St. Louis Blues: Top 10 Prospects in the System 2017

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10. Evan Fitzpatrick

Last season stats: 49 GP (games played), 3.46 GAA, .899 SV%.

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The best goaltender in the St. Louis Blues pipeline (maybe because he’s the only one), Fitzpatrick still has a long way to go. Putting up a below-.900 save percentage is bad in the NHL.

In the QMJHL, against other teenagers, it’s very bad. And it’s a save percentage that’s improved – last year, Fitzpatrick was at a .896. He’s definitely going to need some time in the AHL, and bigger surprises have happened.

Nobody would have said five years ago that Scott Darling would be a starting goaltender in the NHL. So maybe Fitzpatrick has the work ethic to surprise in the NHL. He’s still extremely young, so he has that going for him.

9. Adam Musil

Last season stats (with the Red Deer Rebels): 56 GP, 20 G (goals), 31 A (assists), 51 P (points), 74 PIM (penalties in minutes). 5 PGP (playoff games played), 0 G, 4 A, 4 P, 0 PIM.
Last season stats (with Chicago Wolves): 6 games (all playoffs), 3 G, 2 A, 5 P, 2 PIM.

At 20, Musil’s point-per-game pace in the minors was a bit low. Against younger players, it would have been nice to see Musil dominate. His 20 goals aren’t at all a bad mark, but it still leaves some room for improvement.

Musil saw playing time in the AHL playoffs and he did well. His 3 goals in six playoff games were necessary to see for his development, and it should give a lot of hope to the St. Louis Blues organization. Like all their prospects, Musil could use some improvement on the penalties front, but taking 1 penalty in 11 playoff games between the WHL and AHL is that improvement.

Maybe Musil’s just not a good minors player but an excellent AHL/NHL player. That’d be nice for the Blues. Still, for his work in the minors (which represents most of his career), he’s down here.

8. Klim Kostin

Last season stats: 9 GP, 1 G, 0 A, 1 P, 4 PIM.

Kostin played 9 games in the VHL (the KHL’s AHL), 1 game in the MHL (Russian minors) and 8 games in the KHL itself. While that represents the ceiling for him, a high-level professional league at 18, he also scored no points in the KHL, while racking up 27 penalty minutes.

I think Kostin can be great. A list of other Russian players to have played in the KHL (or equivalent) at 18 includes Artemi Panarin, Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin. Still, those guys scored in the KHL at 18. So again, we just don’t know enough about Kostin. But he is very talented and he probably would have gone a lot higher than the 31st pick in the 2017 NHL Draft if it wasn’t for injuries.

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