Blues Roll Dice With Russian
In the third round, the Blues took Russian winger Sergei Andronov with the 78th overall pick. Here is a profile of the young man.
And here is another one. Sounds like he can play.
But will he ever play in St. Louis? It is extremely difficult to coax Russian players to North America. Typically these guys want to play in the NHL or the KHL back home. The AHL is not their favorite league. The money is too good in Russian to play in the North American minors.
Remember, the Blues convinced Nikolai Lemtyugov to give it a whirl. But when he got into his second AHL season without getting called up by the Blues, he returned home. That was a pity, too, because he was just starting to come on.
Adding skill is a good thing, but the Blues should NOT have spent a high pick on Russian unless the organization is serious about giving him a real shot at playing in the NHL.
I think the Blues are serious about giving the Russian kid a shot. I heard Jarmo on an interview today, and he thinks this kid can play for us in 2 years. And they better give him a shot, a little more European flavor for the Blues is needed, blueline and up front. Thanks Jeff