Klim Kostin=found $$

So far Samorukov hasn’t played for St. Louis itself yet, spending all his time since the trade on the Blues’s farm team, the Springfield Thunderbirds. Samorukov so far has put up 2-3-5 in 22 games for the Thunderbirds. That projects out to 15 points in a full AHL season, which would actually be three less than he put up for Bakersfield last season. So although Samorukov took a step forward last season, he appears to be spinning his wheels in the early going this season.

There’s no shame in that, and it doesn’t mean Samorukov is a draft bust by any means yet. He’s only 23, and apprenticing in the hardest position to learn the NHL has to offer. Players rarely develop in a consistently upward trajectory, most go through peaks and valleys and playing for awhile in the minors.

The Blues don’t truly know what they have in DS because he has played a mere 126 games in the North American pro leagues between the AHL and NHL since coming over to this side of the Atlantic.

He was buried behind Philip Broberg and Markus Niemelainen here, but St. Louis is a team that’s struggling this season in more ways than one. Not only are they starting the season much further down the standings than they were expecting, but like the Oilers they’re also struggling with injuries, most notably to Torey Krug, Marco Scandella, and Pavel Buchnevich.

If those injuries continue then Samorukov may be called up to the big leagues again sooner than expected for his new(ish) team.

At any rate, I can absolutely see why St. Louis made this trade. A cursory glance at their prospect blueliners on CapFriendly shows that they need prospect help on D. Before Samorukov came along they only had two guys not on their ELCs, and only five d-men under contract as prospects.

This would logically indicate a bare prospect pool on D, and of course if you do the math three of those five are on ELCs, which means they’re a long ways away from being NHL ready. Samorukov may not be ready yet himself either but he’s further along than half the Blues minor leaguers on D. There was a definite vacuum of prospects for St. Louis on D.

This trade will be a good one for Samorukov as a player, assuming he can move the dial in the AHL and take another step or two forward in the near future. There’s a lot less players in his way in terms of an NHL spot in St. Louis than there is in Edmonton.

It’s hard to say at this point, but it’s entirely possible St. Louis evens up this trade in the next couple of seasons if Samorukov turns out to be an impact blueliner.