When defenseman Vince Dunn finished his first Blues prospect camp last summer, there were a ton of takeaways. The weeklong event mixes on-ice practices with off-ice training, nutrition advice and a chat with Blues coach Ken Hitchcock.

But there was one underlying theme that Dunn, a second-round pick in 2015, says he carried with him back to his junior hockey team, the Niagara IceDogs.

“Everything counts,” Dunn said. “I mean, you’re a pro 24 hours a day, it’s not just when you show up at the rink and you put in your time. These guys are professionals for a reason and they’ve got to be a pro on and off the ice at all times. So I think just being a mature guy and always putting in your best effort no matter what.”

Dunn is back for his second Blues prospect camp this week, along with 29 other participants, and the organization hopes that they will all skate out of town Friday with the same sense. They may be headed back to juniors, or like Dunn perhaps bound for the American Hockey League, but their arrival to the NHL could be sooner rather than later depending on how seriously they take their development.