St. Louis Blues Weekly Prospect Report (April 5)

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It won't be long before Adam Jiricek and Justin Carbonneau are each wearing a St. Louis Blues jersey.

But the past two first-round picks are busy at the moment fueling runs by their respective junior squads these days.

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For Jiricek (2024, 16th overall) and Brantford, it was a clean sweep for the top seed in the Ontario Hockey League, and all the defenseman needed was one huge game to make an impact on the offensive side while defensively doing his part throughout the series.

The Bulldgs made it a clean sweep of Sudbury, winning 6-5 in overtime in Game 3 last Tuesday before finishing off the Wolves, 2-1 in Game 4, last Thursday.

Jiricek had two goals, three assists in the series, and all five points came in Game 3, including four power-play points.

He whipped in this wrister in the first period to get the 'Dogs off and running:

And then with the Wolves leading 4-2, he started the comeback with this one-timer from the slot that drew Brantford within one with just under 13 minutes to play in the game:

Jiricek, who had two primary assists on 2026 top prospect Caleb Malhotra goals, advances with the Bulldogs into the Eastern Conference semifinal series where they will face North Bay beginning with Game 1 in Brantford on Wednesday, April 8.

* As for Carbonneau and Blainville-Boisbriand of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, it was also a clean 4-0 first-round sweep of Victoriaville.

The 2025 first-round pick (No. 19), who had an assist in Game 1 and a goal and three assists in Game 2, would score the overtime game-winner in Game 3 of a 4-3 win last Tuesday:

Carbonneau would also score this breakaway in the second period to give the Armada a 3-0 lead en route to a 4-1 win to close out Game 4 and the series last Wednesday:

Carbonneau would finish the series with three goals and four assists to go with a plus-6 as the Armada await their next opponent in the second round.

* For defenseman Lukas Fischer (2024, second round) and Sault Ste. Marie, the Greyhounds also took care of business in the OHL in the opening round with a 4-1 series win over London.

After winning the first two games on the road as the fifth seed with Fischer picking up a goal and two assists, the Soo split Games 3 and 4, winning 3-2 in double overtime in Game 3, before falling 4-1 in Game 4. Fischer had an assist in the series-clincher, when the Greyhounds took Game 5, 4-0 on Friday.

Next up for the Soo is a Western Conference semifinal series against top-seeded Kitchener with Game 1 slated for Friday, April 10.

* For Adam Jecho (2023, third round) and Edmonton of the Western Hockey League, it will come down to a winner-take-all Game 7 in the Oil Kings' series against Saskatoon after Edmonton won Game 6, 3-2 in double overtime on Sunday.

Jecho has a goal and two assists in the series, including a Game 4 empty-net goal last Wednesday.

Game 7 will be Monday in Edmonton at 8 p.m. (CT).

* Will McIsaac (2024, fifth round) and Spokane have been eliminated in the WHL playoffs when the Chiefs were knocked out in Game 6 on Sunday night, falling to Prince George 5-3.

McIsaac, who announced he would be attending the University of Connecticut to play next season, had a run of four straight games with an assist from Gamers 2-5 (five assists).

The Chiefs fell behind 3-0 in the series before winning Game 4 on home ice, 3-2 last Wednesday, and Game 5, 4-3 in overtime also on home ice; McIsaac assisted on the tying goal with 56 seconds left in regulation to send the game to OT.

Despite the series loss, McIsaac was an impressive plus-7 in the series and did not have one game as a minus until Sunday when unfortunately he was a minus-3.

But now it's time for the defenseman to trade in his Chiefs logo for that of the UConn Huskies.

* Antoine Dorion (2024, seventh round) and the Quebec Remparts will look to stay alive in their QMJHL series against Charlottetown when they go to Game 6 on Monday in Charlottetown.

Dorion hasn't reached the scoresheet in five games, and the Remparts who took a 2-1 series lead with a 4-3 win at home in Game 3, then dropped back-to-back home games in Games 4-5 by identical 3-2 scores in a tight series.

The pivotal Game 5 was played on Friday.

* Don't look now, but Springfield is making a huge push to reach the Calder Cup playoffs, something that didn't seem possible earlier in the season but as of late, the Thunderbirds have made quite the surge.

They extended their winning streak to a season-high tying four games with a pair of huge wins over the weekend, 4-2 on home ice against Hershey on Friday, then topping Syracuse, 4-3 in a shootout at home on Saturday.

By getting those wins, Springfield (29-29-6-2) held firm to the sixth and final spot in the Atlantic Division, extending the Thunderbirds' lead on Lehigh Valley by four points (66-62) with a game in hand, They also trail the Bears by one for fifth with a game in hand and by two points behind Bridgeport for fourth. Each team has six games left in the season.

And Aleksanteri Kaskimaki (2022, third round) is putting this team on his shoulders.

He scored a goal Friday in the win over the Bears:

And then he had a goal and two assists on Saturday in the win against the Crunch:

Kaskimaki, who has 39 points (18 goals, 21 assists) in 58 games this season, has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in the past nine games.

Another key player has been Thomas Bordeleau, who the Blues acquired from the New Jersey Devils in the Nick Bjugstad trade, and talk about a rebirth, this is it.

In 35 games with Utica, Bordeleau had just eight points (two goals, six assists). Since joining the T-birds, seven goals and five assists in 20 games, including goals in back-to-back games this weekend, one against Lehigh Valley:

And then another in the win over Syracuse for a point in three straight games and seven points in nine games:

Then there's sort of the forgotten man, Akil Thomas, who the Blues acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in the trade that sent Nikita Alexandrov to L.A.

After scoring against Providence on March 29, Thomas opened the scoring on Friday against the Phantoms and had an assist:

He then was called upon and scored the shootout winner in the fourth round to secure the extra point to give him four points (two goals, two assists) in three games:

* To Russia and the KHL, the season came to a close for Matvei Korotky (2024, seventh round) and SKA St. Petersburg, losing in five games to Dmitry Buchelnikov, a 2022 second-round pick acquired in the Justin Faulk trade with the Detroit Red Wings, and CSKA Moscow.

CSKA took Game 5, winning 6-2 at home to close out the series on March 31.

Korotky, 22, who had 27 points (14 goals, 13 assists) in 43 games this season, had just one assist in five playoff games but is someone to keep an eye on potentially coming to North America, not next season but as early as 2027-28. 

As for Buchelnikov, who had an assist in the series clincher, he finished with a goal and two assists in the series to follow up a regular season of 25 points (14 goals, 11 assists) in 44 games.

CSKA now advances to the Western Conference semifinal to face Avangard Omsk, beginning with Games 1-2 in Omsk on Wednesday and Friday, followed by Games 3-4 in Moscow April 12 and 14. 

For Traktor and defenseman Arseny Koromyslov (2022, fourth round), it was also an uphill climb when in our last report, they faced a 3-1 deficit to Ak Bars and would go on to lose that series in five games, falling 2-1 in overtime in Game 5 on March 31.

Traktor lost three games in OT.

Koromyslov, who had one assist in the series and finished the regular season with one goal and 16 assists, logged an average of 20:35 in the series, including 28:59 in Game 4, after averaging 16:59 in time on ice during the regular season.

He's likely to remain in the KHL at least through 2026-27 also.

* Goalie Love Harenstam (2025, sixth round) is into the second round of the HockeyAllsvenskan playoffs for Sodertalje SK.

They trail their best-of-7 series against top-seeded IF Bjorkloven 2-1 after dropping the first two games, falling 3-2 in the opener, in which Harenstam stopped 28 of 31 shots on March 30; he did not play in a 3-2 overtime loss last Wednesday but came back in Game 3 at home and stopped 30 of 32 shots in a must-win 4-2 victory on Friday. 

Game 4 is set for Monday morning.

* In Finland, forward Ondrej Kos (2024, third round) and Ilves Tampere lead their best-of-5 quarterfinal series against KalPa 2-1 with Game 4 looming on Monday morning.

Kos has played two games in the series for Ilves, who can close things out in Game 4 ay KalPa.

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