Feltrin recaps Blues’ draft picks in 2024

Feltrin recaps Blues’ draft picks in 2024

all right Tony another draft is come and gone and uh I don’t know if it’s relief or what your emotions are once the draft is finally over oh it’s a lot of satisfaction to be honest uh I think we addressed a lot of things uh the past two days and got a couple of terrific players so uh Al all good on our end all right talk about your staff a little bit just in terms of how much work goes into the preparation to uh finally get to this day and and you know select new players that are going to be future blues oh it’s countless hours we’re working already on the 25th five drafts so it’s uh it’s an ongoing process uh the Buy in from the entire staff top to bottom is terrific uh we’re all in it for the same goal to create uh winning hockey players for the St Louis Blues so uh it’s it is it is a lot of ours it’s frustrating that we can only do certain players by uh video but uh we’ve got to do the best that we can so uh as I mentioned just tremendous top to bottom for the efforts put forward by the guys you take four defenseman but you get a lot of size you added a lot of size in this year’s draft class was that by Design well it’s certainly beneficial that they are big bodied kids uh there’s certainly some physical maturity on a couple of them to come but uh the height thing never never hurts uh but we’re drafting talented hockey players at the end of the day so all right let’s talk about your first round pick Adam yurich what do you like about him and uh how much have you watched him play over the course of the last several months again going back that’s my one of the players that we had a book on coming into the season uh so we’ve seen him up through the uh his injury at the world junor that curtailed his season but uh we’ve seen him numerous times Yan vet seen him as a country mate uh tremendous player uh able to play a two-way game intelligent player good Puck Poise uh despite a little slighter slender frame at the moment uh we expect him to fill out uh but he does play aggressive uh he pushes the Pace he gets actively involved both ends and he’ll throw an occasional hit so lots to like there he had the knee injury and obviously you’re comfortable with where he’s at with his knee right now but will be will we be able to see him in the development Camp when do you think he’ll be able to get back on the ice reum skating yeah I’m not promising the timeline for for that uh but we’ve got the medical clearance that uh the uh the long-term prognostication is is fine so all your first three picks were all def let’s talk about kin Ralph who played his U6 year here in St Louis with car shield and also went to Kirkwood High School so he’s got some local connections but what do you like most about him well he as you mentioned earlier he’s one of those players with that tremendous size uh but he’s also good very good Mobility plays a simplified game uh he can add a lot uh on a two-way steady style Defender so uh upsides great going to attend St Cloud University uh long-term upside here was is really good the St Louis connection was interesting to discover uh and that’s beneficial also Lucas Fischer he’s got the Bloodlines of course his dad played a long time in the NHL with the Red Wings Yuri fiser and certainly has a lot of poise and composure for uh for just an 18-year-old kid yeah there certainly was games when you would go into Saria home or away and and catch a game with uh luc’s performance was uh outstanding uh because he was a young defender on a on a team not surrounded by a whole bunch of uh experience he was occasionally exposed but the you catch those games when he’s uh on his game uh then the upside is tremendous so he uh he can provide a lot for a two-way game also so lots to like there all right when you get into round three you start adding some offensive players Andre KAS a Czech kid who played over in Finland for a couple of years what do you like about him yeah the Andre that’s uh a tough season again where he came down with a it wasn’t a case of mono but a a a blood issue that curtail part of his season he came back and played u8 worlds uh we got another opportunity for some late season views uh we we like the Intelligence on this player uh he can play all situations reads the game skates well good size frame to fill out in the in the long run so Adam jeo he is uh a Czech native but played over here in North America in the Western League yeah uh and again one of those kids you you’ll get on your tippy toes to to speak to eye to ey because he’s a big bud uh put up some pretty reasonable numbers for a first year player uh again I think he can do a little bit of everything for you and he moves very well for for a kid that size what about Thomas mirik Another Western Hockey League player yes uh Thomas the player we’ve seen for a while uh productive season uh uh he’s got some sneaky good skill uh and he’s a very well- conditioned kid uh I think there’s a pretty good upside there as an offensive player so Tony when you come into these drafts you never know how the chips are going to fall but did things kind of go the way you expected it to go well yeah you you create the list of best player uh available and such but you still have an idea of some ranges where you expect players to fall third line for or sorry third round round fourth round and such so uh we were certainly pleased that the players that we selected were available and uh we we spent a lot of time on them so uh they were the ones we wanted what’s the next step now for you you mentioned you’re already compiling the list for 2025 I mean no time to rest is there uh there summer camps begin uh this month here in July whether it’s U7 and 18 events uh and then we turned around early August and we’re up in Edmonton for the uh the Helena tournament which is a big major kickoff event so couple days into development camp for myself to see our kids from last year in this draft class and uh then before you know it you’re back you’re back at it so how excited are you to see them coming up this week in development camp and and what do you expect from these kids in development Camp I mean it’s a whirlwind right they spend all this time preparing for the draft they hear their name and then they’re on the ice a couple days later yeah uh it’s not a it’s a showcase for them it’s the first step uh create some relationships with future teammates create relationships with the the developmental coaches uh so there’s just begin the learning curve uh they’re talented players they were selected for a reason so we and great thing is they’ve got people on staff that believe in them so it’s a long run long Horizon uh but this a step one and here we go yeah and a great opportunity for the fans to see the newest prospects as well so we hope we see a lot of fans out there as well thanks for doing this Tony pleasure thank you

Director of Amateur Scouting Tony Feltrin comments each of the nine players the Blues selected at the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas.