Snuggerud scouting report

[John Cocktoastin]

If you have some time to kill, here's video of every Snuggerud Gopher goal.

Link

[82birds]

No guru, but from a pure hockey observation, for me, what separates goal scorers from pure goal scorers are four things:

- They love to shoot
- They know where their shot is going
- They can hit the tough angle shots anywhere on the ice
- The puck gets by the goalie before he can flinch

To me, Snuggerud checks all these boxes.

He won't flash amazing speed. Or dazzle you with stickwork. He just knows how to shoot. And that's exciting.

Thank you! You guys are all getting me excited to see him in uniform!

seconded !

[Bluesfan1978]

For what it’s worth Dave Reid on the NHL network said Snuggerud has great straight line speed. He also said he’s surprised he’s in the lineup.

[Sweet Jones]

hey guys - I was going to post this in one of the other Snuggerud topics, but they seemed to have gone a little sideways. I was curious to hear from some of the board's gurus on the minor league / development / draft guys. I read the professional scouting report that says Snuggerud is a good forechecker and has a good shot. I'm just curious, what type of center do you think would best compliment his skills? For discussion's sake, which center in the Blues system would best compliment him?

I know Dvorsky is a rookie too, so a pairing of those two seems unlikely in the immediate future, but is that something that we may see down the road?

Thanks!
-E

As soon as Snuggerud enters the league his shot will be within the top 10-20% in the NHL. He has an absolute laser whether you’re talking a wrist shot, slapper or one-timer. And he has good accuracy too. But he still has plenty to work on to round out the rest of his game. He’s not a great skater and can lose coverage at times. Getting the coaches to trust him out there 5 on 5 will likely be his biggest hurdle. I’d like to see him play a game or two yet this season so he can experience the NHL pace so he truly knows what he needs to work on this summer to give himself a legit shot at making the team in camp next season.

As for the ideal C for him, it’s Thomas or that type of distributor. Dvorsky is more of a scoring center. Not that you can’t put two shooters together but generally a guy that tends to shoot meshes best with a guy that tends to set up plays. That and both Dvorsky and Snuggerud share the same main weakness, skating, so another reason why they’re likely not a great combo going forward.

But not everyone can play with Thomas. Snuggy is going to have to learn to be able to produce with lesser Cs to get an opportunity on the top line with Thomas.

For those of us who havent seen, any thoughts on how his wrister compares to Tarasenko’s?

VERY similar.

About equal on the release.
Vladdy probably has a little more velo(simply because of his weight).
Snuggles might be more accurate.

Result's TBD.

Agreed. I hesitate to compare a prospect to a proven shooter like Tarasenko but in comparing him to the KHL version of Tarasenko, there’s sure a lot of similarities. I like, I may even give Snuggy the edge in accuracy. But the one thing Tarasenko had that made his shot so deadly was his deception. He had this ability to angle the blade of his stick in a way to not give away where he was aiming. Only a few players ever have I seen have that ability. Snuggy doesn’t have that but his shot is clearly elite.

Definitely see what you guys meant about his wrister. Nasty.

[Emma bleeds blue]

hey guys - I was going to post this in one of the other Snuggerud topics, but they seemed to have gone a little sideways. I was curious to hear from some of the board's gurus on the minor league / development / draft guys. I read the professional scouting report that says Snuggerud is a good forechecker and has a good shot. I'm just curious, what type of center do you think would best compliment his skills? For discussion's sake, which center in the Blues system would best compliment him?

I know Dvorsky is a rookie too, so a pairing of those two seems unlikely in the immediate future, but is that something that we may see down the road?

Thanks!
-E

As soon as Snuggerud enters the league his shot will be within the top 10-20% in the NHL. He has an absolute laser whether you’re talking a wrist shot, slapper or one-timer. And he has good accuracy too. But he still has plenty to work on to round out the rest of his game. He’s not a great skater and can lose coverage at times. Getting the coaches to trust him out there 5 on 5 will likely be his biggest hurdle. I’d like to see him play a game or two yet this season so he can experience the NHL pace so he truly knows what he needs to work on this summer to give himself a legit shot at making the team in camp next season.

As for the ideal C for him, it’s Thomas or that type of distributor. Dvorsky is more of a scoring center. Not that you can’t put two shooters together but generally a guy that tends to shoot meshes best with a guy that tends to set up plays. That and both Dvorsky and Snuggerud share the same main weakness, skating, so another reason why they’re likely not a great combo going forward.

But not everyone can play with Thomas. Snuggy is going to have to learn to be able to produce with lesser Cs to get an opportunity on the top line with Thomas.

For those of us who havent seen, any thoughts on how his wrister compares to Tarasenko’s?

VERY similar.

About equal on the release.
Vladdy probably has a little more velo(simply because of his weight).
Snuggles might be more accurate.

Result's TBD.

Agreed. I hesitate to compare a prospect to a proven shooter like Tarasenko but in comparing him to the KHL version of Tarasenko, there’s sure a lot of similarities. I like, I may even give Snuggy the edge in accuracy. But the one thing Tarasenko had that made his shot so deadly was his deception. He had this ability to angle the blade of his stick in a way to not give away where he was aiming. Only a few players ever have I seen have that ability. Snuggy doesn’t have that but his shot is clearly elite.

Definitely see what you guys meant about his wrister. Nasty.

That was a laser!

[Sweet Jones]

hey guys - I was going to post this in one of the other Snuggerud topics, but they seemed to have gone a little sideways. I was curious to hear from some of the board's gurus on the minor league / development / draft guys. I read the professional scouting report that says Snuggerud is a good forechecker and has a good shot. I'm just curious, what type of center do you think would best compliment his skills? For discussion's sake, which center in the Blues system would best compliment him?

I know Dvorsky is a rookie too, so a pairing of those two seems unlikely in the immediate future, but is that something that we may see down the road?

Thanks!
-E

As soon as Snuggerud enters the league his shot will be within the top 10-20% in the NHL. He has an absolute laser whether you’re talking a wrist shot, slapper or one-timer. And he has good accuracy too. But he still has plenty to work on to round out the rest of his game. He’s not a great skater and can lose coverage at times. Getting the coaches to trust him out there 5 on 5 will likely be his biggest hurdle. I’d like to see him play a game or two yet this season so he can experience the NHL pace so he truly knows what he needs to work on this summer to give himself a legit shot at making the team in camp next season.

As for the ideal C for him, it’s Thomas or that type of distributor. Dvorsky is more of a scoring center. Not that you can’t put two shooters together but generally a guy that tends to shoot meshes best with a guy that tends to set up plays. That and both Dvorsky and Snuggerud share the same main weakness, skating, so another reason why they’re likely not a great combo going forward.

But not everyone can play with Thomas. Snuggy is going to have to learn to be able to produce with lesser Cs to get an opportunity on the top line with Thomas.

For those of us who havent seen, any thoughts on how his wrister compares to Tarasenko’s?

VERY similar.

About equal on the release.
Vladdy probably has a little more velo(simply because of his weight).
Snuggles might be more accurate.

Result's TBD.

Agreed. I hesitate to compare a prospect to a proven shooter like Tarasenko but in comparing him to the KHL version of Tarasenko, there’s sure a lot of similarities. I like, I may even give Snuggy the edge in accuracy. But the one thing Tarasenko had that made his shot so deadly was his deception. He had this ability to angle the blade of his stick in a way to not give away where he was aiming. Only a few players ever have I seen have that ability. Snuggy doesn’t have that but his shot is clearly elite.

Definitely see what you guys meant about his wrister. Nasty.

That was a laser!

Indeed. The PP could be deadly in the near future with him and Bolduc operating from the slot.

[seattleblue]

His straight line speed is obvious.
His shot, you can see the corners he is going to pick.

He has made several eye popping passes that indicate great vision for someone with such a shooter's rep.
(I remember a certain 91 whose passing was underrated.)

He also said that he spent time specifically working on his board compete and board battles this last year at Minnesota. You see him doing it against college kids it is one thing. Lifting NHL vet defensemen sticks and a split second later making a crisp feed somewhere is another.

His youthful exuberance that allows him to play with no pressure just needs the same regular time other guys need. He is highly aware out there. He sees the plays developing and so his repetitions have to catch up with his brain on the execution side. Also obviously needs to put on more weight.

I feel very optimistic that this is a top two line RW for a good while in the NHL. By 26-27 season at the latest a fixture up there.
21 isn't even 23, so this is really on track to be good.

[somni]

I've been impressed with Snuggerud as well. For a kid to just come in straight from college, he's fitting in and getting better.

I like his passing. He seems to have a high IQ. He'll get better in finding spots for him to unleash his shot. They finally put him in the Ovechkin spot on the power play. He's also been a surprise on his board play. Nothing amazing, but he's better than I thought he'd be.

He's young and needs to bulk up. What a future to look forward to.

[TBone]

I've been impressed with Snuggerud as well. For a kid to just come in straight from college, he's fitting in and getting better.

I like his passing. He seems to have a high IQ. He'll get better in finding spots for him to unleash his shot. They finally put him in the Ovechkin spot on the power play. He's also been a surprise on his board play. Nothing amazing, but he's better than I thought he'd be.

He's young and needs to bulk up. What a future to look forward to.

+1. Good post.