St. Louis Blues College Kids Could Be Next To Break Through

The St. Louis Blues have a good pipeline of prospects that everyone expects to see soon. However, there could be a handful of surprises that might break through as well.

The St. Louis Blues and their fans are quite excited about the players coming through the pipeline, whenever they do crack the NHL. However, there are always players we don’t expect that surprise us.

The last time some players surprised us was not that long ago. Colton Parayko and Joel Edmundson were not highly touted before their rookie seasons. However, they had great camps and did not let the coaching staff take them out of the lineup.

So, that brings up the idea of who could be the next to come from seemingly nowhere and crack the lineup. We all know about Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas. Those are the prospects that everyone has their eye on. Who are the sneaky ones that have some talent, but are not on the radars yet?

Well, three college kids actually hold some good potential to be the next surprise members of the Blues. Normally you figure it will be players that have established themselves in junior hockey, but sometimes you can prove yourself in school.

Mitch Reinke

Mitch Reinke has a slight leg up on his competition in that he has already cracked the Blues lineup. After signing his entry level deal at the end of the 2017-18 season, Reinke got one game’s worth of action due to some injuries.

As with any player straight from college to the pros, he did not overly impress. However, what can any one player do when they play on the bottom defensive pair and had their minutes limited as well?

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Reinke fits today’s mold of defender though. He’s agile, can move the puck and put up points if/when necessary. He scored over 51 points in just over 100 games in the USHL. Then, he managed 44 points in 76 games in college. That’s right around a point every other game, all totaled.

Reinke will need to bulk up a tad as 5’11 and 181 lbs is undersized for today’s defenders. However, you don’t want to add too much size as that limits movement and quickness. Getting to around 195 should be a good goal.

The Blues have plenty of defenders in front of Reinke in line. However, as we have seen, injuries change pecking orders and so does your form when an opportunity arises.

Austin Poganski

As a forward, some might wonder what the big deal about Austin Poganski might be. He’s never dazzled or put up gaudy numbers, which draw in most fans. Why might he break in?

His mentality is the answer. At 22, he has his head on his shoulders and is thinking about the long game, not short term.

Poganski already passed up the chance to get paid a little bit of NHL money. Instead, he delayed his entry level contract and spent a few games in the AHL last season after college. Now, he has a full two years to prove himself instead of one season and perhaps only one game, such as Reinke.

Poganski also knows how to play within a system. The University of North Dakota is one of the most decorated programs in NCAA hockey. They get players drafted, but they are also looking to win and that does not always involve personal accolades and stats.

Even so, Poganski was no slouch. In four seasons of college he put up 84 points in 162 games.

Poganski has more of an NHL build right now at 6’2 and 201 lbs, but the AHL will toughen him up as well.

Call me old fashioned, but I’m rooting for this guy. I want all Blues prospects to succeed, but I like a player that can be honest and say they can learn a bit instead of thinking they’re the next big thing all the time.

Nolan Stevens

Nolan Stevens probably has the best shot at cracking the team sooner than later because of his upward trajectory. He got off to a slow start in his playing career, but got shot out of a canon after that.

Stevens is a testament to how hard work will pay off. He was not exactly a stud in juniors, though he was talented enough to play for the national development program. Even so, he was putting up three and four goals with that team.

Even his freshman year at Northeastern was nothing to write home about. It was an OK year, but three goals and 12 points in 36 games is nothing great. He found his groove as a sophomore though.

From Stevens’ second year on, he has been a point per game scorer. He had 20 goals and 42 points in 41 games his second year.

An injury limited him as a junior, but he still had 10 goals and 22 points in 17 games. His senior season kept up the pace with 24 goals and 42 points in 38 games.

In Stevens’ final season, the school won the Beanpot – a huge tournament with all the major Boston hockey powers – and finished second in their conference. Stevens was a big part of that, serving as the team captain in his final year.

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The major thing keeping Stevens back now is the sudden logjam at his position. Stevens is a center and there is always need for those. However, even Thomas has been bumped back a little by the 2018 offseason for the Blues. Stevens will go down further, but if he keeps his upward trend, he might be slipping on an NHL sweater soon enough.