SWE: An unexpected turn of events

Before this year’s draft, the general assessment was that Modo’s Oscar Hedman was to be one of the first Swedes selected at the NHL draft in Raleigh. Instead Hedman had to wait patiently until the fifth round of day two, when the Washington Capitals ultimately called his name. This was just one of the many surprises involving Swedish players at the draft weekend.

Djurgarden’s nifty winger Johannes Salmonsson and Lulea’s skating wonder Johan Fransson had clear first round potential, but the highly touted duo was not picked until early in the second by the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Dallas Stars, respectively. The St. Louis Blues stuck to the script when they picked up the offensive-minded center Carl Soderberg as a mid-second round choice, but after Soderberg things got more interesting.

The Dallas Stars selected Sodertalje’s defenseman Nicklas Grossman with the 56th pick overall. Grossman, expected to go late in the draft, if at all, amassed four points combined in his previous two seasons in the Swedish junior league and is the definition of a stay-at-home type of defenseman. If the Stars were looking for size, they came away with the right package. If they wanted something besides that, Grossman will not be the player to deliver it.

Thomas Gradin on tour

Vancouver Canucks’ Swedish scout Thomas Gradin found something that intrigued him in the Swedish third league. A regional league ranked below the junior elite league, the third league is mostly filled with semi-pro never-have-been kinds of players. What Gradin unearthed was defenseman Alexander Edler, playing for Jamtland in a remote north western part of Sweden and after Gradin’s input, the Canucks opted to select him as the 92nd player overall. Edler is described as a good skater and puck handler by Vancouver’s GM Dave Nonis.

“He’s going to go play in Modo next year and those of you in Vancouver know what type of people and players they turn out and we think he’s going to develop fairly quickly there”, adds Nonis in an interview on the Canucks’ official web site. Nonis is only partially right there however, as although Edler is Modo-bound for the next season, he will likely just play junior hockey there, as he is way behind players such as Oscar Hedman on the team’s depth chart.

Johan Franzen was one of the few Swedish overagers who was almost certain to get picked, although it likely came as a surprise to him that the Detroit Red Wings chose to opt for him as their first pick of the draft in the third round. The Red Wings will likely offer Franzen a contract right away as they see a future in the 24-year old as a role player, given his great skating ability but a lack of playmaking touch.

After the surprise selections of Grossman and Edler, things plateaued to a fairly expected state in the draft for Swedes, as players like Fredrik Naslund (DAL), Magnus Akerlund (CAR) and Richard Demen-Willaume (COL) got picked in the middle rounds.

Diamonds in the rough?

Two Swedish NHL scouts, Boston’s Sven-Ake Svensson and Detroit’s Hakan Andersson, have a track record of finding the most unheralded Swedish players available for the late rounds of the draft. Previous examples of these kinds of picks are the Bruins’ discovery of Andreas Lindstrom in 2000 and Detroit’s selection of Mikael Johansson last year. So far, the duo have mainly found glace rather than diamonds and there is question as to whether the picks this year will turn out any differently. The Bruins chose to go with Stocksund winger Anton Hedman late in the 8th round. Hedman is yet another player whose size is a main asset with shortcomings as his skating, much like Lindstrom four years ago.

Detroit landed Hedman’s teammate, rearguard Nils Backstrom in the 9th round, an unspectacular player with a decent passing game, but a pedigree that hardly stands out, especially comparing to many other Swedish players that were not picked up.

Left behind

In total, 18 Swedes got drafted in Raleigh, which is slightly below average comparing to recent years. The remarkable thing is that a considerable crop of talented Swedes were not picked. Players like Brynas’ defenseman Niklas Andersson, Lulea’s powerful and skilled winger Johan Harju and Modo’s clever pivot Mattias Hellstrom, are just three of many talented Swedes who are probably feeling a tad flabbergasted at the moment.