St. Louis Blues Prospect Update: Glenn Gawdin

The St. Louis Blues forward depth beyond the NHL is pretty bare, but did they draft a sleeper prospect in last year’s draft?

Last year saw the St. Louis Blues address their lack of depth at the center position by picking up a solid prospect in Glenn Gawdin in the 4th round of the 2015 NHL Draft. On paper Gawdin doesn’t look like much, as the the centreman from Richmond, BC, Canada only has a total of 39 golas in his 184 games in the WHL. However, Gawdin has seemingly taken his game to another level this season.

In 44 games so far, Gawdin has a total of 42 points (14 goals, 28 assists) for the Swift Current Broncos, which figures out to be just under a point per game. Gawdin had quite a productive February as well, totaling 11 points in 13 games (5 goals, 6 assists), showing that he is stepping up his game as of late. Gawdin very much is what he sounds like, a productive two way player who will need to hone is game for a few years before there is any shot for him at the NHL level.

Just recently, Hockey’s Future took a look at the Blues’ prospects and had this to say about Gawdin, “He has continued to display his overall offensive skills and has become a better playmaker in the process. He is a good skater with a great shot and should continue to perform at a high level in the WHL.” While there seemed to be some questions about his skating after he was drafted, Hockey’s Future isn’t the only one who believes that Gawdin is a good skater.

In their review of Gawdin before the draft, BSNDenver had this to say about Gawdin, “Gawdin is a decent skater with very good closing speed in both zones, and has a heavy accurate shot with a quick release, but needs to create more opportunities to use it.” So, Gawdin may not be the best skater, but he is good enough to get by and that will only improve as he develops. Already posessing a good shot, the goals should start to come with more regularity once he improves the skating.

The biggest thing that I like about Gawdin’s game is his ability to spread the wealth on offense, as he has a total of 67 assists between the last two seasons, and one can only expect his assist total to rise this season. This shows a little bit of a playmaker side to Gawdin’s game. While he doesn’t have the goals that Stastny had at this point in his career, I don’t think a Paul Stastny comparison is that far off for Gawdin.