking ability. Ok shot. Backchecks hard. Projects as a good 3LW IMO…which is somewhat of a problem as we already have Holloway and Neighbours at LW…and Buchy and Bolduc who are probably better on the left side but will play the right side bc that’s what we need…and then also Stenberg, Kaskimaki, Stancl etc. And if Dvorsky doesn’t stick at C he’d be a LW too.

But agree Pekarcik is good and one to keep an eye on. I’d bet it’s his team, Moncton, and the London Knights that battle it out in the final of the Memorial Cup in a month or so. Both teams are absolute juggernauts.

Why has your excitement waned on our 3 2023 1st rounders?

[BluesDom]

I dont know any more than the next guy.

And they say the AHL is a hard league. (so there is that)
Stenberg--Not a big guy either. Average size, very average first season. Hopefully next year in AHL is a good one.
Dvorsky--was a bit underwhelmed by him as the #10 overall pick. Hes only 19! so I have to be patient. He dropped off later in the season in AHL. NHL debut was ok.

Lindstein--I guess hes somewhat out of sight out of mind. Maybe we will see him soon. His numbers are mehh. Hes not big. Hes not offensive. I dont understand how he becomes an NHL player. I dont know much though.


When drafted as 1strounders--I was maybe expecting these 3 to set the world on fire. Bought into hype. I think all 3 are good. Probably need to lower my expectations. Hopefully all 3 can contribute on our NHL Roster. (or help us get the right player for this team as part of a trade.)

[Nublues69]

I don't have any knowledge, but second your question - especially around the defensive prospects. I'm not fully convinced the retool is over until the Blues graduate some younger defensive prospects to the NHL.

When Army says "the retool is over", he is not referring to the actual retool. He and we all know that Dvorsky, Lindstein, and Stenberg are not close to prime time NHL ready.

Army just doesn't want to ANSWER ANY MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RE-WHATEVER. He wants us all to believe that there is nothing to see here, folks.
Army wants to ANSWER TO ONE THING GOING FORWARD... "Are we 5% better in the regular season?", and guess what, we won't know that till March of next year. This is Army's way of not having to answer any questions about the RE-WHATEVER.

Everyone should be massively irritated about this.

hey dummy dvorsky will be here next year. he makes team out of camp.

Not so sure about that but that would be a great sign because it will mean DD improved a lot over this summer, as it is hes not ready

I think he was ready. I think that Snuggy was just a step ahead and army had promised to play him if he signed. also Dvorsky is a year younger. I have a feeling that after getting a taste and after the tourney this spring summer he will put in the work and be here.

[STL fan in MN]

I dont know any more than the next guy.

And they say the AHL is a hard league. (so there is that)
Stenberg--Not a big guy either. Average size, very average first season. Hopefully next year in AHL is a good one.
Dvorsky--was a bit underwhelmed by him as the #10 overall pick. Hes only 19! so I have to be patient. He dropped off later in the season in AHL. NHL debut was ok.

Lindstein--I guess hes somewhat out of sight out of mind. Maybe we will see him soon. His numbers are mehh. Hes not big. Hes not offensive. I dont understand how he becomes an NHL player. I dont know much though.


When drafted as 1strounders--I was maybe expecting these 3 to set the world on fire. Bought into hype. I think all 3 are good. Probably need to lower my expectations. Hopefully all 3 can contribute on our NHL Roster. (or help us get the right player for this team as part of a trade.)

Keep in mind all 3 were teenagers playing in pro leagues. And not like the German 2nd division pro league but the AHL, probably the 2nd best pro league in the world, and the SHL…pretty much on par with the AHL but on bigger ice. All 3 of them did fantastically given their age. All 3 would’ve absolutely dominated Jrs. In fact, Dvorsky did dominate Jrs at age 18. So much so he moved to the AHL at age 19, something very few do.

You don’t see how Lindstein reaches the NHL? He has way above average hockey sense, is a plus skater and his outlets and gaps are very good. He’s not likely to put up a lot of points as he plays a safe game but from a defensive standpoint, he’s at the very top of players his age. Think of a Jonas Brodin sort of player.

Stenberg “only” put up 17 pts in 38 games after he joined the T-birds mid season but again, he’s 19. If that was his point total at age 22, 23, yeah that’d be concerning. But him even playing in that league and producing at all is simply an accomplishment at age 19.

[BluesDom]

Makes sense. Good perspective.

[LGB73]

Broberg and Holloway didn't do much of anything until they were 22+ so I'd give a couple of teenagers some time.

[John Cocktoastin]

New article. Don't sleep on Pekarcik. Other prospects get more attention, but he's going to be an effective NHLer.

Link

[LewisL]

Any hope left for Zach Dean?

[STL fan in MN]

Any hope left for Zach Dean?

Yes, absolutely. He retuned and played last two games of the season. Scored a goal and an assist his first night back. Then played in the 3 playoff games scoring a nice backhand shot from a nice feed from Dvorsky.

There’s no getting around it. It’s not good he missed most of the season to injury. He played in only 14 games total (regular season and playoffs). But he didn’t play poorly. He was just injured. So it likely sets back his timetable a year but no data is better than bad data.

Hopefully he’s healthy now and can have a gold summer. I expect him to be one of the top Cs in Springfield next season. He has ok skill (the type you can get by with on an NHL 3rd line), is a plus skater, good defensively, uses his body well…really all the things that make for a solid bottom-6 sort of player. I could see him being our fulltime 3 or 4C by the following season. Main thing for him is to just stay healthy so he can continue to grow his game a progress as he should.

[Mr Novaks]

Here are two I like--

Pekarcik is in the QMJHL finals today. He's gonna be an NHL player IMO.
Looks like a player to me. Great at every level. Lots of Swagger.
Hes 6'2 200lbs. 19 yrs old. Time to thicken up. Loaded with talent.

Pekarcik's hockey sense is legitimate. He can see when a play is closed and when he needs to switch to a new lane or a different option and he does that at quite a high pace. He's also involved away from the puck, and he understands attacking layers, that it's better for the offence if players aren't clogged but taking more space on the ice. He drives inside, passes quickly, and can dangle through sticks. -EliteProspects

https://chl.ca/lhjmq/ todays game


Another third rounder from 23--
Quinton Burns had a nice year. He's 20. So we will see him in the AHL.
Looks like a legit prospect with some size and grit.

ELITE PROSPECTS--Quinton Burns is proven capable of handling long minutes and tough defensive assignments. His strength and balance will enable him to box out opponents from the front of the net and his mobility to neutralize passing lanes and deny space. Burns has all of the advanced transition ideas, he spins off checks, attacks the inside, looks cross-ice for options, and even manipulates incoming pressure


Lindstein Dvorsky and Stenberg are works in progress. My excitement has waned some. Still excited about. Not sure any will be top line guys.
Mrsic--amazing numbers--small guy. Small guys do seem to have a place in NHL. (Maybe not on Blues)
Lots of others to keep an eye on. Kaskimaki is ok--kind of middling.

Big fan of Pekarcik. High hockey sense and playmaking ability. Ok shot. Backchecks hard. Projects as a good 3LW IMO…which is somewhat of a problem as we already have Holloway and Neighbours at LW…and Buchy and Bolduc who are probably better on the left side but will play the right side bc that’s what we need…and then also Stenberg, Kaskimaki, Stancl etc. And if Dvorsky doesn’t stick at C he’d be a LW too.

But agree Pekarcik is good and one to keep an eye on. I’d bet it’s his team, Moncton, and the London Knights that battle it out in the final of the Memorial Cup in a month or so. Both teams are absolute juggernauts.

Why has your excitement waned on our 3 2023 1st rounders?

I was wondering about the progress of Stancil. I know he probably projects to be a bottom six guy, just wondering where he was at progress wise. He seemed to have a lot of grit in his game when I saw him in the juniors tournament.

[STL fan in MN]

Here are two I like--

Pekarcik is in the QMJHL finals today. He's gonna be an NHL player IMO.
Looks like a player to me. Great at every level. Lots of Swagger.
Hes 6'2 200lbs. 19 yrs old. Time to thicken up. Loaded with talent.

Pekarcik's hockey sense is legitimate. He can see when a play is closed and when he needs to switch to a new lane or a different option and he does that at quite a high pace. He's also involved away from the puck, and he understands attacking layers, that it's better for the offence if players aren't clogged but taking more space on the ice. He drives inside, passes quickly, and can dangle through sticks. -EliteProspects

https://chl.ca/lhjmq/ todays game


Another third rounder from 23--
Quinton Burns had a nice year. He's 20. So we will see him in the AHL.
Looks like a legit prospect with some size and grit.

ELITE PROSPECTS--Quinton Burns is proven capable of handling long minutes and tough defensive assignments. His strength and balance will enable him to box out opponents from the front of the net and his mobility to neutralize passing lanes and deny space. Burns has all of the advanced transition ideas, he spins off checks, attacks the inside, looks cross-ice for options, and even manipulates incoming pressure


Lindstein Dvorsky and Stenberg are works in progress. My excitement has waned some. Still excited about. Not sure any will be top line guys.
Mrsic--amazing numbers--small guy. Small guys do seem to have a place in NHL. (Maybe not on Blues)
Lots of others to keep an eye on. Kaskimaki is ok--kind of middling.

Big fan of Pekarcik. High hockey sense and playmaking ability. Ok shot. Backchecks hard. Projects as a good 3LW IMO…which is somewhat of a problem as we already have Holloway and Neighbours at LW…and Buchy and Bolduc who are probably better on the left side but will play the right side bc that’s what we need…and then also Stenberg, Kaskimaki, Stancl etc. And if Dvorsky doesn’t stick at C he’d be a LW too.

But agree Pekarcik is good and one to keep an eye on. I’d bet it’s his team, Moncton, and the London Knights that battle it out in the final of the Memorial Cup in a month or so. Both teams are absolute juggernauts.

Why has your excitement waned on our 3 2023 1st rounders?

I was wondering about the progress of Stancil. I know he probably projects to be a bottom six guy, just wondering where he was at progress wise. He seemed to have a lot of grit in his game when I saw him in the juniors tournament.

Stancl will be in Springfield next season. Played 10 games at the end of this season for them actually. His Jr team stunk so didn’t make the WHL playoffs, so once that season was over, the e sent him to Springfield and he played most of the games down the stretch.

While he finished 2nd in scoring in the WJC this year, I don’t see him providing a ton of offense at the NHL level. But he has a nice shot and works hard so he’s the type that’s going to put up some points simply from his compete level, driving to the net and causing turnovers. He’s currently 6’3” and around 200 lbs. My guess is he’ll end up around 215 once he’s done filling out. So he’s a big boy and isn’t afraid to use his size.

The main concern with him when he was drafted was his skating. He’s improved that IMO. It’s not a strength and likely never will be but he’s gotten it up to average IMO. He can play C but he probably projects more as a LW. I’ll be interested to see where Springfield plays him next season but for now, I’ll assume LW. Side note: we simply have a boatload of LW and left shooting prospects…on top of a very left slanted group in the NHL. If/when the Blues start making trades to round out the roster, I’d expect them to try to dip from their pool of lefties, particularly the ones that project as LWs exclusively, as there simply won’t be enough roster spots for them all anyway.

I see Stancl as a potential 3rd or 4th line LW. He has all the intangibles you’d look for in a bottom-6 winger. Not a future difference maker but if you can get an NHL regular from the 4th round then that’s just gravy. He really developed well in Jrs but now is a big jump up to the pro game. His first full season in Springfield will tell us a lot.

[seattleblue]

STL fan in MN: The more I see/hear you and others rave about Fischer, the more excited I get about him. But clear something up for me please, so I can set my expectations accordingly…

If he reaches his top potential, would you say he has a legitimate shot at being…

1. A #1 Dman?
2. A top pairing Dman?
3. A Top 4 Dman?

Thanks, Ill hang up and listen while my expectations glisten.

Fischer's stratosphere level of overachievement = Pronger.
The components of Fischer's game, used in combination at an elite performance level = Pronger type performer
His skating at its high end directly reminds me of Pronger's skating glide. Their bodies look alike out there.
Fischer is mean, plays with an edge, in the middle of scrums often instigated by his presence, has a bomb of a shot. Leader, young captain. Would be a first rounder this year if a couple weeks younger.
I do not believe he will turn into Pronger, I am saying his top end glimpses are in a Pronger direction.

Fischer's foreseeable overachievement = top pair dman
I am personally kind of here. High hopes. Partly because his dad (who left the NHL like Bouwmeester did) is Director of Player Evaluation for an NHL team. I think they work together privately behind the scenes.

Fischer's realistic projection = top 4 dman, a Mikkola type (Mikkola now)

Bottom pairing seems like an underachievement for this player to me.

For Sarnia next year, it will be interesting if his goal scoring (he was 5th in the OHL for defensemen in goals this year) remains an improving area.