Justin Carboneau Segment on Blues Digest

[Quas]

STL fan in MN wrote: ↑20 Jul 2026 12:51 pm
bud white wrote: ↑20 Jul 2026 07:16 am
I think we need to pump the brakes just a little bit on this one...

The NHL is a man's league. He played 3 games duirng the AHL playoffs - a step below the N - and had 2 minutes in penalties. That's it. It was a great learning experience for him, but he needs to demonstrate that he belongs in the A before he's promoted to the NHL roster. Let's see how he does with a full year under his belt.

He may have owned the Q, but he knew the league already and is physically stronger and more mature than most of his opponents. He's done nothing yet to indicate he will burst through the door to be an impact player in the NHL.
Agree with this. Except I wouldn’t even say he owned the Q. He finished 9th in league scoring as a 19 yr old, 10th if you want to go by pts/game. His production actually went down from the year prior. His main weaknesses in his draft year were his vision, playmaking and defensive play. All of those weaknesses remain glaring. I saw pretty much zero growth in those areas this past season. He has a very nice shot and absolutely has a nose for the net but he tends to just wait for his teammates to do the dirty work, wait for them to get him the puck and then his shot and scoring ability would lead to a lot of goals. You can do that and find success in Jrs but that won’t fly or work remotely as well in the pros. I really hope he truly believes the things he says as he says he’s been working on all of these things and he shows up to camp with a big adjustment to his game. But he’s been saying the right things for 2 years now but with virtually no difference on the ice. So tbh, I don’t really believe he’s working on these things. Or if he is, he’s not really making progress. He’s very talented but he also has some pretty notable red flags IMO. He’s much less of a sure bet and farther away from being an impact NHLer than I think a lot here realize.

I think part of the reason that Blues fans in general think he can make the team out of camp is due to Armstrong saying he had a chance to make the team out of camp last year and him pumping his tires this offseason as well. I think Carbonneau may have went back to the Q so he could attend Blues camp and try to make the team, and this was partially due to Armstrong's comments. I guess it's good to have confidence in your draft picks, but over confidence can hurt their development. I hope Carbonneau comes in and kills it in camp, but I'm not expecting it and will be pleasantly surprised if he does.

[bud white]

The new schedule is going to make things far more complicated for young players trying to crack the NHL roster - such as JC. The reason? We're down to four preseason games. So there's not much time to impress anyone in game situations.

The shortened preseason schedule will make it incredibly difficult for younger players who still have Junior eligibility too.

[STL fan in MN]

STL fan in MN wrote: ↑20 Jul 2026 12:51 pm
bud white wrote: ↑20 Jul 2026 07:16 am
I think we need to pump the brakes just a little bit on this one...

The NHL is a man's league. He played 3 games duirng the AHL playoffs - a step below the N - and had 2 minutes in penalties. That's it. It was a great learning experience for him, but he needs to demonstrate that he belongs in the A before he's promoted to the NHL roster. Let's see how he does with a full year under his belt.

He may have owned the Q, but he knew the league already and is physically stronger and more mature than most of his opponents. He's done nothing yet to indicate he will burst through the door to be an impact player in the NHL.
Agree with this. Except I wouldn’t even say he owned the Q. He finished 9th in league scoring as a 19 yr old, 10th if you want to go by pts/game. His production actually went down from the year prior. His main weaknesses in his draft year were his vision, playmaking and defensive play. All of those weaknesses remain glaring. I saw pretty much zero growth in those areas this past season. He has a very nice shot and absolutely has a nose for the net but he tends to just wait for his teammates to do the dirty work, wait for them to get him the puck and then his shot and scoring ability would lead to a lot of goals. You can do that and find success in Jrs but that won’t fly or work remotely as well in the pros. I really hope he truly believes the things he says as he says he’s been working on all of these things and he shows up to camp with a big adjustment to his game. But he’s been saying the right things for 2 years now but with virtually no difference on the ice. So tbh, I don’t really believe he’s working on these things. Or if he is, he’s not really making progress. He’s very talented but he also has some pretty notable red flags IMO. He’s much less of a sure bet and farther away from being an impact NHLer than I think a lot here realize.

I think part of the reason that Blues fans in general think he can make the team out of camp is due to Armstrong saying he had a chance to make the team out of camp last year and him pumping his tires this offseason as well. I think Carbonneau may have went back to the Q so he could attend Blues camp and try to make the team, and this was partially due to Armstrong's comments. I guess it's good to have confidence in your draft picks, but over confidence can hurt their development. I hope Carbonneau comes in and kills it in camp, but I'm not expecting it and will be pleasantly surprised if he does.

IMO, fans read way too much into Army’s comments. EVERY player has a chance to make the team in camp. No GM would ever ever say a guy doesn’t have a chance (even if in reality, he really doesn’t). I read what he said a year ago as nothing more than a GM pumping the tires of his recent 1st rd pick. Of course he wants the kid to be motivated. And I haven’t heard anything from Army this summer that would deviate from that. Fans and many from the media somehow haven’t figured out how to read Army even though he’s been saying basically the same things for 16+ years.

Who knows if those comments influenced Carbo’s decision to return to the Q. I hadn’t ever thought of that actually. My guess is it wasn’t part of his decision. Carbo said publicly why he returned so I’d just go with that - that he wanted to try to win a championship with his buddies as the Armada were building to be good this past season. He stuck with the familiar and safe path where he knew he’d likely be successful over the stretch goal and pushing himself against higher competition alongside new teammates he didn’t know super well yet. I would agree I was disappointed he returned to the Q. The coaches at BC wouldn’t have put up with him consistently being on the wrong side of pucks. His game likely would’ve grown a lot more if he had to face that challenge…or maybe he would’ve basically refused or had been unable to adapt and he would’ve fallen flat on his face in college. We’ll never know as he didn’t test himself.

Contrast that with Lawrence, who is 2 birth years younger, who wasn’t afraid to challenge himself and take on larger and older college opponents.

Carbo has a ton of confidence. But sometimes I wonder if all that confidence blinds him to his deficiencies. Like, does he not see it? I recall reading an article from a couple months ago where Carbo said he had a recent talk with his coach and said how it made him realize how he needed to play a certain way to make it as a pro. To not always blow the zone early. He was in his 4th year in the Q and he just then finally realized that?! Confidence with a good view of reality is great but confidence with a misguided view of reality and an inflated view of himself and where he actually is and what he needs to work on can be really bad. I don’t want to sound the alarm bells but I just see some pretty big red flags with Carbo.

[UMR-alum-05]

STL fan in MN wrote: ↑20 Jul 2026 12:51 pm
bud white wrote: ↑20 Jul 2026 07:16 am
I think we need to pump the brakes just a little bit on this one...

The NHL is a man's league. He played 3 games duirng the AHL playoffs - a step below the N - and had 2 minutes in penalties. That's it. It was a great learning experience for him, but he needs to demonstrate that he belongs in the A before he's promoted to the NHL roster. Let's see how he does with a full year under his belt.

He may have owned the Q, but he knew the league already and is physically stronger and more mature than most of his opponents. He's done nothing yet to indicate he will burst through the door to be an impact player in the NHL.
Agree with this. Except I wouldn’t even say he owned the Q. He finished 9th in league scoring as a 19 yr old, 10th if you want to go by pts/game. His production actually went down from the year prior. His main weaknesses in his draft year were his vision, playmaking and defensive play. All of those weaknesses remain glaring. I saw pretty much zero growth in those areas this past season. He has a very nice shot and absolutely has a nose for the net but he tends to just wait for his teammates to do the dirty work, wait for them to get him the puck and then his shot and scoring ability would lead to a lot of goals. You can do that and find success in Jrs but that won’t fly or work remotely as well in the pros. I really hope he truly believes the things he says as he says he’s been working on all of these things and he shows up to camp with a big adjustment to his game. But he’s been saying the right things for 2 years now but with virtually no difference on the ice. So tbh, I don’t really believe he’s working on these things. Or if he is, he’s not really making progress. He’s very talented but he also has some pretty notable red flags IMO. He’s much less of a sure bet and farther away from being an impact NHLer than I think a lot here realize.

I think part of the reason that Blues fans in general think he can make the team out of camp is due to Armstrong saying he had a chance to make the team out of camp last year and him pumping his tires this offseason as well. I think Carbonneau may have went back to the Q so he could attend Blues camp and try to make the team, and this was partially due to Armstrong's comments. I guess it's good to have confidence in your draft picks, but over confidence can hurt their development. I hope Carbonneau comes in and kills it in camp, but I'm not expecting it and will be pleasantly surprised if he does.

IMO, fans read way too much into Army’s comments. EVERY player has a chance to make the team in camp. No GM would ever ever say a guy doesn’t have a chance (even if in reality, he really doesn’t). I read what he said a year ago as nothing more than a GM pumping the tires of his recent 1st rd pick. Of course he wants the kid to be motivated. And I haven’t heard anything from Army this summer that would deviate from that. Fans and many from the media somehow haven’t figured out how to read Army even though he’s been saying basically the same things for 16+ years.

Who knows if those comments influenced Carbo’s decision to return to the Q. I hadn’t ever thought of that actually. My guess is it wasn’t part of his decision. Carbo said publicly why he returned so I’d just go with that - that he wanted to try to win a championship with his buddies as the Armada were building to be good this past season. He stuck with the familiar and safe path where he knew he’d likely be successful over the stretch goal and pushing himself against higher competition alongside new teammates he didn’t know super well yet. I would agree I was disappointed he returned to the Q. The coaches at BC wouldn’t have put up with him consistently being on the wrong side of pucks. His game likely would’ve grown a lot more if he had to face that challenge…or maybe he would’ve basically refused or had been unable to adapt and he would’ve fallen flat on his face in college. We’ll never know as he didn’t test himself.

Contrast that with Lawrence, who is 2 birth years younger, who wasn’t afraid to challenge himself and take on larger and older college opponents.

Carbo has a ton of confidence. But sometimes I wonder if all that confidence blinds him to his deficiencies. Like, does he not see it? I recall reading an article from a couple months ago where Carbo said he had a recent talk with his coach and said how it made him realize how he needed to play a certain way to make it as a pro. To not always blow the zone early. He was in his 4th year in the Q and he just then finally realized that?! Confidence with a good view of reality is great but confidence with a misguided view of reality and an inflated view of himself and where he actually is and what he needs to work on can be really bad. I don’t want to sound the alarm bells but I just see some pretty big red flags with Carbo.

I'm not in position to challenge your views.

All im going to say is last offseason everyone on this board was down on Jiricek. Various criticisms; he's this, he's that. Too lightweight. Too wreckless. Etc. etc. now look at it.

Let's see how this year shakes out.

[STL fan in MN]

The new schedule is going to make things far more complicated for young players trying to crack the NHL roster - such as JC. The reason? We're down to four preseason games. So there's not much time to impress anyone in game situations.

The shortened preseason schedule will make it incredibly difficult for younger players who still have Junior eligibility too.

Yep. Having only 4 preseason games is going to make it that much harder for young guys to get a look and force their way onto NHL rosters as coaches will want to have the team they want for at least a couple games.

Not sure if you’re referring to Carbo or not with the junior eligibility comment but Carbo will be considered 20 for the 2026-27 season so he’ll be with Springfield. It’ll absolutely impact the junior aged guys though.

[DawgDad]

STL fan in MN wrote: ↑20 Jul 2026 12:51 pm
bud white wrote: ↑20 Jul 2026 07:16 am
I think we need to pump the brakes just a little bit on this one...

The NHL is a man's league. He played 3 games duirng the AHL playoffs - a step below the N - and had 2 minutes in penalties. That's it. It was a great learning experience for him, but he needs to demonstrate that he belongs in the A before he's promoted to the NHL roster. Let's see how he does with a full year under his belt.

He may have owned the Q, but he knew the league already and is physically stronger and more mature than most of his opponents. He's done nothing yet to indicate he will burst through the door to be an impact player in the NHL.
Agree with this. Except I wouldn’t even say he owned the Q. He finished 9th in league scoring as a 19 yr old, 10th if you want to go by pts/game. His production actually went down from the year prior. His main weaknesses in his draft year were his vision, playmaking and defensive play. All of those weaknesses remain glaring. I saw pretty much zero growth in those areas this past season. He has a very nice shot and absolutely has a nose for the net but he tends to just wait for his teammates to do the dirty work, wait for them to get him the puck and then his shot and scoring ability would lead to a lot of goals. You can do that and find success in Jrs but that won’t fly or work remotely as well in the pros. I really hope he truly believes the things he says as he says he’s been working on all of these things and he shows up to camp with a big adjustment to his game. But he’s been saying the right things for 2 years now but with virtually no difference on the ice. So tbh, I don’t really believe he’s working on these things. Or if he is, he’s not really making progress. He’s very talented but he also has some pretty notable red flags IMO. He’s much less of a sure bet and farther away from being an impact NHLer than I think a lot here realize.

I think part of the reason that Blues fans in general think he can make the team out of camp is due to Armstrong saying he had a chance to make the team out of camp last year and him pumping his tires this offseason as well. I think Carbonneau may have went back to the Q so he could attend Blues camp and try to make the team, and this was partially due to Armstrong's comments. I guess it's good to have confidence in your draft picks, but over confidence can hurt their development. I hope Carbonneau comes in and kills it in camp, but I'm not expecting it and will be pleasantly surprised if he does.

IMO, fans read way too much into Army’s comments. EVERY player has a chance to make the team in camp. No GM would ever ever say a guy doesn’t have a chance (even if in reality, he really doesn’t). I read what he said a year ago as nothing more than a GM pumping the tires of his recent 1st rd pick. Of course he wants the kid to be motivated. And I haven’t heard anything from Army this summer that would deviate from that. Fans and many from the media somehow haven’t figured out how to read Army even though he’s been saying basically the same things for 16+ years.

Who knows if those comments influenced Carbo’s decision to return to the Q. I hadn’t ever thought of that actually. My guess is it wasn’t part of his decision. Carbo said publicly why he returned so I’d just go with that - that he wanted to try to win a championship with his buddies as the Armada were building to be good this past season. He stuck with the familiar and safe path where he knew he’d likely be successful over the stretch goal and pushing himself against higher competition alongside new teammates he didn’t know super well yet. I would agree I was disappointed he returned to the Q. The coaches at BC wouldn’t have put up with him consistently being on the wrong side of pucks. His game likely would’ve grown a lot more if he had to face that challenge…or maybe he would’ve basically refused or had been unable to adapt and he would’ve fallen flat on his face in college. We’ll never know as he didn’t test himself.

Contrast that with Lawrence, who is 2 birth years younger, who wasn’t afraid to challenge himself and take on larger and older college opponents.

Carbo has a ton of confidence. But sometimes I wonder if all that confidence blinds him to his deficiencies. Like, does he not see it? I recall reading an article from a couple months ago where Carbo said he had a recent talk with his coach and said how it made him realize how he needed to play a certain way to make it as a pro. To not always blow the zone early. He was in his 4th year in the Q and he just then finally realized that?! Confidence with a good view of reality is great but confidence with a misguided view of reality and an inflated view of himself and where he actually is and what he needs to work on can be really bad. I don’t want to sound the alarm bells but I just see some pretty big red flags with Carbo.

Let the kids be kids. He likely starts in the A and Ott will make a man out him.

[bud white]

The new schedule is going to make things far more complicated for young players trying to crack the NHL roster - such as JC. The reason? We're down to four preseason games. So there's not much time to impress anyone in game situations.

The shortened preseason schedule will make it incredibly difficult for younger players who still have Junior eligibility too.

Yep. Having only 4 preseason games is going to make it that much harder for young guys to get a look and force their way onto NHL rosters as coaches will want to have the team they want for at least a couple games.

Not sure if you’re referring to Carbo or not with the junior eligibility comment but Carbo will be considered 20 for the 2026-27 season so he’ll be with Springfield. It’ll absolutely impact the junior aged guys though.

Not referring to Carbo. I know he'll be in A next year. It was more of a general observation.

[STL fan in MN]

STL fan in MN wrote: ↑20 Jul 2026 12:51 pm
bud white wrote: ↑20 Jul 2026 07:16 am
I think we need to pump the brakes just a little bit on this one...

The NHL is a man's league. He played 3 games duirng the AHL playoffs - a step below the N - and had 2 minutes in penalties. That's it. It was a great learning experience for him, but he needs to demonstrate that he belongs in the A before he's promoted to the NHL roster. Let's see how he does with a full year under his belt.

He may have owned the Q, but he knew the league already and is physically stronger and more mature than most of his opponents. He's done nothing yet to indicate he will burst through the door to be an impact player in the NHL.
Agree with this. Except I wouldn’t even say he owned the Q. He finished 9th in league scoring as a 19 yr old, 10th if you want to go by pts/game. His production actually went down from the year prior. His main weaknesses in his draft year were his vision, playmaking and defensive play. All of those weaknesses remain glaring. I saw pretty much zero growth in those areas this past season. He has a very nice shot and absolutely has a nose for the net but he tends to just wait for his teammates to do the dirty work, wait for them to get him the puck and then his shot and scoring ability would lead to a lot of goals. You can do that and find success in Jrs but that won’t fly or work remotely as well in the pros. I really hope he truly believes the things he says as he says he’s been working on all of these things and he shows up to camp with a big adjustment to his game. But he’s been saying the right things for 2 years now but with virtually no difference on the ice. So tbh, I don’t really believe he’s working on these things. Or if he is, he’s not really making progress. He’s very talented but he also has some pretty notable red flags IMO. He’s much less of a sure bet and farther away from being an impact NHLer than I think a lot here realize.

I think part of the reason that Blues fans in general think he can make the team out of camp is due to Armstrong saying he had a chance to make the team out of camp last year and him pumping his tires this offseason as well. I think Carbonneau may have went back to the Q so he could attend Blues camp and try to make the team, and this was partially due to Armstrong's comments. I guess it's good to have confidence in your draft picks, but over confidence can hurt their development. I hope Carbonneau comes in and kills it in camp, but I'm not expecting it and will be pleasantly surprised if he does.

IMO, fans read way too much into Army’s comments. EVERY player has a chance to make the team in camp. No GM would ever ever say a guy doesn’t have a chance (even if in reality, he really doesn’t). I read what he said a year ago as nothing more than a GM pumping the tires of his recent 1st rd pick. Of course he wants the kid to be motivated. And I haven’t heard anything from Army this summer that would deviate from that. Fans and many from the media somehow haven’t figured out how to read Army even though he’s been saying basically the same things for 16+ years.

Who knows if those comments influenced Carbo’s decision to return to the Q. I hadn’t ever thought of that actually. My guess is it wasn’t part of his decision. Carbo said publicly why he returned so I’d just go with that - that he wanted to try to win a championship with his buddies as the Armada were building to be good this past season. He stuck with the familiar and safe path where he knew he’d likely be successful over the stretch goal and pushing himself against higher competition alongside new teammates he didn’t know super well yet. I would agree I was disappointed he returned to the Q. The coaches at BC wouldn’t have put up with him consistently being on the wrong side of pucks. His game likely would’ve grown a lot more if he had to face that challenge…or maybe he would’ve basically refused or had been unable to adapt and he would’ve fallen flat on his face in college. We’ll never know as he didn’t test himself.

Contrast that with Lawrence, who is 2 birth years younger, who wasn’t afraid to challenge himself and take on larger and older college opponents.

Carbo has a ton of confidence. But sometimes I wonder if all that confidence blinds him to his deficiencies. Like, does he not see it? I recall reading an article from a couple months ago where Carbo said he had a recent talk with his coach and said how it made him realize how he needed to play a certain way to make it as a pro. To not always blow the zone early. He was in his 4th year in the Q and he just then finally realized that?! Confidence with a good view of reality is great but confidence with a misguided view of reality and an inflated view of himself and where he actually is and what he needs to work on can be really bad. I don’t want to sound the alarm bells but I just see some pretty big red flags with Carbo.

I'm not in position to challenge your views.

All im going to say is last offseason everyone on this board was down on Jiricek. Various criticisms; he's this, he's that. Too lightweight. Too wreckless. Etc. etc. now look at it.

Let's see how this year shakes out.

Yep. Hopefully Carbo takes a big step in his age 20 season like Jiricek did in his age 19 season. We really need him to.

That said, I think some are now too high on Jiricek. He got back to about where many projected him to get to pre-ACL injury. I’m now seeing some thinking he’s likely to develop into a #1 d-man in the NHL and I just don’t see that.