St. Louis Blues: Prospects Coming Along At Different Paces
The St. Louis Blues are pretty stocked down in the minor leagues. Getting off to a good start for any player is key for their season and for potential call-ups.
The St. Louis Blues have one of the best player pipelines they have had in many years. They were ranked as high as eighth in a recent look at minor-league systems.
How that translates into professional success remains to be seen. Some players might only turn out to be good junior players. So far the Blues have plenty of guys that are succeeding in juniors. Other guys might be career AHL players.
Will this current group of young players find their spark? Time will tell. So, let’s check in for the second time this young season.
Jordan Binnington
Jordan Binnington has not been able to get much action since our last check in on the prospects. He has at least played though, which is more than the last time.
Binnington was loaned to the Providence Bruins of the AHL. He has only seen action in two games, but his stats are ok.
He’s got a 2.52 goals against and a save percentage of .907. Neither one is fantastic, but in limited action the stats are not bad either.
Clearly this is not the ideal situation for Binnington. He is making the most of the situation though and handling things in a professional manner.
Ville Husso
Sticking with the goaltenders, we look once again at the Blues’ potential goaltender of the future. Despite St. Louis finding a home for Ville Husso right away, he has not seen as much action as you would like.
The San Antonio Rampage have played nine games and Husso has only been in three. That seems to have become a theme as Husso played in one of the Rampage’s first three games to begin the year, so they seem to be trying to let each goaltender have about a game every three starts or so.
Things have turned around a little for Husso in his second two games. After one, he had a 5.11 goals against and .853 save percentage.
Now, he’s gotten those numbers to a much more respectable level. Husso is currently at 2.69 goals against and .927 save percentage.
Again, they are not stellar numbers, but it took a couple strong games to get those numbers back down.
Fans wondering about Husso’s inactivity are not wrong. You want him playing.
However, with him currently backing up Jake Allen in the NHL while Carter Hutton awaits the birth of his first child, Husso is not missing much. He has only missed one AHL game that he was not going to start anyway. He is also getting the added benefit of practicing against NHL competition.
Husso needs to get a string of games together to really find his footing this season. Whether he gets that is up in the air. For now, practicing with the big boys is probably the best for him in this scenario.
Jordan Kyrou
Jordan Kyrou is doing everything he can to not spend another year in juniors after this one. In the last prospect check-in, we discussed that he had done enough to earn an AHL spot, but given the team’s uncertainty with their affiliation, it made sense to keep him down. The Blues won’t have that same luxury next season.
The Sarnia Sting are 15-1-0 to start their season, which puts them atop the Western Conference in the OHL. Kyrou is one of the main reasons the team is doing so well.
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Through seven games, he had four goals and 14 points. Kyrou went crazy over the next seven games.
Now he has 14 goals and 34 points in 14 games. That’s almost 2.5 points per game.
He is currently one of the featured players on the OHL website’s wallpaper.
With 14 goals already, Kryou seems poised to blow his 30 goals from last season out of the water. His 34 points are currently five points higher than any other scorer in the OHL.
Other than building up his strength there is nothing more junior hockey can teach him other than patience. He’s going to be a fun player to watch and hopefully all his skills translate to the next level.
Tanner Kaspick
Some people still might be asking who Tanner Kaspick is. The 19 year old was selected in the 2016 draft. He’s also scoring at an impressive clip.
Playing for the Brandon Wheat Kings, Kaspick has settled in to a rhythm where he is scoring more than a point per game. He trails only Kyrou in terms of Blues prospect scoring.
When we last checked in, he had two goals and 12 points. He might not have kept pace with the high-flying Kyrou, but his production is nothing to sneeze at.
Through 15 games, he is almost halfway to his point total from all of last season (45 points). He’s upped his goal total to six and now has 20 points.
Good luck figuring out the WHL standings, but Kaspick has led the team to a 9-5-1 season so far as the team’s captain. As an aside, Kaspick leads all Blues prospects with 28 penalty minutes, so he’s got a bit of an edge to his game.
Robert Thomas
Robert Thomas makes his way into the prospect watch this time around. After having a decent camp and a very good prospect tournament, Thomas was slow out of the gate.
Maybe you could chalk it up to disappointment at not being kept in the pros. Maybe it was just a slow start, which can and does happen.
Either way, Thomas has righted the ship. Through 12 games played with the London Knights, Thomas has his average up over a point a game.
He’s got 17 points in those dozen games. Out of those points, he’s got nine goals as well.
That might not sound impressive, but like Paul Stastny ahead of him, Thomas is a pass-first kind of player. The idea that he is scoring more than assisting is encouraging for his game.
Nobody is asking him to become a true scorer. Any added wrinkle to your game improves your chances of turning pro the following season though. That is definitely something on Thomas’ radar as the Blues will take over the affiliation with San Antonio next season.
Klim Kostin
Last but not least, we finally get to Klim Kostin. Fans are hoping he might be the Robin to Vladimir Tarasenko‘s Batman (insert whichever superhero duo you want. Makes no difference to me).
Things have been a little slower than fans would like though. Kostin has not lit the world on fire, but when viewed in the context of everything going on in his life, it’s not a bad run.
Kostin has featured in nine of the San Antonio Rampage’s games so far. He has a total of six points and one goal.
Again, that’s not great. It’s not bad either though.
Kostin is new to the western culture overall and then is thrust into the heart of America down in Texas. He’s not playing with only Blues prospects either since the Colorado Avalanche still control much of what is going on with the Rampage.
With the viewpoint that the staff has no incentive to play Kostin other than he could potentially help them win games, his start looks much better. You’d like the goal numbers to be much higher since that is what the Blues hope he will be, but he’ll get the feel of it eventually.
Overview
For whatever reason, the Blues seem to have picked very well in terms of guys that are producing in juniors. Their minor league ranks are a little disheveled right now.
Kyrou still jumps off the page when looking at his skill and scoring ability. In the last article I said not to expect him in the NHL for a couple years and that remains likely, but he’s making a heck of a push to turn pro (at least AHL) sooner than we expected.
Thomas is a pleasant surprise as he is getting back into the rhythm. Tage Thompson is a little bit disappointing as he has two goals and three points in six games.
As the season goes on and more games are played, we’ll continue this series and branch out with different names. Hopefully some of the AHL guys can get it into gear and overcome this sticky situation regarding the team’s affiliation.