Jimmy Snuggerud Needs to Make His NHL Debut Sooner or Later

As the St. Louis Blues continue to rebuild, there is one young budding star who has been patiently waiting for their name to be called onto the team's roster. He's a guy who clearly should've made his NHL debut already, given his impressive and ultra-consistent numbers that show up season after season. Meet Minnesota's Jimmy Snuggerud.

The Golden Gophers RW was a 1st round pick by the Blues in the 2022 NHL Draft but has spent all his time since back with his college squad, as well as some time spent with the US' U17 and U18 teams. But one look at his numbers, and you can tell that the now 20-year-old Chaska, Minnesota native, should've made his NHL debut already. 2023/24 with the University of Minnesota saw the young prospect play in 39 games with 21 goals and 13 assists for a decent 41 points. In 2022/23, he did slightly better- 40 games played with 21 goals and 29 assists for an even 50-point total.

Snuggerud also performed well at the World Juniors for Team USA in both those years, with 6 games and 3 goals plus 4 assists for 7 points in the 2022 tourney, where the US lost to 4th place finisher Czechia and 7 games with 5 goals and 8 assists for 13 points in last year's tournament, where the US took home the bronze. Snuggerud's most recent WJC outing saw the US win gold over Sweden, just the 6th time the Americans have ever done so.

The takeaway from this is simple- Snuggerud has both the playing time and reasonable scoring prowess you'd expect from an NHL right winger. And if there's one more thing the Blues need fixing heading into 2024/25, it's that side of the puck. It could help their power play unit out a ton because, remember, they were in the bottom 10 of the league during the regular season on power play percentage. Not the greatest of spots for a team's most crucial aspects.

One more bonus for Snuggerud, in addition to already being one of the most complete players to come out of the USNDTP, is his family prowess. He's got multiple relatives and multiple siblings who are playing in this era or have played in the past. Not many future NHLers can make that claim, which is all the more reason why ol' Jimmy could potentially be a solid RW for the Blues very soon. And every Blues fan knows how many similar position star players they already have nowadays with the likes of Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas, Pavel Buchnevich, and all the others young stars making up the Blues' primary offensive lines.