What is it like to face a Jimmy Snuggerud shot?
At this stage in his career, the population that would own expertise in that area is limited. NHL goalies only saw him seven times in the regular season in the spring. Blues goalies saw him during practice but only for three weeks before the playoffs started and practices were limited. But the current experts might just be the goaltenders at the University of Minnesota who faced Snuggerud on a daily basis during his three-year career as a Golden Gopher.
And it just so happened that the Blues invited one to their development camp a few weeks ago.
Owen Bartoszkiewicz was the backup goalie for Minnesota in 2022-23, which was Snuggerud’s freshman season. Snuggerud formed a third of the best line in college hockey with Logan Cooley and Matthew Knies and finished the season with a loss in the national championship game. Throughout the season, Bartoszkiewicz was there on the practice ice facing off with the future NHLers.
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Blues forward Jimmy Snuggerud watches the play against the Red Wings at Enterprise Center on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. It was his NHL debut with the team.
Allie Schallert, Post-Dispatch
“It was a lot of fun,” Bartoszkiewicz said. “Him, Cooley, Knies out there. It was a great time. We would stay after practice playing tips for like an hour. We would always be on the ice and just battle with each other and give it to each other. No days off with those guys.”
Bartoszkiewicz’s career has followed a winding path since that season. In 2023-24, he played for both Youngstown in the USHL and Oklahoma in the NAHL. Last season, he was the starter for Lindenwood, posting a .919 save percentage and 2.57 goals against average. Next year, he’ll follow former Lindenwood coach Bill Muckalt to Michigan Tech.
Bartoszkiewicz finished his Minnesota career having played six games in 2022-23.
That Gophers team was loaded with top-end talent, notably boasting Brock Faber (Wild) and Jackson LaCombe (Ducks) on the back end, and Knies-Cooley-Snuggerud up front. Snuggerud, the Blues’ first-round pick in 2022 and a presumptive top-six contributor in the NHL this fall, had 50 points (21 goals and 29 assists) in 40 games that season.
So … what is it like to face Snuggerud’s shot?
“It’s not flat,” Bartoszkiewicz said. “It’s like a 90 mile an hour curveball. The way Ovi shoots, it’s kind of like a knuckle puck, but it’s still 100 miles an hour. Snuggy’s pretty similar. There’s clips of him on Minnesota doing a 360 spin-o-rama out of a one-timer because he’s swinging so hard. The puck’s just flying at you. You don’t really know where it’s going. It’s hard to pick up. With his shot, his speed, his hands, it’s hard to read, it’s hard to see.”
If you ask goaltenders around the NHL about whose shot has the most movement on it, the answer is commonly all-time goals leader Alex Ovechkin. While most pucks are flat and follow a linear trajectory, Ovechkin’s doesn’t. And it doesn’t appear that Snuggerud’s does either.
“It’s all over the place,” Bartoszkiewicz said. “If you’re looking at his strike zone, it’s not a fastball right at you.”
It’s a good thing Snuggerud used his shot more than any other collegiate player during his three-year career. He totaled 492 shots on goal during that time, which was the most in the country, and scored 66 goals, good for a 13.4% shooting percentage.
“It is really hard,” Bartoszkiewicz said. “You see guys in MLB swing, and they miss curveballs all the time, or sliders. It’s just another element that makes it much harder to stop. Snuggy’s pretty much there. It’s not a clean shot that’s flat coming straight at you. Those are pretty easy to pick up. His is a really good shot. His one-timer is amazing.”
In the NHL, Snuggerud hasn’t had many chances to crank up his one-timer. He didn’t have any slap shots in the regular season, according to NHL stats, and had just one in the playoffs. The right-handed Snuggerud would typically line up in the left circle on the power play, but that spot was occupied by Robert Thomas on one unit and Jordan Kyrou on the other.
Blues forward Jimmy Snuggerud, left, looks for a pass with pressure from Jets center Adam Lowry during the second period of Game 3 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Thursday, April 24, 2025, at Enterprise Center.
Laurie Skrivan, Post-Dispatch
Snuggerud used his 14 NHL games (seven in the regular season and seven in the playoffs) to make an impression on the Blues coaches and management. He played mostly with Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich on the top line, occupied the net-front on the No. 1 power-play unit and averaged 15:28 of ice time during the regular season.
His presence — and production — also contributed to the Blues trading Zack Bolduc to Montreal for defenseman Logan Mailloux. With Snuggerud, Buchnevich, Kyrou and Dylan Holloway on the depth chart as wingers, the Blues viewed Bolduc as expendable.
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