MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- The vision and path for Dalibor Dvorsky to make it to the NHL has become much clearer this summer.
That's because the 19-year-old forward, the No. 10 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, has been given a direct objective from the St. Louis Blues.
When Blues general manager Doug Armstrong spoke at the team's cleanout day at the end of last season, he expressed his views that Dvorsky will have every opportunity to make the 2024-25 opening night roster.
Armstrong didn't change his stance at St. Louis development camp earlier this month.
"He's looked good. He's added some muscle. He's another guy that's really going to push for training camp," Armstrong said of Dvorsky. "I love reading what he said, 'This is on me.' That's what you want. He's looking in the mirror now and saying, 'OK, we'll see.' The AHL, 'We'll see.' And he's not cocky about it. He's not demanding about it. He's just saying, 'All right, we'll see.'"
Dvorsky heard the comments. Now he knows he holds the cards.
"It sounds great (but) it's all up to me," Dvorsky said. "I'll do my absolute best every time I'm on the ice to prove to the coaches that I belong on the team. It sounds great, but's all up to me.
"It's amazing. I love to hear it honestly from him (Armstrong) especially. It gives me even better motivation to make the team. That's my goal coming into camp, so even here, I want to do my best on the ice. Coming into main camp, same thing. It sounds really good and it's all up to me. I believe that I can make it if I play my best."
Dvorsky had a rocky start to his pro career last season but things quickly escalated in a positive manner. He was supposed to spend the season in Sweden, playing for IK Oskarshamn of the Swedish Hockey League. But in 10 games, Dvorsky didn't register a point; he was a minus-6 and dropped in the lineup quickly before the Blues intervened and decided to bring him to North America and play in the Ontario Hockey League, a move that proved paramount to his development.
Dvorsky, who gained size and strength (6-foot-1, 201 pounds), sparkled for Sudbury of the OHL, with 88 points (45 goals, 43 assists) in 52 games -- third on the team in scoring -- and 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in nine playoff games. He also represented Slovakia well at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship with six points (three goals, three assists) in five games.
"That's hockey," Dvorsky said. "Sometimes things don't go the way you want, but the transition here was really good. I got used to everything in North America really quickly. It was a really good move.
"I think it was a really good year for me coming to Canada and to North America and getting used to the smaller rink and everything. I think it was a great season for me ... the nice part of it is you get to learn from those things. I just learned from a lot of stuff there (in Sweden) and I think I'm a much better player now than I was."
This will be Dvorsky's first NHL training camp, and he could make it a memorable one with the kind of showing the organization will be looking for in order to determine if he's NHL-ready.
"I'm definitely coming early, sometime in August," Dvorsky said. "... Me and some other guys, we’ve already talked about it. We'll come in earlier, before the rookie camps, so that we get used to everything. It's all up to how I do on the ice and how I do on the off-ice testing, so I just want to come the best prepared that I can."
