MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — Drew Bannister saw the proper steps for Dalibor Dvorsky and for fans not to view the No. 10 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft as a failure in his first NHL camp.
Dvorsky along with 13 other players were cut and assigned to Springfield of the American Hockey League on Sunday before the Blues assigned four more to the Thunderbirds on Monday.
Dvorsky, who dazzled at Sudbury of the Ontario Hockey League a season ago with 88 points (45 goals, 43 assists) in 52 regular-season games, was given the opportunity to seize an opportunity in a very competitive training camp in St. Louis for the first time, but after playing in three preseason games (zero points), the Blues are taking the usual safe route when it comes to their prospects, and coach Drew Bannister feels the totality of Dvorsky’s camp was a good one.
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“I saw good steps, whether it was practices or games where he was kind of building his game and getting more comfortable on the ice,” Bannister said. “These are young hockey players. They dictate when they’re ready to play. Certainly we’re not in a situation to force them just because of who they are, where they were drafted. He’s 19 years old. That’s just the reality. Coming from junior to the NHL, that’s a big leap, and it’s a big leap to even go to the American League from junior hockey.
“He’ll dictate when he’s ready to play and that could be two months or a year from now. But we do know that he’s a really good hockey player, he’s going to be big part of our future here, and we’re not going to let him down. That’s the thing for us. He’ll go down in the American League, he’s going to play important minutes, he’s going to play in every situation and he’s going to become a better player and he’s going to be ready when he comes up here to play.”
New Springfield coach Steve Konowalchuk will have the luxury of using Dvorsky however he sees fit, but the first order of business is to get a 19-year-old acclimated to living as an adult.
“I don’t know what ‘Kono’s plan is right now down there with him. I think it’s get him down there, get him settled,” Bannister said of Dvorsky. “It’s going to be a new situation for him where he’s not living with billets that are doing things for him every day. He’ll probably find somebody to room with, he’ll have to find an apartment, furniture, learn how to cook for himself, learn how to pay their own bills. That in itself is part of becoming a player and becoming a pro. Where he fits into their lineup, I know he’ll get a lot of opportunity. It’s how quickly he adapts to that level down there and translates up here at our level too.
“There’s no timeline. He can get off to a great start and if we have an injury, maybe he’s the guy that comes up. I don’t know, or it could be somebody that’s playing better. We have a lot of good players down there, young prospects that if you’re playing well, they’ll get the opportunity, but again, we’re not in a situation up here where we need to force him early. He can go down there and start to build his game and get ready for the NHL.”
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