St. Louis Blues Prospect Report (Oct. 11): Throw Those Hats For Maddox Dagenais; Aleksanteri Kaskimaki Continues to Press For His Opportunity

Maddox Dagenais was a confident player when he attended St. Louis Blues development camp in late June.

The first-round pick (No. 16) in the 2026 NHL Draft expressed his gratitude to St. Louis for showing faith in him when most draft prognosticators had him pegged for selection later than he went.

His determination has led to a strong start with Quebec of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League after netting a hat trick for the Remparts on Sunday in a wild 7-6 win over Chicoutimi.

His first put his team ahead 4-3:

Then came two goals 24 seconds apart in the second period, including a second of the game to put his team ahead 6-4:

And the hat trick goal, his third in the QMJHL, came from this sharp angle from near the goal line:

That's now eight points (five goals, three assists) in six games for the center, who is on a crazy pace of 83 points (52 goals, 31 assists) in 62 games on the season.

* Matvei Korotky -- One would look purely at statistics and think that Korotky, a seventh-round pick in 2024, is off to a slow start for his KHL club in Russia.

Far from it for the SKA St. Petersburg forward, who did in fact have just two goals in his first 10 games but he was also involved in a shootout winner and had a five-game assist streak.

Korotky put together back-to-back games with a goal, including this beauty going almost the length of the ice and scoring in a 4-3 overtime loss to Dinamo Minsk on Sunday:

The 20-year-old is just a pure shooter, and one has to think it's not a question of if but when do the Blues entertain bringing him to North America.

He's off to a run of 10 points (four goals, six assists) in 12 games after 27 points (14 goals, 13 assists) in 43 games last season.

Continue to monitor this kid's progress, along with Dmitry Buchelnikov (five goals, two assists in 14 games) with CSKA Moscow.

* Nick Bogas -- The fifth-round pick in 2026 picked up his first Ontario Hockey League goal for Flint on Wednesday when he had a goal and three assists in a 5-2 win over reigning Memorial Cup champ Kitchener, then added a helper Saturday in a 6-4 win over Sarnia to give the defenseman a goal and five assists in seven games this season:

* Aleksanteri Kaskimaki -- It's a four-game point streak to start the season for the third-round pick in 2022 after scoring in back-to-back games for Springfield of the American Hockey League on Saturday and Sunday.

Kaskimaki, who was one of the standouts during Blues training camp, scored a pair of shorthanded goals, including one Saturday in a 5-2 loss to Laval:

Then there was another on Sunday in a 2-1 shootout loss to Charlotte, and both were set up by Otto Stenberg (2023, first round):

It now gives Kaskimaki two goals and three assists in four games for the 2-1-0-1 Thunderbirds and another player who is on the cusp of sooner rather than later being a call-up by the Blues at some point this season.

Oh, and while we're on Springfield, let's not overlook defenseman Lukas Fischer (2024, second round), who handled himself quite nicely on Saturday in his first scrap of the season:

* Will McIsaac -- In his first his first collegiate game and the first game of the season for No. 16 UConn in a battle against No. 17 Penn State, the defenseman rips one from the right circle to get the home side off and running on Friday in a 3-1 win:

* Tomas Mrsic -- The 2024 fourth-round pick picked up two goals for No. 15 Colorado College on Friday in a 4-1 exhibition win over the U.S. Under-18 National Team:

* Strong start for goaltending -- It's been a solid start for prospect goalies, including Will Cranley (2020, sixth round) in Springfield with a 0.48 goals-against average and scintillating .982 save percentage in two games, while Marcus Gidlof (5-0-0, 2.25 GAA, .907 save percentage in six games) and Love Harenstam (2025, sixth round; 5-3-0, 2.27 GAA, .910 save percentage) are also off and running.

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