Welcome to the forums. Looking ahead 5 years is fun but also challenging; I think you did a good job.

I really like Pekarcik and hope he continues to develop into something. Blues definitely didn't focus on upside as much as floor in 2023 but Pekarcik has some boom-bust top 6 potential.

Defense is definitely in need of an overhaul and Levshunov would be a great pick, he looks extremely good - like you said, maybe too good to stay on the board for us. If we're picking high but not that high I like Sam Dickinson even though he's a LHD and we just drafted about 20 of them (all pretty meh tbh). Mews also looking promising. It's a D-heavy draft so seems like a good time to find the next one.

I’m thinking we need to turn some of these prospects into legit good nhl players. Kind of wish we did it last year with Meier and chychrun even though I was against it at the time.

Even though we did draft a boat load of LHDs and have quite a few in the system I think we have to keep trying until a guy cements himself as a top 4 guy. I think Lindstein is going to be a nice complimentary 2nd pairing guy which is completely fine. Other guys it's really hard to tell.

Pekarcik reminds me alot of a guy like Toropchenko. Big fast, bull in a china shop type player who has some skill, but probably not enough of it to be in the top 6. Good 3rd/4th liner as long as they keep the bull in a china shop mentality and keep the motor high.

Buchinger is the one in our current system who i think actually has a decent chance to be a long term NHLer on defense.

Tucker seems a bit to slow but his compete level is good enough to keep him regularly somewhere in the NHL for a while as depth.
Perunovich just lost soo much time with injuries. I think if he's willing to take low salary deals he'll be a player, but more so in the role of a bottom pairing guy who can run a powerplay really well - more or less Torey Krug.
Gaudet/Burns/Fischer admittedly I don't think i'm too familiar with them to make a sure judgement. Gaudet seems more like a vanilla defender who may get some time like Kessel currently but who knows.

As far as projecting. It's borderline impossible to, but i'd imagine at least 1 or 2 of our top end forward prospects Neighbors included (Neighbors, Bolduc, Dean, Stenberg,Dvorsky, Snuggerud) don't work out. But that's completely fine with that we will get more prospects over the years to fill the gaps. But the one thing I find interesting is going through and looking at the current roster/other rosters around the league and seeing how few drafted players see sustained time with a team or at least show on their roster after 3-4 years of the ELC expiring.

I was hoping for Hampus Lindholm in 2022 and then for Chychrun in 2023 but at this point I'm onboard with a slower turnaround. Maybe a guy like Hanifin or Chychrun (next year) wants to sign here as a UFA? I'd be all for that once we can send Krug/Leddy packing, but idk if now is the time to be adding. Team is way too inconsistent and lots of teams will be gunning for playoffs this year so I'd expect a seller's market at the deadline.

Now with that said, I don't think trading guys like Stenberg/Lindstein/Bolduc - really anyone but Dvo or Snuggerud - would bite us if we could get proven young players with term, but there is some difficult shuffling required to make it happen (no trade clauses galore!), and guys that fit that mold rarely become available. Who would you be looking at? And would you trade our 2024 1st to get it done bc to me that's off the table, even if it was protected.

I agree with you that we gotta be realistic about how many of the current prospects are going to be true top six forwards... it may be even lower that what you're imagining...
Snuggerud and Dvorsky, to me, are the most sure-fire top six guys - undeniable NHL shot and compete - but they've also created a little bit of doubt with their inconsistencies in production (yes it's too early to judge)
Bolduc played a great all-around game in juniors but watching him vs pros it's hard to see how he will make that part of his identity - he may be more of a PP threat/sheltered 3rd line guy but likely an NHLer.
Dean was always tracking as a bottom six C aside from an insane playoff heater in the Q (as a 20 yr old fwiw).
Neighbours may always be the 3rd guy on his line but still has promise as being that guy on a scoring line which helps.
Stenberg is an unknown for me. I'm hoping he turns out like Steen where he can be relied on for steady play in any deployment. (Remember when they let him loose and he had 33 goals that one year?!)
Pekarcik has a loooong way to go - he was only like 3 days away from being 2024 eligible - but I've seen some nice flashes from him.

So yeah, I hope they all pan out but realistically we could be looking at 2-3 impact guys. Luckily, there should be money to spend on outside acquisitions, and like you said all the teams have to make tough decisions on who to keep and who to move. Here's to hoping we get better pro scouting than the guys who liked Krug and Leddy more than Dunn and Walman.

Unfortunately in regards to Leddy/Krug it's been a cycle of trying to extend the window as long as possible that's crashed to a close. I liked the Leddy acquisition when we did it - didn't love the cost, but a good skating puck mover to be paired with Parayko was something we desperately needed to try. Unfortunately I thought with that we would steer further from just throwing them out there every d zone draw and praying for the best.

I'm not sure I'm as worried about production with guys like Dvo and Snuggerud. Both have the compete level and shot to be 3rd liners at minimum. Snuggerud's drop off was pretty predictable after losing Cooley and Knies to the NHL. He's still not having a bad season. But that minnesota team got ripped to shreds. Legitimately lost 4 guys to the NHL in Faber, Knies, Cooley, and Johnson. Dvorsky's time in the SHL was a bit worrisome. But that team in general is really really bad. Would've liked to see him have a bit of success but it's a team that probably didn't want to be relegated pushing out a kid who probably wasn't fully ready to take a leap into a top end producers role. I don't think you get Dvorsky to see him light up the score sheet. He's going to get his points but he's also not going to completely wow you on the scorecard. The great thing about him like Snuggerud is at the very minimum after getting acclimated to the NHL level they can be productive 3rd liners.

Bolduc like you said we can hope to be Mike Hoffman, but chances are he's not. I'm not saying he's a lost cause but you don't see that floor on him yet. Dean i think is another guy that at the very least as long as he starts doing a bit better in the AHL can have a career as a bottom 6er. Again i'm typing these on what I'd imagine are floors from this point certainly not guarantees. I still think they both have a good chance to be impactful players. It just may take quite a bit of time.

Neighbors has really impressed me this year. I'd venture to guess he's a guy the team keeps around through this transition. Extremely young, yet plays a pretty hard game and has some skill. Agree with your assessment of him.

I've been fairly high on Stenberg. He's a competitor but the only issue is I don't see anything that stands out as being something that can be his key at the NHL level. I still truly believe he's pretty successful.

Pekarcik if we're lucky will be a Toropchenko type. Which is great for a 3rd rounder.

Certainly high on our prospect group even if I don't see us having a truly elite player coming from the group.

I really don’t know who could be available, but I’d be okay with trading any of the non Dvorsky or Snuggerud prospects.

Pekarcik could be a legit player fwiw. He has much more upside as a playmaker and he shifts his weight much better. Lots of runway for him because he’s so raw and new to high level hockey.