Each summer, there’s a new player who all fans hope will decide to turn pro sooner than later. In the past, T.J. Oshie and Erik Johnson faced the obvious question of “When?”

This summer, it’s Notre Dame defenseman Ian Cole, whom the Blues selected with the 18th overall pick in the 2007 draft. He has played the past two seasons with the Irish, notching 14 goals and 32 assists.

Cole has said that he plans to return to school for the 2009-10 season, but recently he has wavered on that decision, saying the possibility still exists that he turns pro this summer.

“I’m not really in a hurry to leave school,” Cole said. “I’m not one of those guys who can’t handle school. I do fine. Obviously, it would be a tremendous honor to play for the Blues. I think they’re the best organization out there. I really do. I wouldn’t want to be drafted by anyone else, but at the same time, school has been going great. I’m in a great situation at Notre Dame. I play over 30 minutes a night, every situation, with a great coach, a great hockey program. I think it’s just going to be a really tough decision either way. But whatever I choose, it’s going to be the right situation for me.”

Blues President John Davidson was asked today about Cole’s option of joining the organization.

“I would venture to say . . . our thought is that he’s ready to take a step . . . from our point of view. He’s a big boy, a physically strong individual. He’s had some pretty good experience, but again, it’s up to him. If he wants to be a professional hockey player, which I sense he does, you don’t want to waste years. U.S. college is very good hockey, there’s nothing negative about it. But if you have that ability to take that next step, then it’s up to you to do that.”

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Center Max Tardy, whom the Blues drafted in the seventh round of the NHL draft last month, is excited to be on the ice for this week’s Pro Orientation camp.

Tardy, who was a standout player at Duluth East High School in Minnesota, has been a huge fan of Blues forward T.J. Oshie, who attended Warroad High in Minnesota. This week, despite a separated shoulder, Tardy is skating with Oshie at the Blues’ camp.

“I remember watching him play at the state tournament when he was a senior in high school . . . I think I was in 8th grade,” Tardy said. “Then watching him play at the University of North Dakota, I idolized him growing up. I got to meet him, which was pretty awesome.”

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The Blues have four goalies at this week’s camp: Jake Allen, Reto Berra, Paul Karpowich and Keith Kincaid. Allen, Berra and Karpowich are all Blues’ draft picks. Kincaid is a member of the St. Louis Bandits of the North American Hockey League.

A noticeable absence at this week’s camp is Blues’ goalie Ben Bishop. Bishop has been training all summer at the Blues’ practice facility and plans to hold down a spot with the Blues’ AHL affliate in Peoria next season. But in a camp in which Erik Johnson and Oshie are participating, the Blues did not ask Bishop to be involved this week.

“There’s not enough nets,” Davidson said. “Bish, he’s been working and he’s been training. He’s going to have lots of time. We want to look at our guys we have here.”

Defenseman Jonas Junland also is not attending this week’s camp.

“With Junland, he played all year in the American league,” Davidson said. “No big deal, just give him the summer to train. This is more of an orientation camp.”

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Defenseman Brett Ponich, who some say the Blues reached on in the second round of last month’s draft, looks like a tree on the ice. At 6-foot-7 and 205 pounds, Ponich has some weight to put on, but he looks better on his skates than you might imagine.

“In watching him, I really like what I see,” Davidson said. “You know he’s going to get a lot bigger . . . I like the fact that he makes plays out of his own zone. He’s not just one of those big defenseman that gets the puck and clanks it off the glass. He wants to make a play. He skates better than I thought he would. For young men when they’re as big as they are, their bodies have to mature. His feet are a lot lighter than I thought they’d be. It’s brought a smile to all of our faces.” 

Ponich, who played last season with Portland in the Western Hockey League, said: “I want to absorb as much as I can, learn as much as I can from the guys that have been here and see what it’s like to be at this level. My goal for the week is to get in the back of (management’s) mind and to get them thinking about me and come to the main camp and try and improve upon that. No matter where I go, I’m going to work my hardest and just try to crack the roster as soon as possible.”

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Forward Simon Hjalmarsson, the Blues’ second-round pick in 2007, has signed a contract with Rogle BK of the Swedish Elite League next season. Hjalmarsson is looking forward to making the jump from the Swedish-2 league, where he had 14 goals and 33 points in 40 games last season for Boras.

“It will be my first year in the Elite league, and obviously that’s a first step in coming over here,” Hjalmarsson said. “I think I’m going to get my ice time, I hope so. I want to play on the first two lines and we’ll see what happens. I think this will be really great for me. It helps playing against the best players in Sweden.”

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Erik Johnson and Alex Pietrangelo were scheduled to be on the same squad at this week’s camp. But since Cade Fairchild was unable to skate this week, the Blues were forced to even out the defensemen in camp, and therefore Johnson switched teams.

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There are four local players at this week’s camp who are not property of the Blues. The team simply wanted to take a look at them. They are:

Center Kyle Reeds - St. Louis

Defenseman Tony DeHart - Ballwin

Defenseman Tyler Elbrecht - Edwardsville

Left winger Jack Combs - St. Louis

I’ll have more on their performances later in the camp. Here’s what Davidson said about them on Thursday:

“We’re fortunate enough to know that, here in St. Louis, these kids are pretty good. They’re pretty good players. That’s a feather for the St. Louis youth hockey programs. We’re from St. Louis . . . we’re the Blues of St. Louis . . . and if we can help out and give these kids a shot, that’s the way it should be. We watch these kids closely. We’ll talk about them. The worst-case scenario for all of these kids is they’re going to learn a lot. If they go back to junior, or to college, it gives them a real good base to kick their summer off. We feel that being able to do that for some of the St. Louis kids, this is St. Louis . . . we live here.”

JR