Another Russian scoring among Blues prospects; Fischer starts new for Soo; goals from Carbonneau, McIsaac, Stenberg, Susuyev
We've made mention of St. Louis Blues prospects playing in Russia, from Matvei Korotky (2024 seventh-round pick) to Arseni Koromyslov (2022 fourth-round pick) to Mikhail Fyodorov (2025 fifth-round pick).
This past week, enter another Russian has entered the picture when Ivan Vorobyov, a seventh-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, scored twice for Khimik Voskresensk of the Russian VHL (All-Russian Hockey League), the secondary league under the KHL.
Vorobyov, 23, who is at almost a point per game player there (15 points; eight goals, seven assists) in 15 games who has dealt with some injuries, scored twice in a 4-3 overtime loss to Olympia on Saturday (goals in the following clip at 14 and 54 seconds):
Vorobyov has played four games for Spartak Moskva of the NHL (no points) but is having some success in the VHL; he has played 93 games the past two seasons in the KHL for Vityaz Moscow Region (42 points; 24 goals, 18 assists).
* Other notable performances, highlights from Blues prospects --
* Love Harenstam -- The sixth-round pick in 2025 pitched a pair of shutouts for Södertälje SK of Sweden's HockeyAllsvenskan, the second-tiered division under the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) with a 14-save performance last Wednesday over Ostersund and then a 15-save shutout of Nybro on Friday:
The 18-year-old is now 8-11-3 on the season there with a 1.90 goals-against average and .918 save percentage, giving some hope that a goaltending prospect could be climbing the ranks and be NHL-worthy one day.
* Justin Carbonneau -- The first-round pick in 2025 (No. 19) scored the lone goal for Blainville-Boisbriand of the Quebec Maritimes Hockey League on Saturday in a 4-1 loss to Baie-Comeau.
In doing so, the forward extended his point streak in the month of December to three games (five points; three goals, two assists).
Carbonneau was one of the surprise omissions by Canada for selection for the World Junior squad for this year, although there could potentially be a call-up with an injury or two.
In the meantime, he has 35 points (24 goals, 11 assists) in 25 games playing for the Armada.
* Will McIssac -- The 2024 fifth-round pick had himself a game on Friday for Spokane of the Western Hockey League in an 8-3 win over Portland with a goal and two assists, scoring a beauty of a wrist shot:
It was the defenseman's second multi-point game of the season and season-high three-point game, giving him 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in 30 games for the Chiefs (16-16-0), in seventh place in the Western Conference.
* Nikita Susuev -- The 2023 seventh-round pick scored his first American Hockey League goal for Springfield on Saturday in a 3-2 win at Utica to extend his point streak to four games (one goal, three assists):
* Otto Stenberg -- The first-round pick in 2023 (No. 25) has a point in two straight games now for Springfield after getting what amounted to be the game-winning goal in the third period of the win in Utica, a goal originally credited to defenseman Marc-Andre Gaudet, but Stenberg, who has three goals and five assists in 21 games, got a piece of the point shot:
* Stancl, Peterson, Mrsic -- Jakub Stancl (2023, fourth round) had an assist in Utica to extend his point streak to three games (three goals, two assists including his first AHL hat trick); Dylan Peterson (2020 third round) has assists in back to back games, and Tomas Mrsic, a 2024 fourth-round pick, ended a seven-game pointless drought with two assists for Colorado College in a 3-3 tie at Miami (Ohio) on Saturday.
* Lukas Fischer -- The defenseman, a 2024 second-round pick who was traded by his OHL team Sarnia to Soo last Monday for defenseman Hunter Solomon and five picks, netted his first two points (assists) in the past two games.
* Adam Jiricek, Adam Jecho off to WJC training camp -- Adam Jiricek, a 2024 first-round pick and Adam Jecho, a third-round pick in 2024, each has left his current junior squad (Brantford of the Ontario Hockey League for Jiricek and Edmonton of the Western Hockey League for Jecho) to be a part of Czechia's training camp for the upcoming World Junior Championship in St. Paul, Minn.