It's the time of year when players are starting to trickle back into team facilities after the offseason, trying to get back to game shape and a jump on training with their teammates.
It's also the time of year we see every organization's prospect pool ranked, and today, we got the opinion of The Athletic's Corey Pronman. He's been releasing eight teams each day in the prospect pool ranking, and today, on the third day, he published the St. Louis Blues; they rank 16 this year, which is the same spot they were in last year. To qualify, prospects must be under the age of 22 years old; Calder eligibility and games played at a professional level are not counted.
Pronman likes the system the Blues have, but he does have concerns that there's no clear star at the top to take a Blues team on the playoff bubble to the next level of contention. Atop the list is Jimmy Snuggerud, the closest prospect to a regular NHL role, but he's graded as a "bubble top and middle of the lineup player," which, in Pronman's system, essentially translates to "second liner." No surprise that Snuggerud tops the list.
What may be surprising to Blues fans is that, at number two, Pronman has Adam Jiricek. Jiricek has had a tumultuous year since being drafted, recovering from an injury, but Pronman likes his two-way acumen. Third on the list is the latest addition to the Blues' prospect pool, Justin Carbonneau. All signs point to him trying to make the NHL out of camp, but, realistically, he still needs some time to develop in juniors before turning pro. Jiricek and Carbonneau fall under the same "bubble top" rating as Snuggerud, so it's clear why Pronman doesn't believe the Blues have a star-caliber prospect--though perhaps Carbonneau or Snuggerud could surprise us.
In the next tier of prospects, we've got Dalibor Dvorsky, Otto Stenberg, Logan Mailloux, and, of all prospects, Adam Jecho. They all qualify as "middle of the lineup" prospects, per Pronman, though we'd like to think Dvorsky might have a tad more upside than that.
The only real "snub," if you can call it that, is ranking Theo Lindstein eighth in the prospect pool; you'd hope for better from a late first-round pick, but it's not the end of the world if he doesn't develop into a true impact NHL player.
For a team trying to contend, the Blues certainly have a cupboard full of supporting cast members, but whether it's enough to compete in a stacked Western Conference remains to be seen.