2023 third-round pick gets three-year, two-way deal after posting 59 points in 50 games in USHL
The contracts keep coming in for the St. Louis Blues prospects.
A day after signing 2022 third-round pick Aleksanteri Kaskimaki to a three-year, two-way entry-level contract, the Blues also inked forward Juraj Pekarcik to a three-year, two-way entry-level contract on Wednesday.
Pekarcik was selected by the Blues in the third round of the 2023 NHL Draft, spent last season with Dubuque of the United States Hockey League and had 59 points (nine goals, 50 assists) in 43 regular-season games; his 50 assists were second-best on the Fighting Saints, and the 18-year-old had 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 11 postseason games with Dubuque, which ranked second in the league.
Pekarcik was one of seven Blues prospects to participate in this past year's World Junior Championship, representing Slovakia and appeared in five games (one goal, two assists). He was a teammate of 2023 first-round pick (10th overall) Dalibor Dvorsky at the World Junior Championship.
A native of Trstena, Slovakia, Pekarcik spent two seasons with HK Nitra in Slovakia’s top junior league and had 48 points (17 goals, 31 assists) in 42 regular-season games overall.
"Pekarcik, a third rounder, looks like a first-rounder out there," Blues director of player personnel Tim Taylor said following prospect camp last year. "... We have so many good players coming."
With Pekarcik under contract, Blues prospect signings in recent months have included Kaskimaki, 2023 first-round pick (25th overall) Otto Stenberg, 2021 third-round pick Simon Robertsson, free agents Marcus Sylvegard and Samuel Johannesson, 2020 third-round pick Dylan Peterson and 2023 first-round pick (29th overall) Theo Lindstein.
