ST. LOUIS — In 2011, the St. Louis Blues hired Tim Taylor as their director of player development.

I’ve talked to him dozens of times over the years, and every time I thought of Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor from the 1990s sitcom “Home Improvement.” The thing is, I never thought to ask him about the fact that he shares the same name as lead actor Tim Allen’s character in the show. So when I asked subscribers of The Athletic to send in questions for Taylor about prospects in the Blues organization, I laughed when I saw this:

Can you please ask Tim his nickname? Is it Tim ‘The Tool Man’ Taylor? – Brandon W.

Brandon, I wanted to know the answer as much as you. So I asked Taylor, and his response was even better than I expected.

“It is ‘Tim the Tool Man Taylor’ because of ‘Home Improvement’ and Tim Allen, and I got it when I was playing in Detroit (where the showed was based),” Taylor said. “As soon as I got to Detroit (in 1993), that’s what fans were yelling at me all the time: ‘Tool Man!’ What was really cool about it was the Red Wings’ public relations people asked me to sign a jersey. He said it was going to go to Tim Allen, and I said, ‘Oh really?’ He said, ‘Yeah, and he’s going to send you something back.’ A week later, a tool belt came, and it said, ‘From Tim the Tool Man Taylor to Tim the Tool Man Taylor!’”

It gets even better.

“I was supposed to go on the show,” Taylor revealed. “Their producer called the Red Wings’ PR and wanted Steve Yzerman and me to go. Obviously, they wanted Stevie Y., the captain, but they wanted me to go on as ‘Tim the Tool Man Taylor.’ But then I got traded to Boston, and it didn’t work out. But I still do have the belt, and to this day, the nickname has stuck with me throughout my career, and all of my friends at home call me ‘Tool Man!’”

In June 2024, Taylor was promoted to assistant GM under Doug Armstrong, and his role now encompasses player personnel, development and scouting. With the Blues bringing a lot of prospects up from AHL Springfield this season, and more on the way, we thought it would be a good time to catch up with the “Tool Man.”

Here is part 1. Part 2 will soon follow.

(Note: Some responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.)

Which Blues prospects should we expect to see at the World Juniors this year? – Bill D.

Well, as people may know, Team Canada got announced, and Justin Carbonneau was not on it, which we’re disappointed. But you don’t know exactly what they’re thinking. It’s changed dramatically on how the management is going to pick the team. So you hope your guy is picked, but I’m not sure what they’re looking for. I’m not going to speak on their behalf. I will speak for our organization — we’re very happy with him.

So we’ll have four. We have forward Adam Jecho (third round, 2024) for the Czechs. Forward Ondrej Kos (third round, 2024) should be named; he’s had an injury, but he’s been practicing for two weeks now, and they’re going to name him as a spare. We’ve got Adam Jiricek (first round, 2024) for the Czech team. Then we have Love Harenstam (sixth round, 2025) for Sweden, and he’ll start for Sweden. That’s our four.

Where is Dalibor Dvorsky’s development and ceiling? Is he what the organization predicted? – Ben W.

Our expectations were that Dali would be a player in our NHL lineup sooner than later, and now he’s a Blue. You never know how long the process is going to be, but Dali probably moved into pro hockey quicker than I thought and adapted to the NHL level. He’s a top-six forward, and he’s got a great one-timer. What’s the ceiling? That’s up to Dali. He’s a smart kid, very intuitive, and wants to be one of the best players. We’re happy with his development.

Juraj Pekarcik reminds me of a young Evgeni Malkin. Do you agree, and do you think we could see Pekarcik and Dvorsky playing on the same line? – Darren R.

Those are big shoes to fill, but Pekarcik (6-foot-2, 205 pounds) has got the size of Malkin, and he likes to hold onto the puck like him. He’s a big kid, especially for a 20-year-old down in the AHL, and he pushes guys off pucks. I’m really impressed with Pekarcik, just the way he’s handled it. He’s one of our players who plays the same way every day. There’s still lots of room for growth, but he’s on track to be an NHL player.

Where is Otto Stenberg in his development? – John F.

Otto is a very smart player. He doesn’t gain a lot of recognition around the ice because he does things that look easy, and he’s always in the right spot at the right time. He got his feet wet last season and now he’s going through the trials and tribulations. It’s kind of like his second-year pro, where guys fall off a little bit, but then they get going again. He had a tough time at the start points-wise, but we’re happy with his play. I could see him playing some NHL games this year.

With Stenberg, Aleksanteri Kaskimaki and Carbonneau, who can we reasonably expect to see in St. Louis in the next two seasons? – Anonymous U.

In two seasons, I think you have a chance to see all three in the NHL. With Kaskimaki, he’s had a full year of AHL development and growth, so that’s helped him, and that’s why he’s up in the NHL now. But all three are really good players, and if you’re looking at two years, do we project all three to be contributors to the Blues? Yes, we do.

How much say does the organization have with drafted individuals on where they play in junior, college and overseas? Does the team weigh in on the choice, or is it purely up to the player? – Chris D.

Here’s what happens: The player will come ask us what our thoughts are. Doug (Armstrong) has been very good with this, and he taught me this. If a player has a chance for a scholarship and you tell him to play junior because it will be better for him, and things don’t work out, he’s lost a four-year scholarship that’s worth a lot of money. Plus, he has no education. What Doug says is, “Let’s let the players dictate where they want to play. We’ll give them our thoughts and outline the pros and cons. But they have to be 100 percent committed to where they’re playing.” So we do not make any decisions for them. We promote them and then support them.

How has Theo Lindstein looked in his first year in North America? Any good comparable for him? I see a lot of the Minnesota Wild’s Jonas Brodin in him. – Mark M.

This fan really knows their hockey — Brodin is a real good example! Theo has taken a big jump since the start of the year. The ebbs and flows of his game, it’s been really good. I thought it was going to be a harder transition, and we’d have to be patient with him. But he’s been a real pleasant surprise in that he’s handled the AHL grind very well. He’s the type of player where his growth is on a high incline from the start of the year until now.

When can you tell us about Jakub Stancl? – Martin B.

Stancl had a hat trick the other night, so he’s really coming. I hate to say this, but the best part about having injuries up top (on the Blues’ roster) is that younger players get to play more (in the AHL). So a guy like Stancl, he’s been on the fourth line, and he’s moved up the lineup. He’s been on wing, and we’ve moved him to center. He’s shown over the last couple of years, you don’t think he’s going to be a high-end player, and all of a sudden, he’s playing on your top line. At the World Juniors last year, they pushed him down the lineup, and then he’s leading them in goals. He’s the type of player that — he just proves everyone wrong.

‘TWAS A GOOD NIGHT FOR JAKUB STANCL 🧸🧢👏 pic.twitter.com/Uo6Ig64pyO

— Springfield Thunderbirds (@ThunderbirdsAHL) December 7, 2025

Matvei Korotky is an underrated prospect who was initially on the development camp roster but wasn’t able to attend. Why couldn’t he attend camp in July and what’s the scouting report on him? – Randy M.

He wanted to come to development camp, but his KHL team said no, and we had to respect that. He’s got two more years left on his contract after this year, but he’s playing a big part on that team — top-six minutes as a 19-year-old. He’s a top prospect who’s underrated.

I would love to get some insight on Arseny Koromyslov. Is his contract up at the end of the season? Will you be trying to get him to come over to North America for next season? – Michael B.

He’s a guy that we’d like to get over here, and we have to wait until their contracts run out. We’ll (explore) maybe near the end of the year when his Russian team is done. We bring him over and give him some time in the AHL. We’re excited to see what he’s all about, but playing in the KHL is a great experience for his development.

I see snippets of Russian prospect Mikhail Fyodorov, and several writers are really excited from what they’re seeing in the KHL. What kind of update can we get on him? – Marcus B.

We just drafted him this year, we brought him over for development camp, and he’s had a good year. We don’t know too much about him in the aspect of — can he play at this level yet? What we’re trying to do is just monitor his growth in the KHL, but I can’t really comment too much on his play because we just haven’t seen it too much over here.

Is it currently harder to scout Russian prospects who are draft-eligible compared to five years ago? – Chris B.

Yes, very different. The dynamics of the war have changed everything. We have not gone to Russia, and Russia has not been part of any of the world tournaments, so it’s really tough. Our development guys watch a lot of video, and we have a Russian scout that keeps us updated once a week. But we really have to see them over here to get a full analysis of what their play is like against the competition here. So, there’s a lot of different variables right now, and at the end of the day, it’s just not being able to see enough of them.