tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72015601157386838952024-03-21T09:17:59.528+01:00Draftin EuropeNHL draft prospects in EuropeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201560115738683895.post-59346993597521929262018-01-29T14:25:00.002+01:002018-01-29T15:28:40.048+01:00Our New Home (Website)As you might have noticed a while ago, we have moved to our new official website: <a href="http://www.draftineu.com/">www.draftineu.com</a>.<br />
<br />
That's where we will provide access to new rankings moving forward, like the Top 20 we released back in October:<br />
<a href="https://www.draftineu.com/2017/10/2018-draft-october-top-20.html/">https://www.draftineu.com/2017/10/2018-draft-october-top-20.html/</a><br />
<br />
We will make this blog's contents available there in the near future as well.<br />
<br />
As always, we are also available through our <a href="https://twitter.com/draftin_europe">twitter</a>.<br />
<br />
Thank you for your interest!<br />
<br />
- Draftin EuropeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201560115738683895.post-36493336751317577702017-09-30T12:03:00.002+02:002017-09-30T12:04:27.835+02:002018 first in-season ranking (top 5 primer)<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-US">This Top 5 is a ‘primer’ of the Top
20 ranking that we will release in the next few days. It will be our first
ranking of the season and the first update since the list we released in June
with the Blue Dispatch 2017 draft guide, when we had Rasmus Dahlin at #1,
Jesperi Kotkaniemi at #2 and Filip Zadina at #3.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">For those who are not familiar yet
with our rankings, we point out once again that they pertain only to prospects
playing in Europe. This means Zadina (and Zavgorodny) will not appear anymore
in this season’s rankings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The upcoming Top 20 will be the
first one for the 2018 draft to provide an overall assessment for the ranked
players. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">We can already disclose Swedish defenseman <b>Rasmus Dahlin</b> will receive a 1<sup>st</sup> overall projection.
That was probably easy to predict, even more so considering we had him ahead of Svechnikov
already before the start of the 2016/2017 season (<a href="http://draftineurope.blogspot.it/2016/08/early-look-at-europes-best-for-2018_6.html" target="_blank">Early look at Europe's best for the 2018 NHL Draft</a>), when the Russian winger
was still playing in Europe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Finnish forward <b>Jesperi Kotkaniemi</b>
didn’t have a sparkling performance at the Hlinka Memorial, but his early play
at the Liiga level this season confirmed our feelings about him being currently
the most promising forward in this European class.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>Adam Boqvist</b> is one of the main
risers of the start of the season. He has been on par with the high expectations
with the puck on his stick and his early play has also been encouraging with
reference to the shortcomings that were noticeable last season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The last two spots of the top 5 remain
a close affair between Russian forward <b>Grigori Denisenko</b> and Swedish center <b>Jacob
Olofsson</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Denisenko had the start of his
season slowed down by an injury suffered at the end of the first Russia game at
the Hlinka, but brings undeniable skills and we have been liking his
development through 2017.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Olofsson is a solid pro prospect who
recently scored his first goal at the senior level (Allsvenskan) for Timra
after shining as an underager at the U18 World Championships back in April.</div>
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<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 528px;"><colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 2958; mso-width-source: userset; width: 62pt;" width="83"></col><col style="mso-width-alt: 6855; mso-width-source: userset; width: 145pt;" width="193"></col><col style="mso-width-alt: 4664; mso-width-source: userset; width: 98pt;" width="131"></col><col style="mso-width-alt: 4295; mso-width-source: userset; width: 91pt;" width="121"></col></colgroup><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rank</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Name</span></h2>
</td><td class="xl65" style="width: 98pt;" width="131"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Position</span></h2>
</td><td class="xl65" style="width: 91pt;" width="121"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nation</span></h2>
</td></tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;"><td class="xl66" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1.</span></td><td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Rasmus Dahlin </span></td><td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> D</span></td><td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td></tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;"><td class="xl66" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2.</span></td><td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Jesperi Kotkaniemi</span></td><td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> W/C</span></td><td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td></tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;"><td class="xl66" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">3.</span></td><td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Adam Boqvist</span></td><td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> D</span></td><td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td></tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;"><td class="xl66" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">4.</span></td><td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Grigori Denisenko</span></td><td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> LW</span></td><td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RUS</span></td></tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;"><td class="xl66" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">5.</span></td><td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Jacob Olofsson</span></td><td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> C</span></td><td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: "Times New Roman"; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; width: 601px; word-spacing: 0px;" x:str=""><colgroup><col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col><col style="mso-width-alt: 8777; mso-width-source: userset; width: 180pt;" width="240"></col><col style="mso-width-alt: 5412; mso-width-source: userset; width: 111pt;" width="148"></col><col style="mso-width-alt: 5449; mso-width-source: userset; width: 112pt;" width="149"></col></colgroup><tbody>
</tbody></table>
mkphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01121604322956602783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201560115738683895.post-37027142877625020462017-08-07T15:04:00.000+02:002017-08-14T10:33:45.115+02:00Blue Dispatch #2 - We got you coveredThe Blue Dispatch second issue is available here <a href="https://www.draftineu.com/">https://www.draftineu.com/</a><br />
It offers a closure on the 2016/17 season (our first one as Draftin Europe) and provides a bridge to the new one and future drafts.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5YjyvoYiNPA1eBLHf2wsJnhJdz4y0eSTpl4dP6mWNxgGJFH4j4Y1gqWHuwuw6Tt7jA_J0Dsk_7qDrTiqT7q7SqxzwgyQTk6jXWmc8I0HkTccKiT-hYEjeDB-v1lhIoChdkcr2zXuetdew/s1600/BD2cover_001bordered.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="733" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5YjyvoYiNPA1eBLHf2wsJnhJdz4y0eSTpl4dP6mWNxgGJFH4j4Y1gqWHuwuw6Tt7jA_J0Dsk_7qDrTiqT7q7SqxzwgyQTk6jXWmc8I0HkTccKiT-hYEjeDB-v1lhIoChdkcr2zXuetdew/s320/BD2cover_001bordered.png" width="266" /></a></div>
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<br />
The first aim of this new release is to cover all the prospects that were selected out of Europe at the 2017 NHL Draft in Chicago.<br />
Not all of them were profiled on our draft guide, and this Review provides scouting reports especially for those drafted players that for whatever reasons didn’t find their way in the previous release. This Blue Dispatch issue No.2 is meant to be complementary to issue No.1 (the Draft Guide).<br />
<br />
These are the contents that come available with it for just 11.90€:<br />
- breakdown per country of the draft tendencies of the last few years<br />
- write-ups on all the 67 prospects drafted out of Europe<br />
- top 5 NHL teams at the 2017 draft<br />
- a look into the 2017 Import Draft<br />
- a whole section (INTO THE F<span style="color: #3d85c6;">EU</span>TURE) dedicated to future drafts, offering:<br />
> Top 5 with prospects' profiles for the 2018 Entry Draft<br />
> Top 5 with prospects' profiles for the 2019 Entry Draft<br />
> Top 5 with prospects' profiles for the 2020 Entry Draft<br />
> A look into 2021 eligible prospects<br />
> Outlines of as many as 30 players for the 2019, 2020, 2021 drafts<br />
> Stats comparison with past prospectsmkphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01121604322956602783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201560115738683895.post-49304699207560981012017-06-23T11:24:00.000+02:002017-08-25T12:22:20.781+02:00Blue Dispatch draft guide releaseOur first ever Blue Dispatch draft guide is available here: <a href="http://www.draftineu.com/order">https://www.draftineu.com/order/</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRO9QvJLm5VV7FQHbad1M8-UmtlZyXTI7q7fP9N92B4UAPRiM_hyIW1Y8oIbu8SUW4GE2boV4SPgvv0cIeNxCKDZyP2dddOFuD2aA04UZdkh7Hr_27y3fzwVyj2BN7S93sVyFPrikXqsvB/s1600/Cover+BD_no.1-2.0+-+Copia.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRO9QvJLm5VV7FQHbad1M8-UmtlZyXTI7q7fP9N92B4UAPRiM_hyIW1Y8oIbu8SUW4GE2boV4SPgvv0cIeNxCKDZyP2dddOFuD2aA04UZdkh7Hr_27y3fzwVyj2BN7S93sVyFPrikXqsvB/s320/Cover+BD_no.1-2.0+-+Copia.png" width="265" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Provides Top 80 and Top 20 rankings of prospects playing in Europe for the 2017 and 2018 Entry Drafts, along with in-depth scouting reports.<br />
<br />
All top 60 prospects for this year's draft have their <a href="http://draftineurope.blogspot.it/2017/06/players-profile-page-sample.html" target="_blank">dedicated page</a> with, among other things, ratings on 7 categories we consider when projecting a player and statistics from the last couple of seasons, including time on ice (whenever available).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://draftineurope.blogspot.it/2017/02/liljegren-breakdown-part-i.html" target="_blank">Breakdowns</a> are also included for some prospects.<br />
<br />
<br />mkphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01121604322956602783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201560115738683895.post-46953453020037606212017-06-08T16:18:00.000+02:002017-06-08T16:18:05.797+02:00Player's profile page sample<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
With the free <a href="http://draftineurope.blogspot.it/2017/04/draftin-europes-blue-dispatch-draft.html" target="_blank">preview</a> in April we anticipated the look of the player's profile pages in our upcoming draft guide, but as we move (not fast enough!) closer to the release it’s time to provide a little update on that. </div>
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What follows is the enhanced final version that will be available for the top 60 prospects, to form the core of the publication. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSzNTJVmzbQyNusw6f3br_x1s9Zl34zImrgOHdm_GuMR0fUnyCQsahkjvt2iHXM_wZzvmZp7WneV9PFqnlVXzZ_59HKsofj3K97PQWntHlCRcqZqYSfHJ8jvEmZIERpcumxzcr2cougeKl/s1600/Liljegren_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="870" data-original-width="723" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSzNTJVmzbQyNusw6f3br_x1s9Zl34zImrgOHdm_GuMR0fUnyCQsahkjvt2iHXM_wZzvmZp7WneV9PFqnlVXzZ_59HKsofj3K97PQWntHlCRcqZqYSfHJ8jvEmZIERpcumxzcr2cougeKl/s320/Liljegren_001.png" width="265" /></a></div>
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For each player that earned his dedicated page, along with his profile and </div>
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in-Europe final ranking you will get (all in one place):</div>
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<ul>
<li>a season rankings table to see how the player
has been trending throughout his draft year</li>
<li>our overall ranking assessment and draft day
expectations</li>
<li>info on the amount of viewings</li>
<li>a small NHL projection sector</li>
<li>the ratings we think he deserves in seven categories that we consider relevant when projecting a prospect's future success. Each category is
comprehensive of different elements that go into it and is defined inside the guide</li>
<li>the player’s stats from the last two
seasons, including a comparative (in-league) rank and time on ice whenever
available</li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i> -- Draftin Europe</i></span></div>
mkphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01121604322956602783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201560115738683895.post-46441594867746553532017-04-15T19:46:00.000+02:002017-04-15T19:46:31.723+02:00Draftin Europe's Blue Dispatch draft guide: FREE PreviewBelow you can find available for download a free preview of the Blue Dispatch draft guide that we will release in June. This preview provides a glimpse of what the final release will look like. It also includes our new rankings: the 2017 list becomes a top 30 and the top 5 for 2018 is updated for the first time since September. Inside the preview you can also find a little guessing game (along with instructions), the winner of which will get a free copy of the final Blue Dispatch draft guide.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B4Yqo3oLK7CAZUxDa2NYQ2pLek0">DOWNLOAD</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPFJB7bzr4jD690KZBomJQTHvTFa2NLjz8azAjL34IMSYrYpapIJEu-XNnGJKyUoEEuGpFqZwXSwY5xVtCwL_pH9O4IkxE1HSykrR-nI2Hs3uf-CpJN81M3Xk8y4vkVDSWKMIq0k1QDyw/s1600/Screenshot+2017-04-15+19.19.23.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPFJB7bzr4jD690KZBomJQTHvTFa2NLjz8azAjL34IMSYrYpapIJEu-XNnGJKyUoEEuGpFqZwXSwY5xVtCwL_pH9O4IkxE1HSykrR-nI2Hs3uf-CpJN81M3Xk8y4vkVDSWKMIq0k1QDyw/s640/Screenshot+2017-04-15+19.19.23.png" width="523" /></a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201560115738683895.post-57351844155446547142017-03-08T21:09:00.001+01:002017-03-08T22:13:39.076+01:00Liljegren breakdown - part II<div class="MsoNormal">
In part I of our
breakdown we took a look at Liljegren's decision-making coming out of his zone
and his defensive coverage. In part II we will now tackle his skating, transitions and offensive blueline play, which are some of the stronger points in his game.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">SKATING AND TRANSITION</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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One of the assets in
Liljegren's arsenal is obviously his skating. Liljegren uses his skating to be
a factor all over the ice and combines it with quality puck-handling when
moving the puck forward as well as when trying to pull off 1 on 1 moves. He can
also use his skating in defensive situations, which is where we'll start off part II of our breakdown.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 1</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Example 1 shows off
Liljegren's ability to quickly recover backwards and close gaps down in a hurry
if/when necessary. We can see Liljegren starting on the offensive blueline
facing forward, yet he manages to retreat backwards and recovers towards the
middle of ice in time to close down the play. More impressively, a forward pass
was made by opposition in frame II, but Liljegren still managed to catch up to
the play with his skating. To top it all off, in the last frame, he is already
positioned for a D-to-D pass, opening himself up as an option for his partner.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a name='more'></a><b>EXAMPLE 2</b></div>
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In example 2 we have a
similar sequence. In frame II, Liljegren decides to pinch up the wall in the
offensive zone, however a pass by the opposition is made that starts a quick
transition up the ice the other way. Through frames III to V, we see Liljegren
catching up to the play. In frame VI he catches the opposition, forcing a pass
to the wall. Liljegren then obtains a good position against the forward who
received the puck and closes him down against the wall. While you don't want to
see defensemen in position to chase the play, it is certainly a positive that
Liljegren manages to execute these recoveries at a high level.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 3</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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This sequence is another
example that shows off Liljegren's recovery speed from the offensive blueline.
In frame 2 he is skating backwards against the USA forward who is already
positioned to explode forward up the ice. Despite having to turn, by comparing
frame I and frame III, we can see that Liljegren does not really lose any of
the initial gap between him and the USA forward. He ends up easily collecting
the puck, skating it around the net and completing a pass. <span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 4</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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With example 4 we start
turning towards more offensive aspects of Liljegren's game. Here we see
Liljegren receiving a pass in neutral zone, entering the offensive zone with
speed before he pulls off a 1 on 1 move that he finishes with a quick
wrist-shot. As we will see going forward, Liljegren's wrist-shot is one of his
better weapons. While the goalie in this example does a good job directing the
rebound to the side, Liljegren's shots generally tend to generate juicy
rebounds for his team to capitalize on.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 5</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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This sequence shows off
Liljegren's skating and puck-handling. Liljegren has the ability to quickly
gain a large amount of ice by exploding forward and handling the puck through
space. That said, he is still learning the limits to what he can do at a
pro-level. Here, he tries to skate the puck all the way from defensive zone
into the offensive zone by himself. He tries to power through the opposition in
frame VI and almost succeeds however the opposing player manages to poke the
puck just enough to slow it down and put Liljegren offside.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 6</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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In example 6 we have
Liljegren again easily moving across large chunks of open ice, losing his
backcheck in the process. Similarly as before, he runs into opposition at the
offensive blueline and can not establish control as he is surrounded by several
Czech players. Interestingly, Liljegren ends up being F1 as a byproduct of the
play he attempted with the puck and doesn't hesitate going on with the
forecheck.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 7</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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This example focuses more closely on what we've seen from Liljegren on occasion: he will at times end up in the play almost as if he were forward, even when he doesn't have the puck. Through the
first two frames we see him bring the puck up ice. In frame III he just passed
the puck to his teammate, who however struggles to control it. We can't know if
Liljegren would have avoided going offside otherwise, but either way, what we
see from frame IV to V is he didn't recognize immediately the risk of a
turnover and took<span lang="EN-US"> a couple of more strides forward,
as if he wasn’t a defenseman. </span>In
frame V Liljegren is heading back trying to catch up to the play, as he is
the Swedish player who is furthest up the ice while the puck and the play are already going the opposite direction. It's too late at that point and the play
results in a scoring chance for Finland.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 8</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Example 8 shows Liljegren moving through a maze of bodies over the offensive blueline, which
is in line with what we've shown so far. His skating ability and hands allow
him to successfully gain space forward, however he will have to learn how to
utilize those tools to consistently establish positive outcomes. Here he
manages to go through everyone except for one Czech player and finishes the
play with a backhand shot.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">OFFENSIVE BLUELINE</span></b></div>
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Not surprisingly,
Liljegren's skating, hands and shot allow him to be a dangerous weapon from the
offensive blueline both at even strength as well as on power-play. Despite his
age, he was already used as a PP option at SHL level in our viewings and did
well there.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 1</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Example 1 is a
continuation of what we've seen before. This time, Liljegren attacks from the
offensive blueline and cuts in deep into offensive zone, successfully pulling
off a 1 on 1 move, making the room for his dangerous wrist-shot.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 2</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Example 2 shows off
Liljegren's offensive blueline game on PP. Liljegren walks the blueline
laterally with ease and poses a double threat both with his shot as well as the
ability to pass. In frames I-II we see him walking the <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">blueline backwards</span>, down from the left side towards the middle
before opting for a pass. In frame III he comes up the blueline from the right
side showing the potential to release a shot which the player in front of him
has to respect, before again opting for a pass. In frame V, we see Liljegren
load up for a one timer which winds up generating a rebound. Liljegren
possesses both a quality slapshot (that he releases as a one-timer with ease)
as well as a dangerous wristshot. In frame VI he starts walking down from the left side
looking for a lane to let his wristshot go, which he does in frame VIII. As we
see in the last frame, it again generates a dangerous rebound, which tends to
be the case more often than not with Liljegren shooting.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 3</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Example 3 just reiterates
what we've seen before. Liljegren starts by walking the blueline before making
a pass to the wall, then looks to get open for his shot. When the puck gets
passed back to him, he releases a one-timer in frame IV which generates yet
another big rebound. Later in the same sequence we see Liljegren get the puck
in frame VI, where he uses his lateral mobility to open up a lane while handling the
puck and finds his teammate with a dangerous pass, displaying the fact that he
is an offensive threat both as a shooter as well as a playmaker.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 4</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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This sequence shows off a
classic weapon of Liljegren. He receives the puck and shows off his ability to
quickly move across the blueline while finding room for his shot.<span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 5</b></div>
<div>
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<span lang="EN-US">At the start of this PP sequence, Liljegren
goes digging for a puck deep into the offensive zone. He successfully retrieves
the puck but as soon as he tries to move back with it he gets pressured by the
second Russian forward who anticipates the chance for a turnover. However, Liljegren
instantly recognizes the ensuing hole in the defensive coverage and exploits it
with a quick no-look pass to the other side, from where his open teammate can
set up a nice goal. This is an example of how putting pressure on him on the PP
can backfire as a result of his dynamism and playmaking ability.</span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p><b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">SUMMARY</span></b></div>
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In this second part of our
breakdown we put the focus on some qualities of Liljegren that make him a
unique prospect in this year's class from Europe. Despite the fine-tuning still
needed to make the most of them, especially at the next level, there is no question Liljegren's tools give him the chance to become a high-end defenseman.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We hope our extensive
breakdown answers the questions we've been asked, explaining why we had him
lower than others in September and why assessing his ranking may currently be
quite challenging.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201560115738683895.post-45019422399214115732017-02-26T19:54:00.000+01:002017-02-26T20:01:39.852+01:00Liljegren breakdown - part I<div class="MsoNormal">
So far, it has been a complicated season for 2017 NHL Draft eligible defenseman Timothy Liljegren. He has
appeared at three different levels of hockey: mostly in SHL with Rogle BK, but
he has also seen time in Allsvenskan on a short loan to Timra and has (at the
time of writing) logged 12 games at the J20 level again with Rogle. He has also
been a regular for Sweden's U18 team internationally and has dealt with a case of mononucleosis earlier in the season that sidelined him for some time. Safe to
say, he has seen a bit of everything in his draft eligible season.</div>
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We received some
heat for placing Liljegren as the third best 2017 NHL Draft eligible prospect
coming out of Europe (behind Nico Hischier and Elias Pettersson respectively)
back in September and more recently still receive questions about his "stock"
as a draft eligible prospect. That has prompted us to offer an extensive
breakdown that should illuminate how we see Timothy Liljegren's game.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">DECISION-MAKING</span></b></div>
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We will start this
breakdown with what we feel is the biggest question-mark in Liljegren's game
and also one of the main reasons for why we dropped him all the way back in
September. His biggest flaw this season has been decision-making. With that
said, let us continue with visual examples and their analysis.<br />
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<b>EXAMPLE 1</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
This sequence starts with Liljegren actually doing a good job evading the forecheck, as he turns and
loses the Canadian forward he is left with quite some time to make a decision on how to move the puck forward. In frame III, it becomes fairly obvious
that the right option to take is to pass along the green arrow, that said there
is still a less than ideal orange path to take which would serve more just as
an outlet to get rid of the puck not necessarily move the play forward in a productive
way. Seeing as Liljegren isn't under pressure, it's not a particularly good
option in this scenario. While Liljegren does not pass immediately, he still
has ample amount of time to execute the green option pass in frames IV and V.
Yet, Liljegren fails to do so and eventually loses the puck to the forechecker.
In this sequence, we see something that has been fairly common in our viewings
this season and that is the failure to make decisions that use obvious positive
passing lanes (and simple quality options in general).<br />
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<br /><a name='more'></a><b>EXAMPLE 2</b><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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In example 2 we see
something similar, though not quite the same (or as clearly erroneous as in the
first example). This sequence shows off Liljegren's propensity to overhandle
and overcomplicate things beyond what would make sense. Liljegren does not use
his first option in the first two frames and instead opts to use his skating to
turn with the puck. Up to this point nothing is wrong per-se. However, even as he
turns he fails to complete a controlled pass in time to either of his options,
only managing to dish the puck by the time his teammate is running out of room into
the opposition's defensive pair on the offensive blueline. Again, Liljegren in
our viewings this season has been guilty of at times picking options that are
not only harder to execute but also carry less benefit than easier/more obvious
options.<br />
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<b>EXAMPLE 3</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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In example 3, we have a
fairly obvious mistake within the same scope of decision-making issues that we've
seen so far. Liljegren here misjudges his ability to outskate/outmuscle the
Canadian forechecker while ignoring both the reverse pass as well as the
forward option towards his linemate that is gliding backwards to get into the
relevant position.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><br /></b>
<b>EXAMPLE 4</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Example 4 is simply a
highly risky play as Liljegren attempts to cut and avoid the forechecker
getting hit in the process and has the puck trickle towards the blueline
uncontrolled. While executing the pass to the open teammate in frame II could
have been difficult, considering his teammate has barely turned by the time the
forechecker is already extending himself to cover that lane, one could also
argue it is something you'd want a projected top 5 pick be able to do. Even
that aside, what Liljegren opted to do is a very high risk play that close to his
net and illuminates another aspect of his game that we've seen, which is his
willingness to at times gamble on plays that aren't worthy of gambling on. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<b><br /></b>
<b>EXAMPLE 5</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This risk-management
aspect becomes very obvious in example 5 where Liljegren simply commits an
awful turnover resulting in a goal against. In frame I, he should have seen the
two options of either passing/dumping the puck along the orange line out of
immediate danger, or skating it back to buy some extra time to see whether the
situation improves (considering the opposition is changing, that would likely
be the case). Instead he tries to outmaneuver the opposition as a last man back
with a move that has little chance of working. In frame II he actually has one
last chance to avoid taking that useless risk with an easy drop pass, but
probably doesn't realize his teammate is free behind him as the opponent
forward went for a change. In the end, he loses the puck in the process and the
opposition scores.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<b>EXAMPLE 6</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Example 6 is yet another
sequence from the same root of questionable decisions. The puck is dumped back
on the boards towards Liljegren, it's a fairly soft dump so Liljegren has
plenty of time to decide what to do with it. He could have skate towards the
puck and moved it up to his teammate who is presenting his open blade ready to
receive a pass, or (if the forechecker below him opts to take a more direct
straight route upwards towards Liljegren and the open teammate instead of
approaching from under an angle on the boards) opted to move it back down
behind the net to the other side of the ice. Instead, Liljegren waits for the
puck to come to him and hopes he can fake his way out of pressure. With this,
the forechecker has plenty of time to close the gap on Liljegren and strips him
of the puck when the puck finally gets to that area.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 7</b></div>
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Example 7 is another
quite obvious sequence where Liljegren takes on unnecessary risk and fails to
utilize easier and better options. In this case he has ample time and not one
but two open linemates in good position with speed to hit them with a pass, but
instead opts for a complicated diagonal stretch pass through three Czech
players hoping to hit a teammate on the offensive blueline that is already
covered by a Czech defenseman to boot. Even if he managed to complete that
pass, his team would have been in a worse position than had he opted to pass to
either of his teammates in front of him. So, not only is the risk significantly
higher, the reward is lower as well.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">DEFENSIVE COVERAGE</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While decision-making has
been a key factor in Liljegren's stock going down in our eyes, we will also
take a look at other components of his game. The next one being defensive
coverage.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 1</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Example 1 starts with
what is not an unusual concern with young defensemen. We would like to see
Liljegren become better at controlling the space in front of and around the net
and pushing the opposition outside of it. In frame III, Liljegren actually
loses the ideal position and had the rebound gone the other way it could spell
trouble. Later in the same shift, Liljegren ends up chasing the play and to end
it off after chasing him out, he ends up being late on picking up his man who
beats him to the net.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 2</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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In example 2 Liljegren
shows off his skating which allows him to easily close the gap on the forward
and poke the puck away from him. Being a strong skater, that is something that
certainly can be used in defensive situations as well. That said, we would like
to see Liljegren finish the play off by obtaining the puck or eliminating the
forward out of play. While the forward was stopped from proceeding further on
the initial play, he still manages to obtain the puck and control it on the
second effort play.<br />
<br /></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 3</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Example 3 has a similar
start as example 2 as Liljegren is defending a zone entry play. In this one
Liljegren ends up guilty of puck-watching. While he doesn't struggle in keeping
up with his skating and attempting a pokecheck, he doesn't really look to use
his body in this instance at all and ends up being fooled on a nice play by the
forward. Seeing it is a 2 vs 1 (with the 3rd Rogle player changing) situation
in frame I, it is obvious Liljegren should have been less naive here and made
sure he effectively closed down the forward, forcing a dump-in at worst that
would easily be picked up by his backchecking teammate. In frames V and VI he
bites hard on the move by the same forward who cuts inside on Liljegren.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 4</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While we would like to
see Liljegren use his body better on a consistent level as far as tying up
forwards and closing them down goes, we have seen him occasionally throw his
body around and go for hits. In this sequence, you can see him completing a
nice hipcheck.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_gi9U0jfuezV2WI-kOfarm6Lrhg-Q1T38Yw3pJFz_AEu1f9KUf-kbeYnzS5Jbz5nRDBTGnzXefDfGcv8QBipYs0VawePbJJdBvSsQeOGj55-WDiFq0dBSwG5WAUgDcDAqC_j3GaaFX0w/s1600/4.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_gi9U0jfuezV2WI-kOfarm6Lrhg-Q1T38Yw3pJFz_AEu1f9KUf-kbeYnzS5Jbz5nRDBTGnzXefDfGcv8QBipYs0VawePbJJdBvSsQeOGj55-WDiFq0dBSwG5WAUgDcDAqC_j3GaaFX0w/s1600/4.bmp" /></a></div>
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<b>EXAMPLE 5</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Like with puck-movement,
we would like to see Liljegren pay attention to all the options on ice. In this
case, he is unaware of a big hole developing behind him and oncoming opponents who will take advantage of it (though, it is clearly the fault of Team Sweden
as a whole considering there are 3 unmarked USA players coming into a prime
scoring area, Liljegren still carries his share of blame in this sequence,
especially as he is moving towards the 2 Swedish players who already are paying
attention to the puck-carrier and instead isn't aware of the space behind him).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="font-size: xx-large; text-align: center;">SUMMARY</b></div>
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In part one of the
breakdown we took a look at Liljegren's decision-making and defensive coverage
which tend to be some of Liljegren's weak points. In part two we will take a
look at his skating, transitions and offensive play which are obviously some of
the stronger aspects in Liljegren's game.<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201560115738683895.post-63393104878698750532017-01-28T17:51:00.000+01:002017-01-28T17:59:21.729+01:002017 Draft - Midterm Ranking<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">It’s been a long
time since we released our previous list for the 2017 NHL Draft on September
21st, part of the reason for that is simply the fact that we felt comfortable
enough with our list for the past few months without feeling the urge to make
major changes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In the meantime a
few things have happened. Scouts in </span><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">North America</span></st1:place><span lang="EN-US"> have been able to appreciate how good our previous #1
Nico Hischier really is. Central Scouting has moved Elias Pettersson (our ensuing
#1 since Nico started his North American season and therefore stopped being
eligible for our list) from a B rate in October to the #2 spot in </span><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Europe</span></st1:place><span lang="EN-US">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Timothy Liljegren
was diagnosed with mononucleosis the day after our September ranking was
released, leaving him sidelined for some time, while big forwards Kristian Vesalainen
and Klim Kostin have struggled to produce. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Even before their production
issues, we didn’t have Vesalainen that high in our list nor as a top 10 pick
overall and we didn’t have Kostin close to the top in the overall projection either.
Similarly, we have also already dropped Liljegren from
the top spot in </span><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Europe</span></st1:place><span lang="EN-US"> in September just before the news about
mono came out. In light of that diagnosis, even if his level of play this
season would suggest so, we’re now keen to wait a bit more before dropping
Liljegren any further, especially when not many other prospects made a case to
replace him in the 2nd spot of our list. Still, the Swede will probably need to
pick up his game in the second part of the season to retain a spot that is
basically the byproduct of what he showed last season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Now, with the WJC
in the books an updated ranking is definitely due, no matter if injuries and
some performances have not really helped the process. Kostin is the other big
name whose draft season has been a struggle and unlike Liljegren he won’t have
any chance to redeem it after undergoing surgery last week on the shoulder that
reportedly has been bothering him for a while. We still have him in the same
tier as some of the prospects ranked ahead of him on our new list, but
healthier players like Necas and Heiskanen who were already enjoying a much
better season than him get the edge in the ranking. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Meanwhile, we’re
still waiting for the chance to see Russian goalie Daniil Tarasov play this
season, so the waiting game goes on with the hope to see him back 100% healthy
at some point before the final part of the season. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Our #1 Elias
Pettersson also missed time recently after a WJC where he didn’t have much luck
in terms of production. He didn’t play the bronze medal game after his head hit
the hard dash of the side boards as a result of a pretty hard bodycheck
suffered in the 3rd period against </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Canada</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">, and was then reportedly out with the flu
for the first few Allsvenskan games played by Timra once he was back in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Sweden</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">. He has appeared in four games since
getting back in action on January 20<sup>th</sup>, producing at a point per
game ratio like he did in the first part of the season. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Among the few guys
that have improved their stock with us in recent months are Filip Chytil and
Alexei Lipanov. The latter sat just out of our September ranking and had a
strong WJAC in December. Chytil is a kid barely eligible for the 2017 NHL Draft
who seems to be coming into his own lately and who has been able to get quality
ice-time in the top Czech league. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Robin Salo who has
also been playing well domestically was an unexpected cut from </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Finland</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US">’s WJC team. Just as surprisingly, in an
underwhelming Finnish tournament performance, the coach was sacked midway
through the event as it became obvious </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Finland</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> would have to tackle </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span lang="EN-US">Latvia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US"> to avoid relegation.</span></div>
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<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; width: 53pt;" width="71"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rank</span></h2>
</td>
<td style="width: 185pt;" width="246"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Player</span></h2>
</td>
<td style="width: 99pt;" width="132"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Position</span></h2>
</td>
<td style="width: 96pt;" width="128"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nation</span></h2>
</td>
<td style="width: 180pt;" width="240"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ov. Rank Projection</span></h2>
</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Elias Pettersson</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C/W</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">top 5</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Timothy Liljegren</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">top 10</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">3.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Martin Necas</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">CZE</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">top 10</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">4.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Miro Heiskanen</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mid 1st</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">5.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Marcus Davidsson</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C/W</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mid 1st</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">6.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Klim Kostin</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RW</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RUS</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mid 1st</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">7.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Lias Andersson</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1st</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">8.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Kristian Vesalainen</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">LW</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1st</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">9.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Daniil Tarasov</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">G</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RUS</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1st</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">10.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Urho Vaakanainen</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1st</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">11.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Ukko-P. Luukkonen</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">G</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">early 2nd</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">12.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Robin Salo</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">early 2nd</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">13.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Filip Chytil</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C/W</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">CZE</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2nd</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">14.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Alexei Lipanov</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RUS</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2nd</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">15.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Lukas Elvenes</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RW</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2nd</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">16.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Jesper Boqvist</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C/W</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2nd</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">17.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Jonas Rondbjerg</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C/W</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">DEN</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">3rd</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">18.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Emil Bemstrom</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">3rd</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">19.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Joni Ikonen</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">4th</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">20.</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sebastian Walfridsson</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td>
<td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">4th</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201560115738683895.post-8224207371279260182016-11-23T17:09:00.001+01:002017-02-22T18:20:39.572+01:00 Starting points review<div class="MsoNormal">
Since our
last ranking was published almost two months ago, many other lists for the 2017
NHL Draft have come out, including Bob McKenzie’s first of the season and NHL Central Scouting's preliminary assessment of this year class.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Bob’s list
came out the day after ours and provides a benchmark for what the supposed scouting consensus was at the start of the CHL season. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYxwO6oex9YrmQklmUHulVGTBwY9N684Wgxpq66tLRiuk-0RNmTBnCoyqWy_SWNORmHduQnk0ory3eSgHC8jMsKfDQ4LaS03aD1Kx0wN9-VlDuBESmkbubfRrg9qQJVNuM6vU6olnwCXSV/s1600/Bob%2527s++top15+highlighted+.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYxwO6oex9YrmQklmUHulVGTBwY9N684Wgxpq66tLRiuk-0RNmTBnCoyqWy_SWNORmHduQnk0ory3eSgHC8jMsKfDQ4LaS03aD1Kx0wN9-VlDuBESmkbubfRrg9qQJVNuM6vU6olnwCXSV/s400/Bob%2527s++top15+highlighted+.png" width="290" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
You can find his preliminary ranking <a href="http://www.tsn.ca/mckenzie-s-pre-season-ranking-the-nolan-patrick-draft-1.567410" target="_blank">here</a>. To the left you can see highlighted the players who were eligible for our ranking. When looking at those names the main thing that struck us was two players were missing from Bob's list: Nico Hischier and Elias Pettersson were right on top of our ranking but nowhere to be found there. Even more striking when considering K. Kostin, our #4 in Europe, sat at #3 overall, and K. Vesalainen, our #7 in Europe, sat 7th overall behind only T. Liljegren and K. Kostin among Euro-based prospects. Only two more of those made <span style="text-align: start;">McKenzie’s </span>list, M. Necas and L. Andersson, with our #5 M. Davidsson missing as well.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
The future CSS lists for Europe will be particularly interesting and easy to compare since they’ll pertain to the same group of prospects, but at this stage CSS still has all the players together and only rated by A/B/C rather than ranked. Still, their initial ratings released on October 4th (as of now yet available <a href="https://nhl.bamcontent.com/images/assets/binary/282355936/binary-file/file.pdf">here</a>) definitely provided some food for thought as they even sharpened some of the differences mentioned above between our assessment and the seeming consensus.<br />
<br />
As highlighted in the pictures below, they had Pettersson rated as 2nd/3rd material, together with M. Davidsson, D. Samorukov and H. Jokiharju. Our highest ranked goaltender, D. Tarasov, got a 4th to 6th round assessment, like S. Walfridsson and F. Zetterlund.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4aE4CrfbkpFRzjl9w8GMHUaA2lBaSYnnw02evZuOnggP6_-dN-ngUFcy4G0ftpL-grIYB8gwmtrN3OHy43SzmqVAPsOuK8qF2guJq-jxsU4Tg5W-IZqzsz53bq8-8RPpTCCsS-WEhEb48/s1600/CSS+preliminary+list+1st+screenshot+%2528October+4th%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4aE4CrfbkpFRzjl9w8GMHUaA2lBaSYnnw02evZuOnggP6_-dN-ngUFcy4G0ftpL-grIYB8gwmtrN3OHy43SzmqVAPsOuK8qF2guJq-jxsU4Tg5W-IZqzsz53bq8-8RPpTCCsS-WEhEb48/s320/CSS+preliminary+list+1st+screenshot+%2528October+4th%2529.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Almost two months later, and with the first international break in the books, it’s interesting to focus on the players recipient of the main differences.<br />
Our September
top ranked prospect <b>Nico Hischier</b> took some weeks to get comfortable on North
American rinks, had no goals in his first 5 QMJHL regular season games, but has
scored 19 times in his last 19 games, producing at a 2 points per game pace
over that span, with a recent spurt of 19 points in his last 6 games. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKUFzwL0Swyrx6SdFPVdV84gbHkzUVwPYxMlSZpfrTFdHqsSdgXT03gbInASOKXt-9LJc2PSsOfwjxONR_Jc0CWj8tAVo3g6BxZoze_yIDcCxQpGrWTuoLuhmWRjAj5I_yYzQo3WXINxBL/s1600/CSS+preliminary+list+2nd+screenshot+%2528October+4th%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKUFzwL0Swyrx6SdFPVdV84gbHkzUVwPYxMlSZpfrTFdHqsSdgXT03gbInASOKXt-9LJc2PSsOfwjxONR_Jc0CWj8tAVo3g6BxZoze_yIDcCxQpGrWTuoLuhmWRjAj5I_yYzQo3WXINxBL/s320/CSS+preliminary+list+2nd+screenshot+%2528October+4th%2529.png" width="320" /></a>His current
output (41 points in 24 games, 18 more than the next rookie) is good for second in the league; considering Nico is far from a one dimensional player, that is really
encouraging and we would be indeed surprised if he is not going to make McKenzie’s top 15 at
midterm.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Speaking of
prospects who left for the CHL, <b>Dmitri Samorukov</b> has reportedly struggled in the early
stages of his N.A. career. Even if it’s normal for a 17 years old D thrown into a
different reality and game to need an adaptation period, his defensive
struggles come as a bit of a surprise for us and we’re curious to see how that will
pan out over the length of the season.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Winterhawks’
import <b>Henri Jokiharju</b>, #10 on our list, also got a B rating. This was however
not surprising for an undersized
defenseman.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Turning our
attention to players still in Europe, we’ve seen <b>Kristian Vesalainen</b> ranked as high as 3rd overall in some lists, but we’ve yet to witness the pure offensive skills we’d like to see in a prospect penciled to become
a top 6 forward at the NHL level (it seems obvious that’s what you’d
expect from a prospect ranked in your </span>overall top 7, like he is on Bob's list).<br />
<span lang="EN-US">In his career at the SHL level he’s so far produced 7 points in 35 games and he’s been
recently loaned to HPK in his homeland to get a chance to play more minutes.
Kristian is a promising prospect already able to hold his own when competing
against men, it will be interesting to monitor his offensive impact during his
stay in the top Finnish league. He has been seeing top 6 minutes </span>in his first three games there, but has no points so far.<br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">When we
made him our #2 ranked prospect in September, skinny forward <b>Elias Pettersson</b>
only had 1 point in 3 Allsvenskan games and 1 point in 3 games at the U20 tourney in Hodonin (Czech R.) </span>in late August. Since then he has been producing regularly and now sports a PPG ratio, which is something
we don’t remember former first time NHL Draft eligible Swedes do in their draft
season. Granted, 20 games are still not a big enough sample and competition in Allsvenskan
hockey is a bit weaker now than it was a few years back, but his offensive growth has probably
opened some eyes. Even more so after his success (7 points in 3 games) at the
recent U20 Four Nations in Gothenburg while playing on Sweden first line with Lias Andersson and red-hot Leafs prospect Carl Grundstrom.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">On the
other hand, <b>Klim Kostin</b> has yet to score a goal this season in Russia and </span>at the moment is
back with his junior team after seeing limited icetime and failing
to record a point over the first couple of months at the senior level. He had however a chance to showcase
himself with the Russian U20 team in the series vs CHL (2 points in 5 games)
and we’ll see if that was enough for him to remain in top3/top5 in others’
upcoming rankings. His international play will probably dictate his draft
position, more so than for most of his peers.<br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>Marcus
Davidsson</b> has been averaging about 11 minutes of icet-ime this season with
Djurgardens in the top Swedish league, recording 4 goals in 18 games while
adding 4 goals in 5 games at the J20 level. He has a late birth date, which makes
him (like E. Pettersson) not eligible to play for the U18 national team. This means his
international exposure in his draft season happens to be with the U20 team
where he has been playing a more limited role than he’s capable of. While this doesn’t
affect our projection (we think he’s </span>first <span lang="EN-US">round material), it could
make a bit more difficult for him to rise in the aforementioned
lists. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">To end the
list of prospects that carry the main discrepancies with our early evaluation, <b>Daniil
Tarasov</b> is the one with the biggest gap. His case is a bit different, and not
only because he is a (Russian) goaltender. In fact, Tarasov has been out
injured this season, making it impossible to reassess him so far. However, we
really liked his game during his last campaign in Russia and at the U18 World
Championships in North Dakota, and we’re hopeful he will be able to get back on
the right track once healthy.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">We’ll see
if with the mid terms update the gap between our ranking and
Bob’s /CSS ranking </span>of these players will shrink.<br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Actually, although CSS did not bother to put forward any official release, </span>they recently did change their initial list. In fact the same generic
<a href="https://www.nhl.com/info/nhl-central-scouting-player-rankings" target="_blank">link</a>
of their initial release now leads to a modified list where Elias Pettersson
gets an A rating.<br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Other relevant
changes on Euro-based prospects were: </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">talented Finnish D Urho Vaakanainen downgraded
from A to B, Swedish goaltender (and Joel’s brother) Olle Eriksson Ek
downgraded from A to B, undersized but productive D countryman Erik Brannstrom
upgraded from C to B. Size doesn’t help Joni Ikonen's and Filip Westerlund's case
either, but after spending some time up with Frolunda at the SHL level they
received a B rating as well. Westerlund was outright missing from the previous
CSS preliminary list. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US">Taking a wider look at the updated list, some
Europeans who committed to CHL teams appear to have benefited from the North
American exposure, as formerly hyped Adam Thilander, Belorussian F Maxim
Sushko, Russian forwards Pavel Koltygin and Ivan Chekhovich all get a B instead
of the C they were originally assigned. Blades’ Russian D Mark Rubinchik goes however
in the opposite direction and is now listed as a C prospect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
mkphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01121604322956602783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201560115738683895.post-12296268613895008622016-09-25T22:38:00.000+02:002016-10-06T11:05:18.410+02:002018 early top 5 update<div class="MsoNormal">
Just like
many prospects for the 2017 draft, some Europeans eligible for the 2018 draft
are already leaving for North America and starting their official season
overseas. This update is meant to see where we stand right before guys like
A.Svechnikov leave Europe and our rankings as a result. </div>
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<span lang="EN-US">After the
Hlinka, not much has changed for us. Our
appointed top 3 prospects only confirmed they deserve to remain up there and we
don’t feel like someone else has really challenged their position so far. With
two seasons to go before their NHL draft there is plenty of time for that to
happen, but it might not be that easy to catch defenseman Rasmus Dahlin and
contend for his #1 spot. In fact, at this time we believe the 16 years old Swede
to be the most promising prospect in Europe for the next two NHL drafts.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">To finish
off our top 5 we still have Skarek and Alexeyev there, as the Czech goalie
backstopped his national team to their first win at the home tournament and the
Russian defenseman was a solid presence on the blue line for his country </span>before leaving for the WHL<span lang="EN-US">. They mark the only change to </span>our early August list as they flip the last two positions.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rank</span></h2>
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<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Rasmus Dahlin</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2.</span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Andrei Svechnikov</span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RW</span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RUS</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">3.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Filip Zadina</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">LW</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">CZE</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">4.</span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Alexander Alexeyev</span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RUS</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">5.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Jakub Skarek</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">G</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">CZE</span></td></tr>
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mkphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01121604322956602783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201560115738683895.post-45118569763633271622016-09-21T17:23:00.000+02:002016-10-06T11:09:12.692+02:002017 Draft - September Ranking<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigHyMYLYsOgw-VwizPXsWYSTNX570sChFQIJSTLpd1J1lEDElixinb-y26Y9BaL8On2dwhCl6DYjMATsnqSIte1A7xQPKSCVe-Gxt2X4nBW-fycyUkIRzj81zgaRZTOtTxe_wbn3QkEwX7/s1600/addtext_com_MDYyNjI1MTk1Nzk5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigHyMYLYsOgw-VwizPXsWYSTNX570sChFQIJSTLpd1J1lEDElixinb-y26Y9BaL8On2dwhCl6DYjMATsnqSIte1A7xQPKSCVe-Gxt2X4nBW-fycyUkIRzj81zgaRZTOtTxe_wbn3QkEwX7/s400/addtext_com_MDYyNjI1MTk1Nzk5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Timothy Liljegren is moving backwards in our updated top 20. </div>
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Considering we already had him in the same tier with our next two prospects in early August (see previous ranking), the change is not as big as the drop in the rank might suggest,<b> </b>but so far this season Liljegren's play has nourished some concerns with his decision-making ability. That's an area of strength for both Hischier and Pettersson, and at this point in time we like their long term projection a bit better. Before the draft comes around Liljegren will have plenty of opportunities to address those concerns and to show he can use his obvious tools to his advantage without taking unnecessary risks too frequently.<b> </b></div>
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Nico H<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">ischier</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">
didn't have a particularly successful Hlinka Memorial tourney, but had some impressive moments. He seems to have taken a step forward in his physical development and has been </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">more
willing to use his good shot than in the past</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, something that should help him in his transition to the QMJHL. The fact he is about to start his North American season means this is the last time he appears on our rankings, as they only pertain prospects playing for European clubs. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In this pre CHL season update we have four prospects in the same situation, they're identifiable in grey in the ranking below.</span>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Having Hischier, Pettersson and Liljegren in the same 'top 7' tier means we estimate right now there are four more prospects </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">outside of Europe </span>in the same (or higher) tier. It's an indication of where we feel the trio </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">currently</span> belong when adding to the mix the other eligible prospects, it is <u>not</u> an attempt to predict how the draft will unfold.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rank </span></h2>
</td><td style="width: 168pt;" width="224"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Player</span></h2>
</td><td style="width: 106pt;" width="141"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Position</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nation</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ov. Rank Projection</span></h2>
</td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1.</span></td><td><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Nico Hischier</span></span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SUI</span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">top 7</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Elias Pettersson</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C/W</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">top 7</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">3.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Timothy Liljegren</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">top 7</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">4.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Klim Kostin</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RW</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RUS</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">top 15</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">5.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Marcus Davidsson</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mid 1st</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">6.</span></td><td><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Dmitri Samorukov</span></span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RUS</span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mid 1st</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">7.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Kristian Vesalainen</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">LW</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mid 1st</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">8.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Lias Andersson</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1st round</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">9.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Martin Necas</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">CZE</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1st round</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">10.</span></td><td><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Henri Jokiharju</span></span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1st round</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">11.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Miro Heiskanen</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1st round</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">12.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Daniil Tarasov</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">G</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RUS</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1st round</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">13.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Urho Vaakanainen</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1st round</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">14.</span></td><td><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Adam Ruzicka</span></span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">W/C</span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SVK</span></td><td><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1st round</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">15.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Ukko-P. Luukkonen</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">G</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">early 2nd</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">16.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Lukas Elvenes</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RW</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2nd round</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">17.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Robin Salo</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2nd round</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">18.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sebastian Walfridsson</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2nd round</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">19.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Jesper Boqvist</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C/W</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2nd round</span></td></tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><td height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">20.</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Fabian Zetterlund</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RW</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td><td><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2nd round</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
mkphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01121604322956602783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201560115738683895.post-66380550159798280992016-08-06T01:42:00.002+02:002018-03-09T00:41:58.220+01:00Early look at Europe's best for the 2018 NHL Draft<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some
promising 2018 eligible players will also get their season underway at the upcoming
Hlinka Memorial. </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Below we
list our five favourite prospects playing in Europe two seasons away from their
draft.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Based on
what we’ve seen last season, the top 3 was pretty easily done. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dahlin is
an all-around Swedish defenseman whose name we believe will become much more
popular once Rasmus gets more international exposure, and that might start to
happen as soon as next week. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Andrei Svechnikov
is instead an already well hyped name, thanks to his ability to score in
bunches against his peers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Filip
Zadina is a late ’99 born winger who plays at a very advanced level for his
age, so much so that he already dressed for a couple of Extraliga games.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Speaking of
playing at an advanced level, his countryman Jakub Skarek is a goalie who
already enjoyed some success playing against men last season. Him and steady
defenseman Alexander Alexeyev round out our early top 5, edging out a number of other
interesting prospects.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 528px;">
<colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 2958; mso-width-source: userset; width: 62pt;" width="83"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 6855; mso-width-source: userset; width: 145pt;" width="193"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 4664; mso-width-source: userset; width: 98pt;" width="131"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 4295; mso-width-source: userset; width: 91pt;" width="121"></col>
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<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; width: 62pt;" width="83"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rank</span></h2>
</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 145pt;" width="193"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Name</span></h2>
</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 98pt;" width="131"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Position</span></h2>
</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 91pt;" width="121"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nation</span></h2>
</td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1.</span></td>
<td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Rasmus Dahlin</span></td>
<td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td>
<td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2.</span></td>
<td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Andrei Svechnikov</span></td>
<td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RW</span></td>
<td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RUS</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">3.</span></td>
<td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Filip Zadina</span></td>
<td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">LW</span></td>
<td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">CZE</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">4.</span></td>
<td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Jakub Skarek</span></td>
<td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">G</span></td>
<td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">CZE</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">5.</span></td>
<td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Alexander Alexeyev</span></td>
<td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td>
<td class="xl66"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RUS</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
mkphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01121604322956602783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201560115738683895.post-82849559729012579922016-08-05T15:05:00.001+02:002016-08-05T15:17:15.347+02:002017 Draft pre-season Rankings<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Hlinka Memorial Cup U18 tournament means the start of a new scouting season. With only three days left before the puck drops in Breclav and Bratislava it is time to set where we are at ahead of the first games of the 2017 Draft season, as they will bring a ton of new inputs into the evaluation of the 1999 class.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The ranking that follows is the result of the scouting we did in Europe throughout last season and only pertains to prospects who have been playing for European clubs in 2015/16 (which means players like Valimaki, Tolvanen and N.A. Popugayev do not get considered here).</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">However, to put things in perspective, we added an overall ranking appraisal. Even if we focus on prospects in Europe, we still have a grasp of how good the draft is supposed to be overall. At this stage, this year's North American crop seems to be a bit weaker than usual, allowing for more Europeans to potentially make their way into the 1st Round. </span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Still, this should not be confused with a prediction. This is nothing like a Mock Draft, and the Overall Rank Projection column is just an indicator of where we currently feel these players belong overall. Should they confirm what we have seen so far, that's the range where we would recommend drafting them, which is different from suggesting where they'll eventually get drafted.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
We think these <span style="font-family: inherit;">players have shown the potential to be there for us next June, no matter where they are currently ranked by other resources. </span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Obviously, like everyone else, we'll get a better handle as the season progresses and </span>things will inevitably change, but <span style="font-family: inherit;">here come our pre-Hlinka rankings for the 2017 Draft (which by the way are the first ever rankings we release as an independent source, under the "Draftin Europe" mark).</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; text-align: left; width: 759px;">
<colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 2332; mso-width-source: userset; width: 49pt;" width="66"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 7936; mso-width-source: userset; width: 167pt;" width="223"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 4664; mso-width-source: userset; width: 98pt;" width="131"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 4295; mso-width-source: userset; width: 91pt;" width="121"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 7736; mso-width-source: userset; width: 163pt;" width="218"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="30" style="height: 22.2pt; mso-height-source: userset;">
<td class="xl65" height="30" style="height: 22.2pt; width: 49pt;" width="66"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rank</span></h2>
</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 167pt;" width="223"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Player</span></h2>
</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 98pt;" width="131"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Position</span></h2>
</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 91pt;" width="121"><h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nation</span></h2>
</td>
<td class="xl65" style="width: 163pt;" width="218"><h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ov. Rank Projection</span></span></h2>
</td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Timothy Liljegren</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">top 5</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Nico Hischier</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SUI</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">top 5</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">3.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Elias Pettersson</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C/W</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">top 5</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">4.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Klim Kostin</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RW</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RUS</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">top 15</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">5.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Marcus Davidsson</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td>
<td class="xl67" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mid 1st</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">6.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Dmitri Samorukov</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RUS</span></td>
<td class="xl67" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mid 1st</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">7.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Urho Vaakanainen</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td>
<td class="xl67" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mid 1st</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">8.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Kristian Vesalainen</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">LW</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td>
<td class="xl68" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1st round</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">9.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Lias Andersson</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C/W</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td>
<td class="xl68" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1st round</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">10.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Daniil Tarasov</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">G</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RUS</span></td>
<td class="xl68" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1st round</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">11.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Henri Jokiharju</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td>
<td class="xl67" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">late 1st</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">12.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Martin Necas</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">CZE</span></td>
<td class="xl67" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">late 1st</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">13.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Adam Ruzicka</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C/W</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SVK</span></td>
<td class="xl67" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">late 1st</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">14.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Ukko-P. Luukkonen</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">G</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td>
<td class="xl67" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">early 2nd</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">15.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Miro Heiskanen</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td>
<td class="xl67" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">early 2nd</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">16.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Lukas Elvenes</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RW</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td>
<td class="xl67" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">early 2nd</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">17.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Robin Salo</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">D</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">FIN</span></td>
<td class="xl68" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2nd round</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">18.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Fabian Zetterlund</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RW</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td>
<td class="xl68" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2nd round</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">19.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Jesper Boqvist</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C/W</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">SWE</span></td>
<td class="xl68" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2nd round</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.2pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="18" style="height: 13.2pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">20.</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Maxim Zhukov</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">G</span></td>
<td class="xl66" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">RUS</span></td>
<td class="xl67" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">late 2nd</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; text-align: center; width: 757px;"><colgroup><col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col><col style="mso-width-alt: 7936; mso-width-source: userset; width: 167pt;" width="223"></col><col style="mso-width-alt: 4664; mso-width-source: userset; width: 98pt;" width="131"></col><col style="mso-width-alt: 4295; mso-width-source: userset; width: 91pt;" width="121"></col><col style="mso-width-alt: 7736; mso-width-source: userset; width: 163pt;" width="218"></col></colgroup><tbody></tbody></table>
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