St. Louis Blues: Top 8 prospects worth getting excited about
4. Klim Kostin
Klim Kostin has had a much different career path to the NHL than most other players given that he only turned 21 earlier this year, yet has spent the last three seasons playing in the AHL. The Russian forward was selected in the First Round (No. 31 overall) of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. Due to playing in the AHL at such a young age, it is hard to determine just how good Kostin is, as his numbers during his three seasons with the San Antonio Rampage look fairly underwhelming.
What makes Kostin more exciting is his World Junior stats at both the 2018 and 2019 tournaments where he was competing against players his own age. At the 2018 tournament, he was able to post a very impressive five goals and eight points in five games, while in 2019 he had three goals and six points in seven contests.
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This past season in the AHL was his best to date, as he had 13 goals and 30 points in 48 games, which was good enough to earn his first ever NHL call up. Kostin has begun the 2020-21 season playing in the KHL with Omsk Avangard and has just two assists in 15 games, which yet again makes it very hard to get a read on him. Hopefully by this time next year we will have more of an idea on what type of player he is going to be.
3. Joel Hofer
The first and only goaltender on this list is Winnipeg native Joel Hoffer. The 20-year-old has spent the last three seasons in the WHL, split between the Swift Current Broncos and the Portland Winterhawks. Since being drafted in the Fourth Round (No. 107 overall) of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, Hofer improved tremendously. This past season was the best of his WHL career, as he posted a 2.49 goals against average (GAA) along with a .915 save percentage (SV%) and a ridiculous 34-8-5 record.
On top of that great season, he also played a huge part in Team Canada winning gold at the 2020 World Juniors. In six games at the tournament, Hofer posted a 1.30 GAA and a .946 SV%, never once appearing to be shook on the big stage. The hope is that he is able to adjust well at the AHL level this season and get a good amount of starts. While Joel Hofer is still at least a few years away from making an impact at the NHL level, he looks very promising so far.