ST. LOUIS -- It was only a matter of time, but Dalibor Dvorsky's St. Louis Blues tenure is now officially underway.
Financially anyway.
Dalibor Dvorsky (left) works with prospect coach Phil McRae at the recent prospect camp at Centene Community Ice Center. The center signed a three-year, entry-level contract on Friday.The 10th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, one of three first-round picks by the Blues, inked his first North American contract when the Blues signed the 18-year-old to a three-year, two-way entry-level contract on Friday morning.
Dvorsky, who arrived in St. Louis for the first time and participated in the Blues prospect camp July 1-4, has already made a lasting impression on Blues fans with his work ethic and skill while he was at Centene Community Ice Center.
The contract, of course, makes Dvorsky, who is still slated to play overseas in Sweden for the 2023-24 season for IK Oskarshamn of the Swedish Hockey League, waivers exempt and he's a slide candidate, which means if a player signs an entry-level contract and is either 18 or 19 as of Sept. 15 of the signing year and does not play a minimum of 10 NHL games that season (regular season and playoffs), their contract would slide, or extend, by one year and technically begin the following year, which in Dvorsky's case, is all but likely. That would mean Dvorsky's contract would slide from 2023-24 through 2025-26 to 2024-25 through 2026-27.
Dvorsky, who is from Zloven, Slovakia, took the course of growing his game in Sweden and played for AIK of HockeyAllsvenskan where he had 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in 38 regular-season games; he also played for Slovakia at the U-18 and U-20 World Junior Championships and had 13 points (eight goals, five assists) seven games to earn a selection to the U-18 All-Star Team.
He signed a two-year contract to play in Sweden but is more than likely to come to North America for the 2024-25 season.
"Juniors and seniors is something totally different," Dvorsky said at prospect camp. "Playing pro in Sweden helped me so much to kind of just get into it. You feel the pro hockey, you feel what it takes to be dominant there. It has helped me so much in the past."
Dvorsky will be under the close eye of Alexander Steen, who was recently hired as a European player development consultant.
"Very good, very competitive," Steen said of Dvorsky's game at prospect camp. "He's a competitive person, very humble, curious, wants to learn. Really strong. I'm impressed with his strength and his stick, puck battles and stuff. When you're battling that hard and still has the touch when he gets the puck free, he's there. Very calm, great person."
Blues director of amateur scouting Tony Feltrin said Dvorsky was on the Blues' radar since the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in 2021-22, where Dvorsky had 12 points (eight goals, four assists) in five games that helped Slovakia capture the silver medal.
"He's a tremendous player with character, two-way ability," Feltrin said at the draft. "He proved at the U-18 versus his age group the scoring ability, makes tremendous plays, makes players around himself better. Lots of potential there, really liked the player."
When asked when he will make it to the NHL, Dvorsky said, "We'll see. I don't want to answer anything now. I'll just do my absolute best to make the team as soon as possible."