Blues sign 2023 first-rounder to three-year, entry-level contract

Another day, another 2023 first-round pick signed. The latest to put pen to paper: Slovakian center Dalibor Dvorsky, whom the St. Louis Blues selected 10^th overall in June. The Blues announced Friday he’d signed his three-year, entry-level contract. It carries a $950,000 cap hit.

Dvorsky, 18, came into the loaded 2023 Draft regarded as one of the most skilled forwards available. According to Daily Faceoff prospect analyst Steven Ellis, Dvorsky had some hype as a potential top-five pick heading into his draft year. Blessed with superb puckhandling skills, he averaged more than two points per game playing in the Swedish under-20 league this past season, and he held his own against men in 38 games with AIK in the Allsvenskan, Sweden’s tier-2 pro league, picking up six goals and 14 points. He’s capable of setting up teammates but his best trait is arguably his dogged determination to score.

Dvorsky first began to really pop on the international radar in 2021 when, at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, he went off for eight goals and 12 points in just five games, finishing only a point behind phenom Matvei Michkov for the tournament lead in scoring. Dvorsky represented Slovakia at each of the past two World Junior Championships as well. A week before the 2023 draft, he signed a two-year contract to move up a tier in the Swedish League and play for IK Oskarshamn. According to the rules of the SHL’s transfer agreement with the NHL, however, being under contract in Sweden doesn’t prohibit a player from coming over the play in the NHL over the course of the SHL contract.

Dvorsky will inject some high-ceiling offensive talent into a Blues team that traded away its best goal-scorer in a generation, Vladimir Tarasenko, this past winter. Dvorsky participated in the team’s development camp earlier this month and was impressed with his skill and competitiveness.