Hoo boy, did we get a list today. Yesterday, we covered The Athletic's prospect pool rankings, courtesy of prospect expert Corey Pronman, where the St. Louis Blues' under-23 player pool ranked seventh in the NHL. Today, Pronman was back at it with a comprehensive, 156-player ranking, and it has certainly sparked some conversation (the Buffalo Sabres' Zach Benson being 124 is especially shocking).
The good news is, the Blues emerge looking all right! Seven of their players make the list, and a few of them are above players you might not expect; all of them, with the exception of Justin Carbonneau, are ranked above Benson, for example.
The potential top liners
It should come as no surprise that Pronman regards Jimmy Snuggerud and Adam Jiricek as the Blues' best prospects. What may be a bit curious, however, is Snuggerud's ranking at 33, which puts him two spots ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers' Matvei Michkov, and just behind Will Smith and Ryan Leonard--all three of whom were top-ten picks in 2023. Snuggerud's got a lot of potential after a promising rookie season, but either Pronman's extremely high on Snuggerud, or Smith, Leonard, and Michkov have fallen out of favor.
A fun question is: would you trade Snuggerud, one-for-one, for any of those players? For Smith or Michkov, it's a pretty easy yes because they bring such a different look to the Blues' lineup. Leonard has a similar skill set to Snuggerud but is more physical, so that wouldn't make a ton of sense; it would just be a sort of change-of-scenery swap.
Jiricek is at No.46; meanwhile, he is one spot behind recent fourth-overall selection Daxon Rudolph and two spots ahead of Ethan Belchetz (hopefully that doesn't come back to bite the Blues). A top-six forward and top-four defenseman are useful pieces on the path to a contending Blues squad.
The middle of the pack
The Blues' five remaining prospects are all ranked under Pronman's "middle of the lineup" banner. Dalibor Dvorsky and Tynan Lawrence show up early in that tier, back-to-back, at numbers 61 and 62, respectively. Pronman projects them both as third-line centers, though I remain bullish on Lawrence having 2C potential.
Next up is Milton Gastrin, at 102, acquired in the trade that sent Jordan Kyrou to the Washington Capitals. His ceiling is a tad lower than Dvorksy and Lawrence's, but he could be another reliable third-line center. Gastrin's in a similar range to Marco Kasper and Cole Beaudoin, and the three have nearly identical projections, in Pronman's estimation.
At 123 (one spot ahead of Benson, which still seems unbelievable), the Blues have Maddox Dagenais. He's much lower than the Blues' other prospects because his ability to play center is still in question, and he'll have much less value as a third-line winger than someone who can play down the middle.
The last Blue on the list is Justin Carbonneau, at 132. Pronman dings him for his hockey sense, but lauds his goalscoring ability and says his skill set should translate to the pros without too many issues.
While the fans of other teams may have a legitimate bone to pick with Pronman's rankings, he seems pretty high on what the Blues have assembled in recent drafts. If he's right, that bodes quite well for the Blues' ability to get back to contender status quickly.
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