The Athletic is in the midst of releasing its prospect pool rankings, with the St. Louis Blues at 10th.
When The Athletic conducted these rankings a year ago, the Blues ranked 14th, moving up four spots in 2026.
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The Blues received high grades overall, but the one criticism was that the prospect pool is missing a truly elite, franchise-altering prospect. It’s fair criticism, but that’s also indicative of where the Blues have been selecting in the first round. Their highest draft selection in the last five years was 10th overall, when they selected Dalibor Dvorsky.
While they may currently lack that top prospect, they could land that in this year’s draft. The Blues currently sit in fifth last place due to points percentage, and a top-five pick could be franchise-altering.
With that being said, the depth the Blues have is rivalled by few.
In the first tier, Scott Wheeler named three Blues players: Justin Carbonneau, Dalibor Dvorsky, and Adam Jiricek.
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Carbonneau had a stellar goal-scoring season in the QMJHL, and his club, Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, is a threat to win the QMJHL championship.
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Dvorsky has graduated to the NHL, but because of these rankings’ rules, he was still eligible to be named a prospect. In his first full NHL season, Dvorsky has scored 11 goals and 18 points in 62 games. He’s shown he can be a threat as a shooter, but he can also play a reliable two-way game.
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His performance at the Olympics showed he could be a strong 5-on-5 player, but he needs to add that element in the NHL.
Jiricek is healthy and is showing his talent. He was a dominant defensive force at the world juniors and added plenty of offense as well. In the OHL with the Brantford Bulldogs, Jiricek has led the way on the blueline, and they are the heavy favorites to win it all this year.
Logan Mailloux, Theo Lindstein, and Otto Stenberg highlighted tier 2. All three players have seemingly graduated to the NHL, but they did spend parts of the season with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds.
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They’ve all shown they can play in the NHL, but finding ways to become even more impactful is the next step.
Tier 3 featured Marcus Gildof, a big Swedish netminder; Colin Ralph, a big left-handed defenseman in the NCAA; and Dmitry Buchelnikov, a recently acquired skillful Russian winger.
Tier 4 consisted of Lukas Fischer, another big left-handed defenseman in the OHL; Love Harenstam, a standout Swedish netminder; Aleksanteri Kaskimaki, a two-way Finnish center playing in the AHL; Juraj Pekarcik, a skilled winger in the AHL; Jakub Stancl, a versatile forward in the AHL; and Adam Jecho, a big center playing in the WHL.
St. Louis Blues Weekly Prospect Report (March 29)
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Michael Buchinger was named as an honorable mention.
With another three first-round picks in this year’s upcoming draft, there could be plenty of new faces in these rankings, and the Blues’ position could be a lot higher next year.
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