St. Louis Blues Have Talent In The Pipeline, But It Will Be Awhile

The St. Louis Blues were listed as having one of the deepest, most talented pipelines in the NHL just a few years ago. There is still plenty of talent waiting in the wings, but they are still a ways off from seeing the NHL.

The St. Louis Blues just wrapped up their 2019 Prospects Camp. It was free and open to the public and Blues fans showed they are not ready to be done with hockey by having a few thousand attend each round of practices.

Friday, June 28th’s practice was likely the most attended. It was said the organization was expecting around five thousand people to show up.

That was the session I attended. I cannot attest to the numbers, but there were quite a few fans there, especially considering there were no NHL guys in the building and the Stanley Cup was not present.

It was an entertaining evening. Team White defeated Team Blues 9-5, though most of their goals came at three-on-three. Team Blue won the four-on-four sessions 5-3 and then Team White racked up six goals after that.

As mentioned on our Twitter account, all the goaltenders looked solid in this one session. In past years, we have seen plenty of flaws exposed.

More from Editorials

As talented as Evan Fitzpatrick can be, he looked overmatched in his first prospects camp. He was not at this event, but all his fellow goaltenders looked up to the challenge of facing guys in their age bracket. Jack Caruso, who played for CBC before moving on to the NAHL, was just an invitee and made several highlight reel saves.

The guys you expected to look the best did, overall. As also tweeted out, Dominik Bokk, Klim Kostin and Alexei Toropchenko are all the closest to being NHL ready out of anyone in the prospects group. The problem is you can still tell they are not ready.

Nobody knows, or has said, for sure where Bokk will play next season. EliteProspects.com has him listed for Rogle BK in the Swedish league. Whether he has contractual obligations to stay or just does not feel ready to jump to North America yet is part of the equation, but not the biggest point.

Bokk showed plenty of skill. He set up a couple goals with precision passing and you got to see some of his stickhandling abilities.

However, he still has to get stronger and more decisive. There were a few times he was bumped off the puck a little too easily and Bokk was denied on two separate penalty shots and did not look that good on either of those particular attempts.

Toropchenko was perhaps the most impressive when compared to expectation. He looked fast, but strong on the puck and was every bit of the 6’3 they list him at.

He is currently penciled in for the San Antonio Rampage, who could use more depth after a disappointing 2018-19. Toropchenko may have gotten everything he can from the Canadian league, scoring 82 points overall over the last two seasons with the Guelph Storm.

The Russian winger is only 20, so he may have junior eligibility left should the Blues want to hold off. However, since he has already acclimated to the North American game, it might be time to see what he can do at a higher level.

The most interesting case left is that of Kostin. Hopes were sky high when the Blues drafted him with the pick acquired in the Ryan Reaves trade.

Kostin was supposed to be the jewel of that deal and Oskar Sundqvist was just a body thrown in. Sundqvist surprised us all with his 2018-19 emergence as a real contributor to the Blues. Now, the organization just needs Kostin to get things figured out.

He has 52 points in two AHL seasons. That is not terrible, but he only broke the double-digit mark for goals in a season in 2018-19 and only had 10. That’s not exactly NHL level numbers.

Though Kostin finally hit the gas a little towards the end of that season, he was relegated to a fourth line role for much of the year. It is all well and good to be able to accept that kind of role, which he did by becoming a physical force and accumulating over 100 penalty minutes. That is not what you want for someone you saw as a potential top-six forward at some point.

Kostin dominates in international play. He has yet to show that same ability in the pros.

During the practice session, Kostin was non-existent for long periods. Then, he would break from the pack for a breakaway or odd man rush and netted a few goals.

This was all at four-on-four or three-on-three. He has yet to show, with any consistency, an ability to thrive at five-on-five.

Kostin is still picking up the culture. He is also only 20 and just turned 20 in May. So, there is no reason to label him a bust.

However, fans tend to grow impatient, even though our NHL team is still loaded with talent and few roster spots available anyway.

Despite winning the Cup with a lineup of guys that played a role and did it well, even the most pragmatic among us still wants a lineup where all four lines are a threat to score. So, even if we tell ourselves to wait and be patient, our subconscious wants these guys or guys like Jordan Kyrou to step it up and make the jump already.

Next. Who Could Be The Next Jordan Binnington?. dark

The truth is we have to wait. Throwing these guys into the fire will not benefit any of them or the team.

The Blues have enough to let them develop at their own pace. That pace will just take a little longer than we anticipated.

Home/Editorials