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St. Louis Blues select Alexey Toropchenko in fourth round of 2017 NHL Draft

By Patrick Karraker

Nov 17, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues and fans celebrate after defeating the San Jose Sharks 3-2 at Scottrade Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 17, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues and fans celebrate after defeating the San Jose Sharks 3-2 at Scottrade Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Blues took another Russian forward with their fourth-round pick on Saturday.

After taking highly-regarded Russian forward Klim Kostin with the 31st overall pick in Friday night’s NHL Draft, the St. Louis Blues dipped back into Russia on Saturday morning to grab another talented forward, drafting Alexey Toropchenko with their fourth-round selection (113th overall).

Toropchenko, a 6-foot-3, 187-pound 17-year-old, was teammates with Kostin in 2015-16, which very well could have been the cause of the Blues discovering him. While playing for HK MVD Balashikha of the Russian junior league this past season, he collected 19 goals and 12 assists with 50 penalty minutes in 45 games.

Next: Blues trade Ryan Reaves to Penguins

Toropchenko is regarded as a highly-skilled offensive player with great speed and size. The Blues are taking a gamble on him, as all teams are with their fourth-round selections, but they’ll have four years to track his progress in Europe before they have to make a decision on him, and if he ends up developing as they hope he will, they’ll end up with a 6-foot-3 scorer who delivers a great effort at both ends of the ice.

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