This week the St. Louis Blues announced their roster for the Traverse City Tournament. Which prospect will leave Traverse City with a hold on a roster spot?
The St. Louis Blues prospects begin play in the Traverse City Tournament on September 6 and continue through Sept. 10. This will be a perfect opportunity for the entire focus to be on the Blues prospects and no one else on the roster.
The Blues held a prospect camp in St. Louis over the summer, but those scrimmages were against other Blues prospects, not opposing teams’ prospects. Things are turned up a notch when you are playing against other teams top prospects.
Traverse City is a great opportunity for prospects to make a name for themselves within the organization. All eyes are on the prospects; therefore, they cannot be overlooked while the Blues staff is monitoring veteran players in camp.
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If you can make a name for yourself at Traverse City and carry that over into training camp, the Blues have shown they are willing to give you a chance at the NHL level.
In 2015, Colton Parayko, a defenseman from the University of Alaska Fairbanks signed an entry-level deal with St. Louis.
Later that year he attended his first Traverse City Tournament. He used that tournament to propel himself to a roster spot.
Since making the roster out of camp, Parayko has not looked back. He has been a key contributor on for the Blues since making the team back in 2015. Let us keep in mind that Parayko’s situation is not the norm.
Look at forward Tanner Kaspick. Kaspick was drafted in round four, #119 overall in the 2016 NHL Draft. He went to his first Traverse City Tournament that year and has attended every year since. He has not done enough with his opportunities yet, but that could change.
If we are going to look ahead, let’s look at who could be the next Parayko, and not look at who could be the next Kaspick. Looking at the 2019 roster, a couple of names immediately stick out as possible breakout candidates.
At the forward position, you have 2019 second-round pick Nikita Alexandrov, 2017 first-round pick Klim Kostin and 2017 fourth-round pick Alexey Toropchenko.
At defense, the main name that sticks out is Mitch Reinke. If you remember, Reinke signed an entry-level deal with the Blues on March 26, 2018, and was immediately added to the Blues roster. He made his NHL debut on March 31 of that year.
Although he only played one game, he made his mark with Blues fans, and they have been waiting to see him back with the Blues. Last year he scored 45 points in 76 games with the San Antonio Rampage.
A few months ago, fellow BleedinBlue columnist Jason Martin wrote an article detailing Toropchenko. I highly recommend giving this article a read. It reveals why Toropchenko could be a breakout candidate. The link for the article is below.
Alexandrov impressed many at the prospect camp over the summer, and many cannot wait to see what he can do against higher-level competition. Although Alexandrov has all the talent and skills, he will need to develop those more before he makes an impact for the Blues.
My pick to have a breakout tournament to help secure a roster spot come October 2 is Kostin. In my opinion, Kostin was the steal of the first round and possibly the entire 2017 draft. The Blues traded fan-favorite Ryan Reaves for the Pittsburgh Penguins’ first-round pick (#31 overall) and Oskar Sundqvist.
The Blues used this pick to select Kostin, who had fallen in the draft due to a shoulder injury and the fact teams were not confident he would come to North America. The first two years with the Rampage were not show-stopping seasons.
During the Blues Stanley Cup run, Kostin was called up as one of the Blues Black Aces. This gave him an opportunity to see how you have to prepare as an NHL player. It also gave him a chance to shadow fellow Russian Vladimir Tarasenko.
I think those few weeks with the Blues and Tarasenko will do wonders for Kostin path to the NHL. Kostin has been known to disappear in games, and this has caused him to be overlooked for call-ups when a player was needed.
I am predicting now, Kostin will dominate for the Blues at Traverse City and lead them to the Championship game. He will carry this momentum into Blues camp, and with both showings, he will earn a spot on the Blues roster come opening night.
Kostin will look to fill a spot in the top nine. I see him taking Patrick Maroon’s place on the third line. This will be the perfect opportunity for him to add depth scoring for the Blues and not have the pressure of having to be a top producer right away.