While the NHL Entry Draft lacks the bloated three-day pomp and circumstance of its NFL equivalent, it’s possible that the draft has become a more immediate window into the league’s future than ever before. The reasoning is simple: younger, smaller players can succeed because the game rewards skill and speed far more than it did during the “Dead Puck Era.”
(It’s also fair to say that there might be a considerably larger influx of young talent, period.)
While NHL Central Scouting Director EJ McGuire says that this year’s more wide-open pool indicates that this isn’t a “Crosby draft year,” they did name two Swedes as the top prospects at this point: left wing Gabriel Landeskog and defenseman Adam Larsson. Landeskog plays for the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League while Larsson skates with Skelleftea AIK of the Swedish Elite League. If one of those two players manages to become the first pick of the ’11 draft, that player would become the first Swede to earn that honor since the Quebec Nordiques drafted Mats Sundin first overall in 1989.
(Want to peruse the rankings? Here are Central Scouting’s picks for North American skaters, North American goalies, European skaters and European goalies.)
Here is a little bit of insight regarding Landeskog from McGuire.Topping Central Scouting’s list of North American skaters is power forward Gabriel Landeskog of the Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers. Landeskog is currently sidelined with a high-ankle sprain suffered with Kitchener prior to joining the Swedish National Junior Team at the World Junior Championship two weeks ago. He re-aggravated the injury in the first game of the WJC after notching a goal and an assist in a 7-1 victory against Norway.
“He came over to North America as an under-age player and that’s unique in that most Swedes don’t,” McGuire said. “He’s a fearless forward who goes to the net and stays there.”
While many will lazily make the equation: “Adam Larsson” + “Swedish” + “defenseman” = Nicklas Lidstrom, it’s probably not fair to compare him to the best Swede of the last 20 years. It’s probably more balanced to compare Larsson to Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman, a fellow Swede and the second overall pick of the ’09 draft. One scout obliged and compared him favorably to the tall Tampa Bay blueliner.
Larsson, a Swedish defenseman whose exceptional puck-handling, poise and booming shot will have scouts and general managers considering their options, is the top-rated European prospect on the board.
One European NHL scout from a Western Conference team told NHL.com that Larsson might be ahead of where Victor Hedman was at the midway point of his draft year two years ago. Hedman was chosen by the Tampa Bay Lightning with the No. 2 pick in 2009.
“Hedman was allowed to do more with his home team in Sweden, so they let him be more active with the puck and try different things,” the scout said. “I think Adam Larsson plays a safer game. I certainly think he has the same potential as Hedman. He’s every bit as good with the puck and he might be a touch tougher. Hedman is a little bigger, but they’re both unbelievably good skaters. I think I would take Larsson over Hedman if I could, based on what I’ve seen the last three years.”
So there’s the lowdown on two players who might end up going first and second in the ’11 draft, but again, this is a pretty wide-open pool. Check out interesting behind the scenes footage of scouts discussing different prospects (including Ken Hitchcock’s “no pressure, kid” comparison between Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Joe Sakic) in the video below.
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