St. Louis Blues Prospects: Who’s Hot, Who’s Not
Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
WHO’S COLD
Jaedon Descheneau, F, Kootenay Ice (WHL)- Descheneau, the Blues’ fifth-rounder in 2014, hasn’t necessarily been bad, but he’s missing out on an extremely important opportunity. Descheneau has played in just two of the Ice’s first 19 games this season due to an upper-body injury. That’s frustrating for the 5-foot-9, 192-pounder, who is in his final year of junior eligibility at 20 years old and needs to make a strong impression, since he does not yet have a contract from the Blues. He’s done all he can to satisfy the brass from an offensive standpoint, collecting 257 points over the past three seasons, but obviously there’s something more that the front office wants to see from Descheneau before they make him an official member of the organization.
Liam Dunda, F, Owen Sound Attack (OHL)- Dunda, the Blues’ sixth-rounder this year, was taken for his upside as an aggressor and an energy guy, rather than for his playmaking ability. The 6-foot-4, 215 pounder is doing a solid job of that, as he has 19 penalty minutes through 16 games and is on pace to set a career-high in that category. With tha t said, Dunda needs to start putting together at least a little bit of offensive production if he’s going to do anything as a pro. (After all, even Ryan Reaves had a junior season with 15 goals and 20 assists). Dunda, whose career high in points is nine in 53 games, has not been much of an offensive contributor thus far. He’s got a good chance to set career highs in both goals and assists, with two in each category through 16 games, but simply put he should be doing better in a heavy offense league like the OHL.
Dunda still has plenty of time ahead of him to develop at just 18 years old, but he’s at least going to need to put up respectable offensive numbers in the OHL at some point before he earns a contract from the Blues.
C.J. Yakimowicz, F, London Knights (OHL)- The 19-year-old Yakimowicz is another guy who has an important year ahead of him, as he’s in the third year of his junior career and really should be putting up video game numbers this year. Unfortunately for Yakimowicz, who broke out last season with 13 goals and 20 assists over 63 games, his offensive production has dipped this season, and he has just two goals and one assist through 13 games. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Yakimowicz, who had 95 penalty minutes last season, is probably always going to be an energy guy first and foremost, but he looked to be on the way to making himself a viable pro with the double-digit points in each category last season. We’ll see if Yakimowicz can rebound soon and make himself a candidate to jump to the AHL next season.
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