ST. LOUIS -- When Colin Ralph made the jump from St. Cloud State to Michigan State a season ago, the writing was on the wall as to why this move was made.

Let's face it, and no disrespect to the Huskies hockey program, but one year in the Huskies program turned into a springboard to go to a bigger and quite frankly, more prominent program in the Spartans, which the St. Louis Blues second round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft did in his sophomore season.

The Spartans came into last season as a title contender, and although it didn't finish the way the program and Ralph wanted despite a Big Ten title and regional final appearance, his 37 games spent in East Lansing, Mich. (one goal, 10 assists, plus-20 rating) was one he wouldn't trade.

"It was great. I had a great experience at Michigan State," Ralph said recently at development camp. "We had an unbelievable team. It's hard to move on because we didn't accomplish our ultimate goal, but I thought that that was the best decision at the time. I had a really good experience at Springfield to get a taste of pro hockey. I played 14 games there at the end of the regular season and that was awesome to come in and play and get that experience under my belt going into next year.

"I was confident I was going to be able to come in there, have a big impact for their team. Obviously there was a lot in it for me too. Getting to work with those coaches, getting to work with (Spartans director of athletic performance) Will Morelock was unbelievable, having those resources at your disposal, there's almost nothing like it. Even at the NHL (level), it really doesn't get any better than some of these programs in college have it now. From a college experience, it was awesome. It's like a college out of a movie. You see all the articles and stuff, it's a top 10 college town in the country. It was getting to go to the football games, the basketball games, that was super fun."

Perhaps Michigan State bowing out earlier than expected was a blessing in disguise for the 6-foot-4, 216-pound left-handed shooting defenseman, getting to go to to the American Hockey League and spend some time with -- and playing in 14 games -- with the Thunderbirds, including eight in the Calder Cup playoffs.

It was a good transition and a seemingly smooth one with expected challenges for a first-time player making that jump, but what it did was give the 20-year-old a leg up on what to expect now that the chapter has turned to the pro level.

"Yeah, it's helpful for everyone," Ralph said. "Pro hockey's a different beast. You're playing a lot of games. I think when I got there, we played six games in my first nine days there. That was new to me. I think in college, you're playing against older, stronger guys, but it's just another level of that. Having that under my belt well really be beneficial going into next year.

"I think it's just like everything to those guys is second-nature. It's continuing to improve on little things and then to step away from the rink, being able to be dialed in on the things that you need to do to perform for 72 games and then whatever, another 28 in the postseason and (84) in the NHL."

Ralph projects to be just the kind of blue liner that the Blues -- and coach Jim Montgomery -- will covet, someone who can shut down and kill plays, has great mobility and terrific reads of plays, particularly in the defensive zone. It doesn't mean there's no room for growth, and part of that growth is improving not only in the D-zone, but offensively as well.

"I think continuing to work on my puck skill," Ralph said. "I think even in areas where I was strong in, like my defending, and that stuff, I think our team worked on that stuff so much at practice. All our guys were so good at it by the end of the year. I think I had my angling and my defensive stick, the coaches were really on me a lot about constantly my stick positioning. I just saw so much improvement in that being conscious about it."

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