St. Louis Blues: Top 8 prospects worth getting excited about

After being one of the better teams in the Western Conference for quite some time, the St. Louis Blues were finally rewarded in 2019 with their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

Unfortunately for them, the St. Louis Blues weren’t able to repeat, or even come close for that matter, as they were eliminated by the Vancouver Canucks in the opening round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

This offseason has seen some big changes to their organization going forward, as they elected to sign Free Agent defenseman Torey Krug to a seven-year, $45.5 million contract. This signing indicated the ending of team Captain Alex Pietrangelo’s tenure with the team and, just shortly after Krug’s deal was announced, he agreed to a seven-year deal of his own with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Despite losing Pietrangelo, the Blues still possess one of the deeper rosters throughout the NHL, and will likely find themselves near the top of the Western Conference yet again for the upcoming season.

Just a few seasons ago, they had one of the better prospect pools in the league. However, many of those players, including Vince Dunn and Robert Thomas, are now at the NHL level and both played a huge role in the Blues winning the 2019 Stanley Cup. As a result, this list of prospects isn’t nearly as deep as it once was, although they do still have a few gems.

As mentioned in every other Top 8 Prospects article throughout this series, any player who has played in more NHL games than any other league in a season, regardless of the season, will not be included. That is why a player like Jordan Kyrou will not be found on this list. With that being said, here are the St. Louis Blues top 8 prospects worth getting excited about…

8. Mathias Laferriere

Just able to make the cut for this list was the Blues Sixth Round (No. 169 overall) pick of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, Mathias Laferriere. The 20-year-old has recently begun his fifth season in the QMJHL, and currently has seven points in six games. Like many, Laferriere was in an odd position heading into the 2020-21 season as he likely would have turned pro if the AHL season had started on time, but the Pandemic prevented that from happening.

Still, one more year of junior hockey isn’t the worst for Laferriere, who is hoping to continue to improve his offensive totals. Last season saw him put up 20 goals and 48 points in 40 games for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, while the season prior to that he was able to put up his best junior hockey totals with 28 goals and 74 points in 68 games, good enough for second in team scoring. He will need to improve upon those totals to remain on this list a year from now.

7. Nikita Alexandrov

The next player on this list, Nikita Alexandrov, also happened to play his junior hockey in the QMJHL. The 20-year-old forward, who was taken in the Second Round (No. 62 overall) of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, has spent the last three seasons playing for the Charlottetown Islanders. The 2019-20 season was the best statistical season of his junior hockey career, as he put up 23 goals and 54 points in 42 games, which led his team in scoring.

Alexandrov was also able to showcase his skills on the international stage last season, as he represented Team Russia at the 2020 World Juniors. He had a fantastic tournament, racking up eight points in seven games, which tied him for 11th amongst all teams in scoring. Unlike Mathias Laferriere, Alexandrov is not playing the 2020-21 season in the QMJHL and is instead stuck waiting for the AHL season to begin. Once it does, he will be an interesting player to keep an eye on as it remains to be seen whether or not his offensive game will translate to the pros.