St. Louis Blues Prospect Update: Jordan Schmaltz

By Steven McNeil | Feb 16, 2016

The St. Louis Blues have a slew of defensemen in their top prospect rankings. One of the guys with the most potential is playing in Chicago this season. How is he doing?

For a few years now, one of the St. Louis Blues’ prospects I have been most excited about is Jordan Schmaltz the Kevin Shattenkirk like defensemen from the University of North Dakota. His ability to be a really good offensive defensemen. I really like his presence with the puck and ability on the offensive side, in the past his defensive game has needed quite a bit of work even at the college level.

There were a lot of rumors swirling around last season that Schmaltz was going to return to North Dakota and spurn the Blues’ attempts to sign him to an Entry Level Contract. However, Schmaltz ended up signing with the Blues after all, and is in the process of playing his first professional season with the Chicago Wolves.

So, as I have started a prospect series with Ivan Barbashev it is only natural for me to go to one of the next outstanding prospects in the system in Schmaltz.

Currently, Schmaltz has three goals and 21 assists giving him a total of 24 points through his 49 games (second most among Chicago defensemen). The assists are good to see from Schmaltz in his professional rookie season. However, it is clear that Schmaltz still needs to work on his defensive game a bit with his current -3 +/-rating.

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In their January feature on the Blues’ prospects, Hockey’s Future had this to say about Schmaltz, “While his offensive numbers are great, Schmaltz is still developing in the defensive zone. His skating keeps him in the game but he needs to have a more physical presence to be effective at the professional level.” This is interesting to me, as Schmaltz is not a big guy, with the 23 year old standing in at 6’2″ and 190 pounds.

He is not going to be pushing many around on the ice, as that’s not his game or his ability. While the physicalness may be something he can work on, it’s hardly a concern for a guy of his size. The most important part of Schmaltz’s game right now is his defensive positioning. If he can get that down and continue to grow on the offensive side of things he will become a pretty good player.

The only problem with Schmaltz is he is not likely to crack the NHL anytime soon. He is probably fifth on the depth chart in terms of right-handed defensemen right now. However, he won’t go above fourth anytime soon.

He is behind Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Colton Parayko at the NHL level and none of those guys are going anywhere anytime soon. This could make him or one of the top guys expendable by way of a trade.

While I really like Schmaltz it’s hard to see him making this team with the present defensive core intact. I don’t think many expected Colton Parayko to come in and make such an impact as he has, and that has changed the outlook of the Blues’ D.

Next: Blues' Prospect Update: Ivan Barbashev

Regardless, Schmaltz will still be a player to look out for, as he continues to improve his game. It’s nice that there is no pressure on Schmaltz to get up quickly, as he will have a lot of time to become the player he can become.