Yahoo Sports Blues Won't Rush Dalibor Dvorsky, Center Trying To Accelerate Case After Solid World Junior Run
Dalibor Dvorsky did everything he wanted to do at the recently-completed 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Well, sort of.
The only thing missing was a medal, preferably a gold medal, but the No. 10 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, who was having himself a really solid season with Springfield of the American Hockey League before taking a nearly three-week hiatus to go and compete for his country, Slovakia, with one more opportunity to medal.
St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong was in Ottawa for the game and was able to watch Dvorsky, who had nine points (five goals, four assists) in five games to finish tied for third in overall scoring, be the impactful player the Blues thought he would be.
“I thought he was a dominant player,” Armstrong said. “… Almost a couple points a game for him, which was good to see. I think for him going there, having a big leadership role in his team was helpful and I think he’s looking forward now getting back into the American League and continuing to grow there. As a 19-year-old in this event, he did very well but also as a 19-year-old in the American League, he’s doing exceptional. We’re excited that he’s over here now and we see a bright future for him, whether it’s this year or when he’s going to push to make our team.
“A lot of that will quite honestly have to do with how we play here. When you looked at last year when we looked like we weren’t going to push for a playoff spot, we were able to bring in younger players [Zack Bolduc, Zach Dean] and give them an opportunity. They have to get on a little bit of a role here to make sure that that story doesn’t repeat itself.”
Dvorsky, 19, has 21 points (11 goals, 10 assists) with the Thunderbirds in 27 games and will go there and the Blues hope he picks up where he left off. He had a four-game goal streak earlier this season and an eight-game point streak, and a point in 10 of 12 games before leaving the team for nearly three weeks.
The plan continues to not rush the center but he keeps banging on the door just to let the Blues know whenever they’re ready to open it, he’s coming through it.
“It’s all about building a foundation right now at this age,” Armstrong said. “There’s no question he’d rather be in the NHL; they all would be. I understand that, but what we’re trying to do is say like, ‘When you get here, you want to have staying power.’ You can go up and down, but right now, he’s benefiting from playing a lot of minutes in major situations down there that he wouldn’t get here as we’re competing against men and trying to win games at this level. You saw it quite honestly with Jake [Neighbours] a year or two ago. As the season progressed, his minutes decreased and he went down to the American League. It’s just the nature of maturing and building a foundation.
“You tell the player that you’re in it for the marathon and you understand that they want a sprint and I get it, I get that he wants to be here. I’m not naive to the fact, but I also respect and he respects the process too and it’s very important that they know we’re doing this for the betterment of their career and we do have examples of guys who have spent time in the American League that have come up and played very well because they had that foundation.”
