Hockey's Future Blues Top 20 prospects, Spring 2010

by Novacain on Mar 19, 2010 5:53 PM CDT

Blues top 20, according to HF. Don't trust em like our own prospect resource, but still, worth noting I suppose.

1. Alex Pietrangelo D

2. Lars Eller C/W

3. Ian Cole D

4. David Rundblad D

5. Jake Allen G

6. Brett Sonne C/LW

7. Philip McRae LW

8. Jonas Junland D

9 Cade Fairchild D

10.Ben Bishop G

11. Kristoffer Berlgund D

12. Joe Fallon G

13. Simon Hjalmarrson RW

14. Brett Ponich D

15. Anthony Nigro C

16. David Warsofsky D

17. Ian Schultz RW

18. Sergei Andronov RW

19. Tyler Shattock RW

20. Jori Lehtera C

Random notes from me:

I'm sorta confused by the order of our defensive prospects once you get past the top 4. First off, I guess they assume Cundari is a product of his team, which I guess I can understand, just something odd. Also, in terms of our young offensive minded defensemen prospects, maybe I'm biased from what I've heard, but I thought Fairchild was behind Berglund and Warsofsky on the list. They cite Warsofsky's size as a major mark against him, but he's not much smaller then Cade or Kristoffer. I do like Ponich making the list though.

Three goales in the top 12, that's good. I would have thought Allens run lately would have raised him above Cole and Rundblad, but it's hard to measure talent comparisonf or positions.

Not many forwards in the top level of the grouping, but that's fine since we have a lot of young forwards already graduated (and Dags just adds to that list).

And as an FYI: Players who were on the list last around who are not anymore: T.J. Oshie (graduated), Aaron Palushaj (Traded), James Livingston (Fell off the list) Jay Barriball (fell of list: Injury related) and were replaced by Joe Fallon, Brett Ponich, Tyler Shattock, and Jori Lehtera

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b a p

drafting sux :)

anyone look at the ufa’s on d coming up? if the blues wanna move a d-man, they up against a lot of good ones out there, we better start hoping a lot of em get resigned before market time

and additionally who could we trade? a team needing a d-man hard isnt going to want cole or junland or weaver, and apparently didnt want brewer..

on the plus side we got, what 3 slots we need to replace? pk, kt and cola? (yea we got weaver/sydor as well but only one of them plays today anyway)

since the blues claim ej’s raise coming out of my ticket increase next season, i’m guess we get to spend 10 mill in the free agent market!! get a 6 million and a 4 million dollar dude, and plaster the other holes! lets go bluuuueeeeess
patrick marleau and alex tanquay!?

A strong anvil fears no hammer

by Childhood Trauma on Mar 19, 2010 6:40 PM CDT reply actions

Marleau and Josh Harding...

Fan ta Alex Tanguay… Marleau better addresses the needs up front, and Harding should slide right in as the No. 1 goaltender.

"If we do not prepare for ourselves the role of the hammer, there will be nothing left but that of the anvil."

-- Otto von Bismarck, 1851

http://futurenotes.blogspot.com

by Tomorrows Blues on Mar 19, 2010 8:32 PM CDT up reply actions

eh

need a crappy winger to replace walnut on the cheap alex can score just as many goals for 2 million less per :)

A strong anvil fears no hammer

by Childhood Trauma on Mar 19, 2010 10:39 PM CDT up reply actions

They got the top two right, anyway...

I have my own thoughts about the top 20, as you might expect. This list isn’t too far off, but there are some notable issues. Just a few, off the top of my head.

1. Jake Allen, Ian Schultz and Anthony Nigro are too low. Nigro is looking more and more to me like the Blues’ best forward prospect in the OHL, and possible the best forward prospect they have in major junior

2. Jori Lehtera is way too low.

3. Bishop and McRae have fallen somewhat, in my estimation. Both have dropped into the Second Ten, as I see it, and McRae in particular has been disappointing this year.

4. Warsofsky and Fairchild should switch places. Warsofsky plays a stronger physical game than Fairchild, is far superior defensively to Fairchild, and equally gifted offensively, in my view. Warsofsky also has superior leadership traits, and his four SHG this year indicate that he’s a better penalty killer as well.

I think there’ll be more about this coming up later this weekend… possibly in the print edition, in place of the Peoria stretch review I was planning on. THat can probably wait until Thursday, by which time we should know more about Peoria’s playoff possibilities.

Plus, Justin Fletcher is out for the year in Peoria, so the Rivermen are short on defense, and I expect that the Blues will be putting a full-court press on Ian Cole to turn pro.

Having an early Sunday game kinda dims the spotlight on Prospect Sunday a little, but there should still be enough attention to go around.

"If we do not prepare for ourselves the role of the hammer, there will be nothing left but that of the anvil."

-- Otto von Bismarck, 1851

http://futurenotes.blogspot.com

by Tomorrows Blues on Mar 19, 2010 8:31 PM CDT reply actions

Really?

That’s in reguards to saying Nigro is better then McRae. I don’t have their +/- around, but there stats per game are rather equal.

McRae:16 goals, 35 assists: 51 points in 52 games
Nigro: 16 goals, 46 assists: 62 points in 61 games.

slight advantage toward Nigro, but very slight.

Breaking News: I'm currently in the process of writing "I will not say and/or type "that word" 1,000 times.

by Novacain on Mar 19, 2010 10:07 PM CDT up reply actions

It's more than stats, but...

…I expected a lot more production out of McRae this year. He didn’t do much at the World Juniors, either, and at his age he should be dominating his peers in preparation for moving up to the next level in 2010-11.

Think of Sonne, for example. Last season, at the same “hockey age” as McRae, Sonne scored 40 goals and 100 points in a league that plays more games and has more arduous travel. Sonne turned pro this year, and has taken almost the entire season to “figure it out.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean that McRae will follow suit as far as how his rookie pro season will progress next year, but the odds don;t seem to be in his favor based on his production in what should be his last year of major junior.

B.

"If we do not prepare for ourselves the role of the hammer, there will be nothing left but that of the anvil."

-- Otto von Bismarck, 1851

http://futurenotes.blogspot.com

by Tomorrows Blues on Mar 20, 2010 10:37 AM CDT up reply actions

Then, too, McRae was drafted quite a bit higher than Nigro...

…and thus, the expectations are justifiably greater.

Both drafted in 2008; McRae 33rd overall, Nigro 155th overall.

Nigro OHL career regular season totals (4 seasons): 251 GP, 74-122-196, +35, 199 PM

McRae OHL career regular season totals (4 seasons): 240 GP, 65-102-167, – 8, 206 PM

McRae is bigger (6’ 3, 195) than Nigro (6’ 0, 189), and has connections to St. Louis, and those are, in my considered opinion, the major factors that justified his being selected so much higher than Nigro. Nigro is better defensively than McRae, but McRae is a faster and more powerful skater than Nigro, based on what I’ve seen at Development Camp.

There really isn’t as much difference between the two, in terms of where they stand on the organizational depht chart, as the “Hockey’s Future” rnkings seem to indicate.

"If we do not prepare for ourselves the role of the hammer, there will be nothing left but that of the anvil."

-- Otto von Bismarck, 1851

http://futurenotes.blogspot.com

by Tomorrows Blues on Mar 20, 2010 11:11 AM CDT up reply actions