Best-Case Scenarios for Blues’ Top Prospects

Veteran players like captain Brayden Schenn, Brandon Saad, and Kevin Hayes have had disappointing seasons this year, which has made a lot of Blues fans eager to see the potential younger players in the system who have yet to make their NHL debuts.

Over the last few seasons, the Blues have built their prospect pool into one of the league’s most complete pipelines. Their young talent is climbing the ranks among the best, and it is no surprise given some of the talent within the organization.

The Blues took over the World Juniors this past winter, sending seven prospects to Sweden for the tournament showcasing the league’s best young players. General manager Doug Armstrong has a vision for the future, and with the roster going through some significant turnover, the expectations for these prospects are high. With several of them being looked at as top-line players, the ceiling and potential of these prospects are limitless.

Jimmy Snuggerud

The top name amongst the Blues’ young talent is current Minnesota forward Jimmy Snuggerud. The team’s 2022 first-round pick has flashed a lot of potential with an innate ability to shoot the puck and score, which the Blues have desperately needed this season. While linemates Matthew Knies and Logan Cooley departed for their respective teams in the NHL, Snuggerud returned to the University of Minnesota for another run at the Frozen Four. Even without Cooley and Knies this season, his production is still impressive, with 19 goals and 31 points. He has taken the mantle as the leader of the Golden Gophers and has played well in his expected final season before leaping to the NHL.

Snuggerud made national headlines with his outstanding play at the World Juniors this past winter, leading to the United States winning the gold medal. With eight points in six games, including five goals, he impressed many with his shot and ability to score from tight windows and difficult angles. Most project him to become a top-six forward, and rightfully so, but many Blues fans and analysts believe the 19-year-old can become the lethal scoring threat the top line has lacked due to Kyrou’s inconsistent play. If he can become a top liner for this team, adding him to Kyrou and Thomas would create a balanced and dynamic top line the Blues have lacked for the last few seasons. Thomas’ playmaking ability with Kyrou’s scoring prowess and Snuggerud’s deadly shot would give the Blues a fast and young line to lead them for seasons to come. 

Having those high-level expectations for Snuggerud might seem unfair to a 19-year-old kid. Still, he has a lot of qualities that would allow him to develop and elevate within the organization quickly. Even if he fails to meet the expectations of a true first-line winger, his floor is still a top-six forward with 30-goal potential. His shooting ability is at the level the Blues have not seen since the likes of Vladimir Tarasenko and David Perron, so even if the rest of his game doesn’t develop, his threat to score will be something defenses will have to pay attention to, which could open up other players to contribute offensively.

Dalibor Dvorsky

When Armstrong traded away crucial veterans at the NHL trade deadline last year, he acquired an abundance of assets, including two additional first-round picks from the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers. While some expected him to package these picks for NHL-ready assets, the longest-tenured general manager in the NHL decided to keep all those draft picks, leading the Blues to make three selections in the first round of this past year’s draft. The first of which became Slovak center, Dalibor Dvorsky. 

Dvorsky, a bigger-bodied centerman, has a combination of great size and skill, making him an intriguing prospect for the Blues to develop. Taken 10th overall, he was the highest Blues selection in an NHL Draft since 2008, where they took eventual captain Alex Pietrangelo with the eighth selection.

After struggling to find ice time in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), Dvorsky was loaned to the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and has dominated the competition. Since arriving in Sudbury, he is seventh in the league in goals with 33, totaling 66 points in 42 games. He has shown aggression and willingness to shoot the puck and has also been steady in the faceoff dot. Like many Blues prospects, he played in this season’s World Junior Championship, totaling six points in five games, including three goals. Going up against some of the league’s best young stars, he held his own and helped shift the focus of the Blues’ young core to a national audience.

What makes Dvorsky so enticing, like Snuggerud, is his ability to shoot the puck and find difficult angles to put the puck in the net. With the Blues’ lack of secondary scoring from their forwards, he projects to slot in as the franchise’s second-line center behind Thomas in the lineup.

Learning from the likes of Thomas and Schenn will give Dvorsky an advantage and make his transition from the OHL to the NHL easier. It will allow him to be a valuable point producer for the team. He can be an elite producer for the Blues and has the frame to be effective on the defensive side of the puck. If he reaches his ceiling, the Blues will have a great one-two punch down center ice, with Tomas leading the charge and Dvorsky following suit.

Zachary Bolduc

Although he made his NHL debut on Feb. 22, the sample size is small on 2021 first-round pick Zachary Bolduc. Appearing in just four games this season so far, the Blues envision him to be a tremendous complementary offensive piece for their future. When he was drafted 17th overall in 2021, his offensive upside immediately appeared on screen. Although less flashy of a player than his counterparts Snuggerud and Dvorsky, he is a direct player with a knack for finding the soft spots in the offensive zone and translating the open ice into points.

Bolduc had been in the American Hockey League (AHL) playing for the Springfield Thunderbirds before being recalled last month to provide an offensive spark for a struggling Blues team. During his time in Springfield, the coaching staff strongly emphasized developing his 200-foot game. Although electric in the offensive zone, the newly turned 21-year-old struggled in the defensive zone early in his career, showcasing lapses in effort and positioning. However, during his last month in Springfield, the coaching staff and management team saw significant strides in his overall game. With his game taken to new heights and his increased effort, he saw his point total skyrocket before being called up to the NHL.

During his four-game stint in the NHL, Bolduc has seen his ice time managed. The team does not want to rush him into the league’s speed and wants to ensure his game continues to evolve. However, the early returns are promising. He showcased patience early on and made good decisions with the puck. He has played smart and has continued to find open space to shoot from the slot to generate scoring chances and rebounds for his teammates. Although he is not projected to be an elite top-line forward, the former first-rounder does have the skill set to be a well-rounded middle-six winger with a high offensive ceiling. If he continues to develop his defensive game and his offensive game reaches his potential, he will be a staple of this Blues forward group moving forward.

Otto Stenberg

Alluding back to the three first-round picks the Blues held at this past year’s NHL Draft, the second of which fell at the 25th pick from the New York Rangers. Armstrong quickly identified Otto Stenberg as the team’s second selection in the first round. Stenberg, viewed as a more raw prospect than Dvorsky, who was taken with the Blues pick before him, had all the skills to translate to the NHL level but had not mastered any to his full potential.

Stenberg possesses a versatile skill set that can play in any situation while minimizing mistakes. However, he lacks the ceiling of becoming an elite level player at the NHL level, which caused some teams to pass on the Swedish forward before St. Louis took him 25th overall. He was also among the many Blues prospects to take center stage at the World Juniors this winter, and he put on a show. In seven games, he totaled nine points, including five goals, and put Sweden on his back, helping them reach the gold medal game in the tournament.

Unlike Snuggerud, Dvorsky, and Bolduc, it might take another year or two before Stenberg makes his way to the NHL. He is still playing overseas, and the Blues want to take their time with him, like they did with Bolduc, before elevating him to the next level. He projects as a steady middle-six center for the Blues because of his all-around game. He has the potential to become a scoring threat, but the strength of his game is his well-rounded 200-foot presence and ability to play through his teammates. When the Blues move to bring him up to the organization, he could be considered the team’s third-line center behind Thomas and Dvorsky.

Theo Lindstein

The last of Armstrong’s three-headed monster of first-round draft picks was Swedish defenseman Theo Lindstein. A friend of fellow Blues draft choice Otto Stenberg, he possesses an offensive-minded skillset with excellent puck movement skills. The Blues are in a precarious situation with their defensive core, with several veteran players on long-term contracts not performing to their heavy cap hit. Armstrong has tried shaking up the backend by making trades, but with all of his top four having some form of trade protection clause in their contract, finding a perfect trade partner has been difficult.

Like Stenberg, Lindstein was critical to Sweden’s silver medal placement in the World Junior tournament. A last-minute addition, he only made the roster due to an injury to another player that allowed him to join the team. In his seven games in the tournament, he totaled eight points, including six assists, proving his elite puck movement abilities.

It will be a few seasons before we see Lindstein, as the team wants to take his development slow and ensure he is fully prepared and ready for the speed of the NHL. That being said, if he can develop a more steady defensive game and learn to stay at home at times, the ceiling is limitless for the 19-year-old. The Blues have lacked a true elite puck-moving defenseman with top-pairing potential since the departure of Pietrangelo in 2020, and although he has a long way to go and does not have the ceiling of a Pietrangelo, his offensive ceiling and playmaking ability are a reason for Blues fans to be excited about this young prospect.

Brighter Times Ahead

The Blues have not had the season they had wanted coming into the year, but brighter times are coming for this team. With a prospect pool as deep as this one, plenty of good players are coming through the pipeline over the next several seasons for this team to turn its fortunes around. Maybe Armstrong can give the Blues the necessary retooling and move some contracts around to create flexibility. In that case, this overhauled youthful roster can be in contention for a long time if players like Snuggerud and Dvorsky play to their full potential. 

With aging veterans nearing the tail end of their careers, the Blues will need these young players to fill significant roles for the franchise moving forward if they want to get back into the postseason.