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Update: 4:15pm Central
The St. Louis Blues and General Manager Doug Armstrong announced several changes to Hockey Operations organization this afternoon.
From Blues.NHL.com:
The team has named Dave Taylor as Vice President of Hockey Operations and Al MacInnis as Senior Advisor to the General Manager.
Kevin McDonald will remain Assistant General Manager of the Blues and General Manager of the Peoria Rivermen, while Rob DiMaio has been named Director of Pro Scouting.
Prior to the changes MacInnis held the position of VP of Hockey Ops. Taylor, who takes that title now, was and appears to still be Director of Player Personnel. DiMaio has been a Pro Scout with the Blues since 2008 takes a direct promotion up the line taking a task off McDonald’s plate.
While there are some very important names changing places don’t get too caught up in the shuffle. Taylor has been a key, if not the most important, advisor to Armstrong and now just has the titles to match. The remainder looks to be not much more than standard “getting the house in order” work. Remember that the franchise is going through a holistic review under new ownership. Some things and some people will stay, but some will change. Really, it's common in the business world, it just plays out more publicly in the progressional sports world.
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Original Story
On a warm June NHL Draft day in Pittsburgh chances were relatively slim that USHL product Jordan Schmaltz would be selected in the first round. As the St. Louis Blues have been known to do, they reached off the board to pick the soon to be North Dakota defenseman 25th overall.
Now fast forward to early August and the US WJC camp taking place in historic Lake Placid. Schmaltz is
the Blues news to discuss once again, facing slim chances as surviving evaluations till the end seems improbable.
Unfortunately, Team USA has decided not to reach as the Blues’ have to add Schmaltz. He has been cut from the camp as have 10 other hopefuls Tuesday.
The Verona, Wisconsin native possess high end offensive skill and is an exceptional skater as noted by many scouts and prospect watchers like
Hockeybuzz’s own Brian Huddle and Chris Peters at the United States of Hockey. As
Peters wrote last week, prowess in such areas could have proven indispensable to the point that shortcomings in the defensive aspects of his game could be overlooked. At this point in time that doesn’t appear to be the case.
It is important to note that dismissal from the evaluation camp does not mean the opportunity to represent his country in Ufa, Russia later this year has been completely washed out. There is a possibility that a strong freshman showing with North Dakota could open the door to a spot on the final roster. According to Peters that outcome is currently difficult to predict because of the strong blueline depth the US has available.
With a late 1993 birthday, Schmaltz will be too old to participate in the 2014 WJC.
Rushing to judgment regarding the young man’s future based on this one event is premature.
While inclusion in their home country’s WJC roster has long been used as a variable to determine a prospects placement in the pipeline pecking order by Blues fans, it can be weighted too heavily. Yes, an outstanding performance by the best of the best often means they are basically NHL ready. Pardon the rhetorical question, but who wouldn’t want to see a touted and anticipated future impact player excel when to do so means they’re ready to put their talent on display at the highest level? Keep in mind that progress is rarely linear. Each player may have similarities in their play style or a comparable body build to a peer, but that doesn’t mean their development will run parallel. Generally, the Blues are looking for who will be the better NHL player in their prime opposed to who is more ready for the pro game today.
If Schmaltz isn’t ready today, that doesn’t mean he can’t (or won’t) be ready tomorrow.
That said, the desire to add weight is understandable considering the track record of the franchise’s top picks not only participating, but at a world class level. Most recently were 2010 first rounders Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko. Those two lead Canada (Bronze) and Russia (Gold) respectively to medals as team captain. Alex Pietrangelo played a critical role in a Silver medal winning Canadian contingent. Netminder Jake Allen backstopped Canada to a medal as well. TJ Oshie, Ian Cole, and the departed Erik Johnson have all represented the red, white and blue. Don’t forget 2009 top pick David Rundblad who represented Sweden and 2007 pick Lars Eller who represented Denmark in the tourney.
Besides those highly recognizable names the laundry list of secondary prospects is quite extensive. Cade Fairchild, David Warsofsky, Phil McRae, Sebastian Wannastrom, Jani Hakanpaa, and Stefan Della Rovere just to name a few.
It’s rare to look up the participating country lineups and not see at least a handful of names found on the Hockey’s Future list on the Blues’ page. So when a name isn’t there the imagination is free to run wild and assume the worst. In this case, it’s best not to. At one time Alex Pietrangelo appeared to be lagging behind in his development. He’s turned out no worse for the wear put on him before getting a real shot a NHL job. Patience should pay off with Schmaltz as well.
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Quick Hit Randomness
- No word on an official arrival date for Vladimir Tarasenko… yet.
- Last night on the
Monday Night Forehand I chatted w/ Justin and Ben regarding the Blues offseason and expectations moving forward. It’s always good to talk with members of the Preds blogging community. They are truly an awesome bunch of guys and gals to call my peers.
You can listen to the whole show by clicking this link.
- A fresh batch of Blues player desktop wallpapers have hit the team’s website.
Check them out here.
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Thanks for reading!
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