After two days of watching the Blues’ prospects at this week’s development camp, John Davidson sat down to answer questions from the media on Wednesday:

Q: What do you think about what you’ve seen?

JD: “Impressive. It’s interesting to see how much some of the kids have grown, whether it be height or body weight or muscle. It’s interesting to see the kids we have just drafted. Some of them I’ve never seen play before . . . the scouts do all of that work. Then there’s others that have changed from young shy kids to becoming pros and men. It’s an interesting dynamic, all of this stuff. And then you try to figure out, ‘Are any of these kids going to be able to play for the Blues this year? Or, are they two years away, three years away?’ I find it fascinating in that respect.”

Q: It’s still too early to make projections about what will happen in training camp, but from what you’ve seen from T.J. Oshie and Patrik Berglund, what are your thoughts about them?
JD: “They’re good players. You can sense that they’ve got something special, both of those guys . . . amongst others too. There’s been some guys that have been pretty good here . . . guys that you want to see the next step from . . . (Jonas) Junland looks like he’s taken the next step. He had a good year last year. Ian Cole, you can see him. You can see the skills of (Lars) Eller, David Perron. It’s been good in that respect to watch.”

Q: Assuming Oshie and Berglund make the team, what’s the difference between them and Perron and Johnson last year from an age standpoint? Oshie and Berglund are 21 and 20, compared to Johnson 19 and Perron 19 last year.

JD: “Oh yeah, Oshie’s had three years of college and he’s a year older. Berglund last year had a great experience year. I think with both of them, when they came last year to the development camp, and having Berglund here for part of the (main training camp) last year, it gives them a chance to see what it really takes. Nobody knows it until you experience it. I don’t care who you are, what country you’re from, what level you play. Until you experience being around the actual NHL pros, that’s when you figure out how good they are, how strong they are, how fast they are . . . then you compute in your mind what you need to get to. To see Berglund on his own come in here early and workout - his strength is way up - and he’s not the shy young many that’s never seen this before. His eyes aren’t the size of silver dollars any more. He’s more of an experienced pro walking in. And then with Oshie, he’s a ball of energy. It’s going to be fun to watch him play. If these kids can make this club, it’s going to be an important factor for our future.”

Q: T.J. said he’s a lot stronger than he was last year. Do you see that?

JD: “I see that with the size of his back, the width of his back. I see him when he battles for a loose puck. It all started last year when he saw what it takes. But he still has a ways to go, as does everybody.”

Q: Has anyone else caught your eye?

JD: “I like looking at the kids that we just drafted. The Nigro’s and the McRae’s and the Livingston’s. I certainly wish Pietrangelo was on the ice, but he’s not. It’s the first time that I’ve seen Eller skate really. Last year he was injured. To see his puck skills and his computer - his head, the way he thinks - it’s pretty darn good. (Ian) Schultz is another kid, a tough kid out of Calgary. You like to see the big kid (Anthony) Peluso . . . if he plays a mean game, with that body and as tough as he is, he’s big enough to burn diesel . . . if he has an edge to his game, he’s going to have a chance one day because he’s got the hands and he’s got hockey sense for a big man. You don’t see that too often. He’s got a gift there. But he’s got to play with an edge that’s going to be necessary to play in the NHL. There’s stories with every single guy out there and we’re only two days in.”

Q: Some of the prospects are jokingly hoping that David Perron slows down a little bit. Watching the camp, can you tell that Perron has played a year in the NHL?
JD: “You know that I can tell with David Perron. He wants it as bad as anybody in the NHL. He wants it bad. Now that he’s made the NHL, he wants to come back and prove that he can play at another level. The passion that that kid has is special. I was sitting upstairs with Doug Armstrong and Doug just turned to me and said, ‘Boy, the puck really follows that kid, doesn’t it?’ That’s true. Some kids have that gift . . . they’re always around the puck no matter what. David’s got a long way to go yet, but he’s making every concerted effort possible to go to the next level, and I have a lot of respect for that.”

Q: What have you seen in Nikolai Lemtyugov?

JD: “Skill and a willingness to try and play here. He very easily after a really good year in Peoria last year could have gone back to Russia. They’re looking for players like that, but he wants to play in the NHL. I think that you don’t teach skill, so we’ll see how this camp goes for him and we’ll see how the big camp goes for him and see where it goes. I’d love to see him go to another level . . . he’s got skill.”

Q: Do you worry that if you don’t give Lemtyugov a crack at the NHL soon, he might go back to Russia?

JD: “It’s always a possibility, but there’s not much we can do about that. They have options. The kid comes from another world, another country, and they have hockey over there and they’re paying well. But his dream is to play in the NHL. I respect that. He’s getting married in August, his wife is going to come over and she’s going to get into business here. She speaks very good English. We’ll see how it goes with Lemtyugov.”

Q: How close is Jonas Junland to competing for an NHL job?
JD: “I think he has definite NHL upside and puck skill. He needs to get stronger upper-body. If he is very diligent this summer, and takes Nelson Ayotte’s program, and comes to camp and plays like he has here, this kid has that ability to do it. But if he doesn’t work on his strength, especially upper-body, then it’s going to be hard. I think that he’s got natural skill and ability and he proved it last year playing in  Sweden, but he’s got to get stronger . . . otherwise it won’t work.”

Q: Are you guys counting on a lot from Steve Wagner?

JD: “Yeah, oh yeah. You know what we’re looking for . . . we need goals and goals don’t just come from the guy putting the puck in the net. It starts in your own zone, the transition plays. It starts with the ability to move the puck on the power play. He’s gotten a lot stronger. He got banged around a little bit last year and that’s another example of how a player learns. He got banged around a little bit. He’s learned that and he’s much stronger now. He’s physically stronger. He has the game; he just needs the physical strength to play here all year.”

Q: There’s a lot of well-deserved talk about Erik Johnson and even Alex Pietrangelo now . . . do you think Wagner is a guy who can fill that offensive role?

JD: “Oh, absolutely. He proved that at various points last year. He’s got what people look for, and that’s puck skill as a defenseman. Not just getting the puck and banging it off the glass, but making plays. He’s got that ability. He’s a good playmaker, he’s a good skater, and he’s gotten himself physically stronger. If he hadn’t gotten himself physically stronger, then I don’t know what the chances would have been. But he’s taken advantage of his offseason, especially after the leg injury and he’s now put himself into a category where he’s got a good chance to come in here and be a real contributor for us. He’s gone out and earned that because of what he’s done to himself.”

Q: What about a guy like Chris Porter?

JD: “He’s another kid, he’s going to push people. He’s really strong and he’s got a lot of wheels. He’s an energy guy, he knows his game . . . you can see the maturity of his body, too. We should have before-and-after pictures from a year ago to right now to see the change on these frames. A lot of times you draft players and you look at the body and you say, ‘Oh boy’ . . . like (Alex) Pietrangelo for instance is around 200 and he had problems with the mono. I just know down the road he’s going to weight 225 pounds because he’s got the frame. Porter’s a kid who’s got the frame and he went out and worked. He’s a strong kid. So he’s another kid that’s going to have a chance.”

Q: Ben Bishop is missing camp this week after having another knee surgery. Are you worried about him?

JD: “No. He probably could have played here, but why even take a chance. Something flared up, just a little piece of cartilage they had to snip off. Thankfully it wasn’t worse . . . you never know with those things. We decided, ‘Just hold him out.’ He’s such a tall guy and we want him to build muscle to protect his joints. He’ll be 100 percent by next week probably, but we didn’t want to take a chance.”

Q: Erik Johnson had postseason shoulder surgery. What’s his timetable?

JD: “He says he’s ready to go now. That’s what happens when you’re young. When you’re young, you can come back a little ahead of schedule. It’s not even an issue. He has no pain. I was watching Ray Barile working with him today. He looks like a horse. He hasn’t been cleared (for contact). He says he is, but we haven’t cleared him. He wanted to play in that celebrity game the other night . . . that’s all we needed was Tony Twist running him over.”

Q: Why isn’t Cade Fairchild at this camp?

JD: “Exams . . . he may be here later (Wednesday).”

Q: Is the overall talent base at the camp a lot better than it was a year ago?

JD: “You guys tell me. I think it is. When you have kids on the cusp of playing in the NHL and then you have kids that you know are going to play here. That’s been the idea of how we’ve gone about our business. The base of young talent . . . I don’t know . . . I think there’s a lot of it. We’ve worked hard accumulate draft picks, we’ve worked hard to find the free agents like Wagner. We’ve worked hard to develop these kids with their offseason programs to get physically stronger. And now we’re sitting here talking about names that are going to have a chance - if not this year, next year. It wasn’t too long ago there wasn’t that discussion. It was, ‘Let’s go find guys. Let’s go look at the waiver wire, let’s go find somebody to fill these spots.’  Now we’ve got some kids that have a legitimate chance of being really good hockey players. And from what we here from the outside, a lot of people think the Blues’ talent base of future stars is as good as anybody’s. We’re pretty proud of that. Jarmo and his staff have worked their tails off, and in the office, we’ve worked to try and find more draft choices than normal. Now we have to see if we’re right.”

JR