St. Louis Blues Prospects Still Have A Lot Of Developing To Do

The St. Louis Blues and their fanbase are quite high on their prospects coming through the pipeline. However, the Traverse City Tournament showed that several of them are still pretty green.

The St. Louis Blues know they have several good players coming through the ranks in the minors and in junior hockey. However, if we learned anything from the 2018 Traverse City Prospects Tournament, it was that many of those prospects are still learning and growing as players.

There were several high quality performances in the tournament, despite a bad showing as a team. While the team finished with three points and a record of 1-2-1, their top stars showed up.

Jordan Kyrou finished as the top scorer, scoring a hat-trick in the final game against the New York Rangers and recording five goals overall. Jake Walman chipped in with two goals and three assists and Robert Thomas lived up to his hype, for the most part, with two goals and four points.

However, the rest of the team was lacking. You cannot fault the effort by anyone. It just seemed, at times, like the moment was too big – even Kyrou mentioned the nerves of playing in front of so many executives and scouts.

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It is understandable. These guys are playing for their professional lives. If you play well enough, you can get an invite and serious look to the NHL training camp. If not, you’re almost assured to start the year in the minors or back with your junior team.

The disappointing thing, from the fan perspective, is partly our own fault. We have hyped these guys up so much that not scoring a ton of goals and winning every game is a letdown. Not everyone feels that way, of course, but kudos to those with better perspective.

Of course, with few that would say different, the biggest disappointment would be Klim Kostin if we are pointing fingers. Kostin struggled a little bit with the San Antonio Rampage in 2017-18, but you could chalk that up to a kid playing with professionals and also undergoing a huge culture change.

For Kostin to show so little at the prospect tournament, it is a slight worry. He’s playing with guys his own age, skill level and a few that are also going through cultural shifts, even if not the big difference of a new country.

The coaching staff even tried pairing Kostin with Kyrou and Thomas. While there was a difference in confidence, the execution was still not quite there.

None of this is to say that Kostin cannot still develop into the player we hope. He is still a teenager, after all. It is just going to take longer than most of us had hoped given his confidence of saying he was going pro instead of spending a year in junior.

Kostin, by no means, is by himself. Despite a strong showing in the Memorial Cup, Evan Fitzpatrick could not show well with a miscue or two and some spotty defense.

The defensive core on the prospects team was lacking as well. They allowed 17 goals over the course of four games. These tournaments are for individual performance, but when you’re letting in that many goals, it doesn’t really reflect well on anyone on the backside of the blue line.

In the end, things are probably going about the speed we thought they might. Thomas looks like he is destined to crack the roster and Kyrou will make the decision tough.

Outside of that, these young players might have lots of talent, but they still have plenty of growing to do. That’s why the Blues made so many strong offseason moves. So, these young players have the freedom to grow and mature properly instead of being thrust into the fire like the Blues core of the late 2000’s.