Otto Stenberg

[Backesdraft]

Not a chance.
Building from within was only a sells tag to get him another day. Once that day became another yesterday. Youths went back to getting more seasoning.

We spent a year sucking all the offensive abilities out of Otto. So he could grind the bottom six. Then he went out and hired more grinders to fill the bottom two lines.

I’ve always assumed you were a ASOGG sock and this post confirmed it. Thanks for that.

[DawgDad]

Dube might make the team. I would view him as a placeholder..

The clock has run out for him on the Blues. If he had more NHL games played at his age and more with significantly higher NHL production, then possibly he would be a fit. He's going to be that Veteran guy for balance with younger prospects in Springfield, or maybe traded to another team if he clears waivers. We've a lot in the system at the Left-Wing position.

I think there is a good chance Dude is a 40 or maybe even 50 point NHL player...which is probably not good enough for a top 9 LW NHL spot on the Blues but would probably be a huge contributor on a cash strapped team with top heavy talent

If he does make the team it would have to be at RW or due to a LW injury. He's not a guy to be overly concerned about. I just think he has a fighting chance, akin to Berggren. And if he does make the team he's probably wearing a 'For Sale' sign.

[Cahokanut]

Not a chance.
Building from within was only a sells tag to get him another day. Once that day became another yesterday. Youths went back to getting more seasoning.

We spent a year sucking all the offensive abilities out of Otto. So he could grind the bottom six. Then he went out and hired more grinders to fill the bottom two lines.

I’ve always assumed you were a ASOGG sock and this post confirmed it. Thanks for that.

Good thinking. Now put me on ignore

[STL fan in MN]

Dube might make the team. I would view him as a placeholder..

The clock has run out for him on the Blues. If he had more NHL games played at his age and more with significantly higher NHL production, then possibly he would be a fit. He's going to be that Veteran guy for balance with younger prospects in Springfield, or maybe traded to another team if he clears waivers. We've a lot in the system at the Left-Wing position.

I think there is a good chance Dude is a 40 or maybe even 50 point NHL player...which is probably not good enough for a top 9 LW NHL spot on the Blues but would probably be a huge contributor on a cash strapped team with top heavy talent

Why do you think Dube could be a 40-50 pt NHLer? He had 45 pts for Calgary 4 seasons ago but he’s 28 now and has been out of the league 2 years. I would be mighty surprised if he could get back to that level, especially now that he should be on the downward slope of his career and has been out of the league 2 years.

That said, I can’t think of a team where a 40-50 pt forward wouldn’t be in their top-9. That’s pretty easily 2nd line caliber production, 1st line production if we’re talking 50 pts. Even just a player pacing for that much would pretty easily be in their top-9 of just about any team in the league.

[skilles]

What’s everyone’s honest expectations for him? Curious

Post draft he was viewed as a reliable middle six guy with good IQ, decent skill, and that’s pretty much how I still view him

Is that still the projection for you all? Anyone see more upside? I’d like to hope so given how talented Ivar is

I still believe he will be a top 9 swiss army knife.

Yes, but as the first call up I hope (after the first injury)

From my untrained eye, I think Kaskimaki might be more ready for the first call-up. Sternberg has passed the eye test and flashed a little bit of skill, but he really hasn't produced much in North America so far.

Kaskimaki netted 20 goals with the T-Birds and was (only) -8 on that team. But then again, Stenberg was a +2, so

The numbers say Kaskimaki but my eye test says Stenberg for sure but I think we probably see Kaskimaki as well at some point.

The eye test for me is not really close. I think Stenberg is ready for full time NHL but I like the depth in a first callup situation and the 13th forward will pretty much be a full time NHL player.

This is probably my starting line up.

Holloway/Thomas/Snuggs
Mcmichael/McTavish/Buch
Neighbours/Suter/Dvorsky
Toropchenko/Finley/Walker

[dhsux]

What’s everyone’s honest expectations for him? Curious

Post draft he was viewed as a reliable middle six guy with good IQ, decent skill, and that’s pretty much how I still view him

Is that still the projection for you all? Anyone see more upside? I’d like to hope so given how talented Ivar is

I still see him as a likely middle-6 Swiss Army knife type. He won’t be a main needle mover in terms of offense but one of those solid middle of the lineup players that does all the little things well that helps a team win.

So no, I don’t see higher upside than that. His younger brother is simply better. But Otto’s still going to be a solid player for us. He doesn’t need to be as good as Ivar to be of value to us.

As for if he’ll make the team out of camp? I’d give him around 50/50 odds. If I had to pencil in the lineup today, I’d say probably not but really only because he’s waiver exempt and we will have a lot of forwards in camp.

Let’s assume the Blues end camp with the usual 14 forwards. I’d say 12 of them are pretty much already spoken for - Thomas, Holloway, Snuggy, McT, McM, Buch, Suter, Dvo, Neighbours, Johnson, Berggren and Torpo.

My guess is Walker and Finley will win the last 2 forward spots. But Stenberg just needs to beat out either of those guys to earn a spot. Or there be an injury in camp and that’d open up a spot too.

Dube and Sundqvist will also be in that same tier battling for the last couple spots too.

I think guys like Kaskimaki, Dean or Peterson would really have to step up to get into that conversation but they’ll be options as well. Kaski probably with the best odds of those 3. But Otto looked notably better than Kaski in the NHL last season so that probably gives him an edge (although Kaski looked better in the AHL).

So simply from a numbers game and the fact he’s waiver exempt would suggest Otto likely starts in Springfield but that’s what camp is for. We’ll just have to see who brings it and who maybe underperforms a bit. There should be a lot of really good battles in camp this year. No free lunch this time around.

But regardless of if Otto is on the roster to start the season, my guess is he plays a majority of this season with the Blues when it’s all said and done.

In the limited time with the Blues Otto has shown the dog on a bone tenacity he gets in on for checks and battles well this is what is going to get him ice time. Monty wants battlers on his roster. Idk is he a quicker vs of Schwartzy ? Otto will eventually slide in well with Holloway and Neighbours however the lines shake out it also wouldn't surprise me to see him score some gola sooner than later

Good take Harry I'm with you on that.

Dog on a bone suits him well!

[skilles]

Dube might make the team. I would view him as a placeholder..

The clock has run out for him on the Blues. If he had more NHL games played at his age and more with significantly higher NHL production, then possibly he would be a fit. He's going to be that Veteran guy for balance with younger prospects in Springfield, or maybe traded to another team if he clears waivers. We've a lot in the system at the Left-Wing position.

I think there is a good chance Dude is a 40 or maybe even 50 point NHL player...which is probably not good enough for a top 9 LW NHL spot on the Blues but would probably be a huge contributor on a cash strapped team with top heavy talent

Why do you think Dube could be a 40-50 pt NHLer? He had 45 pts for Calgary 4 seasons ago but he’s 28 now and has been out of the league 2 years. I would be mighty surprised if he could get back to that level, especially now that he should be on the downward slope of his career and has been out of the league 2 years.

That said, I can’t think of a team where a 40-50 pt forward wouldn’t be in their top-9. That’s pretty easily 2nd line caliber production, 1st line production if we’re talking 50 pts. Even just a player pacing for that much would pretty easily be in their top-9 of just about any team in the league.

Why do you think he wouldn't do as well at 28 as he did at 23/24?

The Blues would be a team where he would still likely not be a top 3 LW or top 9 in general

Holloway, Thomas,Snugg,McMichael,McTavish,Buch,JN,Dvo,Suter

Lets split the middle and say he is a 45 point NHL LW, Whose spot you giving him?

[STL fan in MN]

Dube might make the team. I would view him as a placeholder..

The clock has run out for him on the Blues. If he had more NHL games played at his age and more with significantly higher NHL production, then possibly he would be a fit. He's going to be that Veteran guy for balance with younger prospects in Springfield, or maybe traded to another team if he clears waivers. We've a lot in the system at the Left-Wing position.

I think there is a good chance Dude is a 40 or maybe even 50 point NHL player...which is probably not good enough for a top 9 LW NHL spot on the Blues but would probably be a huge contributor on a cash strapped team with top heavy talent

Why do you think Dube could be a 40-50 pt NHLer? He had 45 pts for Calgary 4 seasons ago but he’s 28 now and has been out of the league 2 years. I would be mighty surprised if he could get back to that level, especially now that he should be on the downward slope of his career and has been out of the league 2 years.

That said, I can’t think of a team where a 40-50 pt forward wouldn’t be in their top-9. That’s pretty easily 2nd line caliber production, 1st line production if we’re talking 50 pts. Even just a player pacing for that much would pretty easily be in their top-9 of just about any team in the league.

Why do you think he wouldn't do as well at 28 as he did at 23/24?

The Blues would be a team where he would still likely not be a top 3 LW or top 9 in general

Holloway, Thomas,Snugg,McMichael,McTavish,Buch,JN,Dvo,Suter

Lets split the middle and say he is a 45 point NHL LW, Whose spot you giving him?

Because NHL forwards tend to peak at age 24/25 when it comes to offensive output.



And even more-so because he hasn’t even played in the NHL the last 2 seasons. Logic would suggest his skills have very likely dulled and that would be exasperated by him now being behind his likely peak.

And obviously Dube wouldn’t be top-9 for the Blues. You said you thought he could score 40-50 pts. My point was that that caliber of player would easily be in any team’s top-9. Dube pretty clearly isn’t that caliber of player.

I think Dube has a solid shot to earn a spot but he’ll have a lot of competition and as things stand today, I think it’s more likely he’s waived and sent to Springfield than him making the team.

[skilles]

Dube might make the team. I would view him as a placeholder..

The clock has run out for him on the Blues. If he had more NHL games played at his age and more with significantly higher NHL production, then possibly he would be a fit. He's going to be that Veteran guy for balance with younger prospects in Springfield, or maybe traded to another team if he clears waivers. We've a lot in the system at the Left-Wing position.

I think there is a good chance Dude is a 40 or maybe even 50 point NHL player...which is probably not good enough for a top 9 LW NHL spot on the Blues but would probably be a huge contributor on a cash strapped team with top heavy talent

Why do you think Dube could be a 40-50 pt NHLer? He had 45 pts for Calgary 4 seasons ago but he’s 28 now and has been out of the league 2 years. I would be mighty surprised if he could get back to that level, especially now that he should be on the downward slope of his career and has been out of the league 2 years.

That said, I can’t think of a team where a 40-50 pt forward wouldn’t be in their top-9. That’s pretty easily 2nd line caliber production, 1st line production if we’re talking 50 pts. Even just a player pacing for that much would pretty easily be in their top-9 of just about any team in the league.

Why do you think he wouldn't do as well at 28 as he did at 23/24?

The Blues would be a team where he would still likely not be a top 3 LW or top 9 in general

Holloway, Thomas,Snugg,McMichael,McTavish,Buch,JN,Dvo,Suter

Lets split the middle and say he is a 45 point NHL LW, Whose spot you giving him?

Because NHL forwards tend to peak at age 24/25 when it comes to offensive output.



And even more-so because he hasn’t even played in the NHL the last 2 seasons. Logic would suggest his skills have very likely dulled and that would be exasperated by him now being behind his likely peak.

And obviously Dube wouldn’t be top-9 for the Blues. You said you thought he could score 40-50 pts. My point was that that caliber of player would easily be in any team’s top-9. Dube pretty clearly isn’t that caliber of player.

I think Dube has a solid shot to earn a spot but he’ll have a lot of competition and as things stand today, I think it’s more likely he’s waived and sent to Springfield than him making the team.

That chart says its pretty likely a player holds pretty similar at 23 and 28. The chart also indicates he would have likely scored more in the years he missed.

I actually think in some ways its more likely because he has been out awhile. Those numbers are highly effected by the grind of NHL hockey. I do acknowledge there are also problems with the time off as well and had he not played as well in the AHL I would totally agree.

I mean I don't think its for sure but I think there is a good chance he does well and its a pretty unique situation so I'm not sold charts and trends are that applicable.

I also don't think 45 points gets you on every teams top 9. For example I'm not dropping JN out because he scores 40 points and Dube can put up 45 or even 50.

[wiscrev]

Not a chance.
Building from within was only a sells tag to get him another day. Once that day became another yesterday. Youths went back to getting more seasoning.

We spent a year sucking all the offensive abilities out of Otto. So he could grind the bottom six. Then he went out and hired more grinders to fill the bottom two lines.

I’ve always assumed you were a ASOGG sock and this post confirmed it. Thanks for that.

Good thinking. Now put me on ignore

Well, you certainly are worthy of it!

[a smell of green grass]

I'm curious to see if Otto and Ivar ever get to play on the same team. Not sure how strong their desire is for this, but it is reportedly a strong wish.

I doubt that it will ever happen, but I hope that it does. I wouldn't want that sort of distraction in STL, but it would be fine to watch from afar.

P.S. I've got no socks or other IDs. I'm just one guy, and I work alone. That said. Cohakanut appears to be a fine chap, and I like reading his comments.

[UMR-alum-05]

Here's how I see it.

Holloway, Thomas, Snuggerud, McMichael, McTavish, Buch, Neighbours, Dvorsky, Suter, Johnston, Finley, Torp, Berggren, pending some trade, these guys are locks to make the team. There could be some movement. Finley to waivers or Suter traded being the most likely possible movement. But these two both are key to the penalty kill and I view them both as near locks here to start the season. That's 13 forwards. I view Berggren as 13.

Stenberg isn't going to be the 14th forward. If he isn't playing every night he needs to be in the AHL playing games. If there's a top 9 injury he's the first guy up.

Dube, Walker, Sunny are all candidates to be the 14th forward. Whoever earns it. Dube is possibly the best option but we all know they love Sunny, so don't be surprised. Any of these 3 are veterans and should be fine and capable of staying ready to play while mostly just practicing and sitting in the pressbox.

Carbonneau is at best a late season call up after someone like Suter is moved at the deadline, if that happens. Long way to go to evaluate that. If this team is in the thick if the playoff hunt then they won't flip Suter if he's a key contributor and we won't see Carbonneau at all possibly. Who knows. That's 9 months from now.

[zamadoo]

What’s everyone’s honest expectations for him? Curious

Post draft he was viewed as a reliable middle six guy with good IQ, decent skill, and that’s pretty much how I still view him

Is that still the projection for you all? Anyone see more upside? I’d like to hope so given how talented Ivar is

I still believe he will be a top 9 swiss army knife.

Yes, but as the first call up I hope (after the first injury)

From my untrained eye, I think Kaskimaki might be more ready for the first call-up. Sternberg has passed the eye test and flashed a little bit of skill, but he really hasn't produced much in North America so far.

Kaskimaki netted 20 goals with the T-Birds and was (only) -8 on that team. But then again, Stenberg was a +2, so

The numbers say Kaskimaki but my eye test says Stenberg for sure but I think we probably see Kaskimaki as well at some point.

The eye test for me is not really close. I think Stenberg is ready for full time NHL but I like the depth in a first callup situation and the 13th forward will pretty much be a full time NHL player.

This is probably my starting line up.

Holloway/Thomas/Snuggs
Mcmichael/McTavish/Buch
Neighbours/Suter/Dvorsky
Toropchenko/Finley/Walker

I agree with you on this, skilles, and I think it's a good idea to let Stenberg dominate a bit as a pro. He's an NHLer for sure, but no reason to make him grind through on the 4th line and press box when he can play top-6 minutes in Springfield, building more chemistry with the other prospects as they continue their dominance from the end of last season. It could be good for his confidence to not trudge through it and get a chance to feel some scoring and winning and leadership like he does with Sweden. Make those Springfield guys force your hand.

[BleedingBleu]

At times, I think I must be a crazy homer, because I’m fairly excited by the prospects of Otto Stenberg on this team. However, unless he’s pushing Neighbours or Buch to the third line to start the season, I would like him to get top line minutes at the AHL level to further his development at the beginning of the season, then bring him up when there’s a major injury.

I don’t mind the idea of him playing on the third line w/Dvorsky & Buch/Neighbours, because I imagine that’s where he will find himself by seasons end. The thing is, I expect Dvorsky, Neighbours, & Buch will all find opportunities to get play on the 2nd Line before Otto.

Add in opportunities to play on special teams and they’d basically wedge Stenberg’s development into more of a Grinder than 2-Way Forward.

[Bluesfan1978]

No idea what Dube would produce with the Blues but with Springfield he played on the 1st line and 1st PP which usually played 90 plus seconds of the PP each time. I don’t see that translating to a 40 point 3rd liner in the NHL. I actually thought Pekarcik getting 35 points while playing most of his time on the 4th line with limited PP time was more impressive than Kasimaki getting 45 points on mostly the top line after his stint with the Blues and number 1 PP time.

[Backesdraft]

What’s everyone’s honest expectations for him? Curious

Post draft he was viewed as a reliable middle six guy with good IQ, decent skill, and that’s pretty much how I still view him

Is that still the projection for you all? Anyone see more upside? I’d like to hope so given how talented Ivar is

I still believe he will be a top 9 swiss army knife.

Yes, but as the first call up I hope (after the first injury)

From my untrained eye, I think Kaskimaki might be more ready for the first call-up. Sternberg has passed the eye test and flashed a little bit of skill, but he really hasn't produced much in North America so far.

Kaskimaki netted 20 goals with the T-Birds and was (only) -8 on that team. But then again, Stenberg was a +2, so

The numbers say Kaskimaki but my eye test says Stenberg for sure but I think we probably see Kaskimaki as well at some point.

The eye test for me is not really close. I think Stenberg is ready for full time NHL but I like the depth in a first callup situation and the 13th forward will pretty much be a full time NHL player.

This is probably my starting line up.

Holloway/Thomas/Snuggs
Mcmichael/McTavish/Buch
Neighbours/Suter/Dvorsky
Toropchenko/Finley/Walker

I agree with you on this, skilles, and I think it's a good idea to let Stenberg dominate a bit as a pro. He's an NHLer for sure, but no reason to make him grind through on the 4th line and press box when he can play top-6 minutes in Springfield, building more chemistry with the other prospects as they continue their dominance from the end of last season. It could be good for his confidence to not trudge through it and get a chance to feel some scoring and winning and leadership like he does with Sweden. Make those Springfield guys force your hand.

Not to be a contrarian but there is no way RJ isn’t on the opening night roster unless he’s injured. They didn’t sign him to a 3 year, 6 million dollar deal to sit him.

I think your top 9 is spot on and that’s how I see it shaking out too (maybe flip Suter and Dvo). But that 4th line has RJ on it for sure.