Prospect Info: 17OA: Axel Sandin Pellikka

[Nut Upstrom]

ASP was #7 in the VO2 Max and #1 in the Bench Press thing at the combine

So that’s cool

Nice, so he is both Hans and Franz.

 

[PelagicJoe]

I would also liked Perreault.

But fine with this too.

Yzerplan is more clear after every draft.

- Great puckmoving defence (Seider, Edvinsson, Wallinder, Johansson, Pellikka)
- Defence with huge size (size already overblown, so you can take smaller Pellikka)
- Defensive grinder centers (Kasper, Danielson, Copp)
- Monster goalie (Cossa)
- Skill coming from wingers, which we really don't have (Berggren, Raymond only)
- but wingers are cheaper to get from UFA or at trades

Everything is built through defence and low-scoring game in high-scoring era.
- Low-scoring controls the cap. = smart.
- On "final day" you have very low-scoring but winning team, which has lot of cap space, thanks to right defensive culture, You can add pieces thanks to cap space.
- We will be the new era New Jersey Devils on the modern era NHL.

BTW,

Devils will probably be the modern era Red Wings, but afre short success just killed by the cap.

You explained it quite well. After reading this, I thought back to when Bowman first arrived here back in the 90s and made everyone learn the importance of defense, including our all out offense machine and captain, Steve Yzerman. Under Scotty, #19 transformed his came and became a monster two-way player that won three cups.
Yzerman & Co. certainly appear to be going defense first in this rebuild. Maybe there is hope after all.
Great post.

 

[Hen Kolland]

I refuse to believe that everyone in the professional or journalistic world of scouting NHL draft prospects come to the same conclusion and are wrong in doing so. There are countless writeups stating along the lines of: "he's more competitive and engaged defensively than most prospects of his size and stature."

Meanwhile, Ogee will tell you that he's abnormally soft and an absolute sieve defensively.\

Listen, I'm not going to say that we drafted Mo Seider defensively, but enough people seem to believe that this kid competes hard and is a better defender than your traditional offense leaning defenseman profile.

Wheeler: "Though he’s not big, he’s athletic and he plays hard and engages in battles in the defensive zone with some sneaky strength. He’s got a good stick. He does a good job maintaining gaps and matching opposing forwards step-for-step skating backward, and times his close-outs and pinches effectively."

Pronman: "Sandin Pellikka lacks ideal NHL size for a defenseman but he competes well and doesn't shy from using his body to lay into opposing forwards. His defense will be his main question at the NHL level, but I think he plays hard enough to be a top-four defenseman."

Black Book: "What’s good for Pellikka, is that he is at least shown the ability to play a physical game when the play calls for it. That’s the main point. He doesn’t go out of his way to be nasty, he’s not a tenacious defender, but if he’s called upon to do it, he has shown he’s willing to try.

It’s fundamental to his game going forward for the following reason. When he initiates contact, he gets to control the fallout of that contact at a higher rate than if he was to be passive and instead absorb the contact. Pellikka is a very intelligent player, and his greatest defensive gift after his ability to anticipate defensive play is his ability to open up players out of contact so that he can simultaneously take them out of the play while identifying his highest percentage passing option.

Undersized defenseman need to be able to read the play well, and all Dmen have to take hits in order to make plays. They also have to be willing to physically engage even when they’re overmatched, and they must have the recovery tools necessary to get back into position. Pellikka checks a lot of boxes.

Speaking to his anticipation. He can anticipate both off transitional and cycle sequences, on both the strong side and weak side in advance. On his strong side, he’s quick to evaluate not only what the play driver is attempting to do after coming over Pellikka’s defensive line, but where the secondary option that he needs to cover is located as well.

This allows him to get in front of and ahead of give and go sequences so that he can intercept them or use his stick and body positioning to counteract them. Which brings us to our next attribute, which is his ability to process information rapidly off the puck. This is exceptionally important for this player, since it allows him to take advantage of his rapid pivoting and turning ability, which allows him to C-cut and close down his gap on proper angles, so that he can control
the geography of the rink against opposing wingers. We talk extensively about defenseman mitigating or reducing risk in a lot of our evaluations, and Axel is capable of that. But, there’s still limitations overall to his defensive upside.

He’s not as tenacious as Mikhail Gulyayev who will go out of his way to deliver a hit through an opponent as opposed to making a point of contact to close off a player like Pellikka usually does, and he doesn’t maintain the pace you see in fellow countrymen Tom Willander. Willander is busier than Pellikka, and overcommits at times on his defensive assignments while lacking structure in a way Pellikka doesn’t. Both of these defenders project to hold and stop a rush
with their frames at a better rate then Axel.

With that said, we still think he can hold up defensively and play meaningful minutes. The best aspect of Pellikka’s game is that he has the skill set necessary to reduce the total minutes he has to play in his own zone. You don’t need to rely on your defense and frame if your team is in control of the puck, and that’s the hallmark of Pellikka’s game."

EP: "I suppose this is the point where we’re supposed to tell you that becoming a more defensively sound player is going to be critical for Sandin Pellikka’s development, but that’s not really the case here, even if he is a smallish offensive defenceman. The Swedish blueliner is an engaged defender, particularly stout between the blue lines and along the boards."

 

[newfy]

Serious injectinon of skill on the back end. The wings D is going to be nasty, and even with him being small hes another guy with a mean streak. In 3 years the only guy without a mean streak on the back end will be Wallinder and hes still 6'4.

Seider, Walman
Eddy ASP
Wally/Aljo/a million other options... the wings back end is going to be ridiculous

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

Serious injectinon of skill on the back end. The wings D is going to be nasty, and even with him being small hes another guy with a mean streak. In 3 years the only guy without a mean streak on the back end will be Wallinder and hes still 6'4.

Seider, Walman
Eddy ASP
Wally/Aljo/a million other options... the wings back end is going to be ridiculous

I agree

This pick was easily our best in this years draft

 

[Frk It]

I refuse to believe that everyone in the professional or journalistic world of scouting NHL draft prospects come to the same conclusion and are wrong in doing so. There are countless writeups stating along the lines of: "he's more competitive and engaged defensively than most prospects of his size and stature."

Meanwhile, Ogee will tell you that he's abnormally soft and an absolute sieve defensively.\

Listen, I'm not going to say that we drafted Mo Seider defensively, but enough people seem to believe that this kid competes hard and is a better defender than your traditional offense leaning defenseman profile.

Wheeler: "Though he’s not big, he’s athletic and he plays hard and engages in battles in the defensive zone with some sneaky strength. He’s got a good stick. He does a good job maintaining gaps and matching opposing forwards step-for-step skating backward, and times his close-outs and pinches effectively."

Pronman: "Sandin Pellikka lacks ideal NHL size for a defenseman but he competes well and doesn't shy from using his body to lay into opposing forwards. His defense will be his main question at the NHL level, but I think he plays hard enough to be a top-four defenseman."

Black Book: "What’s good for Pellikka, is that he is at least shown the ability to play a physical game when the play calls for it. That’s the main point. He doesn’t go out of his way to be nasty, he’s not a tenacious defender, but if he’s called upon to do it, he has shown he’s willing to try.

It’s fundamental to his game going forward for the following reason. When he initiates contact, he gets to control the fallout of that contact at a higher rate than if he was to be passive and instead absorb the contact. Pellikka is a very intelligent player, and his greatest defensive gift after his ability to anticipate defensive play is his ability to open up players out of contact so that he can simultaneously take them out of the play while identifying his highest percentage passing option.

Undersized defenseman need to be able to read the play well, and all Dmen have to take hits in order to make plays. They also have to be willing to physically engage even when they’re overmatched, and they must have the recovery tools necessary to get back into position. Pellikka checks a lot of boxes.

Speaking to his anticipation. He can anticipate both off transitional and cycle sequences, on both the strong side and weak side in advance. On his strong side, he’s quick to evaluate not only what the play driver is attempting to do after coming over Pellikka’s defensive line, but where the secondary option that he needs to cover is located as well.

This allows him to get in front of and ahead of give and go sequences so that he can intercept them or use his stick and body positioning to counteract them. Which brings us to our next attribute, which is his ability to process information rapidly off the puck. This is exceptionally important for this player, since it allows him to take advantage of his rapid pivoting and turning ability, which allows him to C-cut and close down his gap on proper angles, so that he can control
the geography of the rink against opposing wingers. We talk extensively about defenseman mitigating or reducing risk in a lot of our evaluations, and Axel is capable of that. But, there’s still limitations overall to his defensive upside.

He’s not as tenacious as Mikhail Gulyayev who will go out of his way to deliver a hit through an opponent as opposed to making a point of contact to close off a player like Pellikka usually does, and he doesn’t maintain the pace you see in fellow countrymen Tom Willander. Willander is busier than Pellikka, and overcommits at times on his defensive assignments while lacking structure in a way Pellikka doesn’t. Both of these defenders project to hold and stop a rush
with their frames at a better rate then Axel.

With that said, we still think he can hold up defensively and play meaningful minutes. The best aspect of Pellikka’s game is that he has the skill set necessary to reduce the total minutes he has to play in his own zone. You don’t need to rely on your defense and frame if your team is in control of the puck, and that’s the hallmark of Pellikka’s game."

EP: "I suppose this is the point where we’re supposed to tell you that becoming a more defensively sound player is going to be critical for Sandin Pellikka’s development, but that’s not really the case here, even if he is a smallish offensive defenceman. The Swedish blueliner is an engaged defender, particularly stout between the blue lines and along the boards."

I mean, the Black Book gave him a 5/9 in compete and in other parts of their write up had some concerns on it.

Honestly Marks quote there at the end is exactly how I feel about him.

 

[Martin Elz]

If they picked ASP at 9 and Danielson at 17 i wouldn't have complained. I'm high on ASP. He has shown he likes to go for hits when angling off people towards the boards. Having Kronwall teach him a few tricks got me salivating!

 

[jkutswings]

And he's collecting all the right foundational pieces for a contender.

Maybe on defense, but who are these foundational pieces up front? I see Raymond getting pushed around when the games matter, Rasmussen and Kasper being good middle of the lineup guys in the playoffs, and a lot of other maybes. Plenty that could be USEFUL, but nothing whatsoever that's FOUNDATIONAL for a contender.

Options and time still exist to help things along, but the current roster and pipeline looks like a lot of 2-1 losses.

 

[Axel Sandy Pelikan]

Nice, so he is both Hans and Franz.

He’s here to pump YOU up

 

[Roomba With a Bauer]

I look at Pellikka as likely having a floor of Marek Zidlicky and a ceiling of Scott Neidermayer based on his scouting reports. The fact that his vO2 and bench press are so high shows that he is already identifying his limitations and addressing them. If he can maintain or even improve that core strength at the NHL level, he could be a little nightmare wrecking ball. Imagine a 5'11'' center of gravity with the hitting power of someone a foot taller smacking into guys with higher centers of gravity. His hip checks are gonna be brutal.

To me the things that really limit D at the NHL level are positioning, skating, fitness. This guy has good awareness and positioning, he was the best skating D in the draft, and he's clearly a physical specimen.
The only real knock I see against him is that his play at the SHL level was more reserved than his play in the junior levels. I take that as a good sign; the kid is smart enough to identify that the SHL will bury young offensive d-men with no ice time. He isn't Erik Karlsson acting like a fourth forward. He knows what he has to do and address to succeed.

 

[YpsiWings]

Did anybody else see how happy Yzerman was on stage after taking ASP? He is usually so stoic, I can’t recall seeing him cheese like that. Gives me a lot of hope that Stevie was so excited he couldn’t do his usual blank emotions.

 

[Roomba With a Bauer]

Did anybody else see how happy Yzerman was on stage after taking ASP? He is usually so stoic, I can’t recall seeing him cheese like that. Gives me a lot of hope that Stevie was so excited he couldn’t do his usual blank emotions.

Honestly, this team has only gotten one (or less) NHLer per draft for over a decade and came out of this draft with two players who are almost locks to make the NHL. I think they absolutely shit the bed after the first round but Yzerman probably feels like it's Christmas right now.

 

[Realgud]

he was the best skating D in the draft

I'm sorry but there is no way he is a better skater than Molendyk, Simashev, Willander and even Gulyayev. Just my opinion but at the very least there is no chance someone that watches both think ASP is a better skater than Molendyk.

 

[Axel Sandy Pelikan]

I'm sorry but there is no way he is a better skater than Molendyk, Simashev, Willander and even Gulyayev. Just my opinion but at the very least there is no chance someone that watches both think ASP is a better skater than Molendyk.

I'm gonna level with you. I think you made up half of those names.

E: Before anyone jumps down my throat, I know those are actual players.

 

[Realgud]

I'm gonna level with you. I think you made up half of those names.

shh

 

[Henkka]

Pellikka was 9th at Aerobic fitness VO2 Max test (ml/kg/min)

2023 NHL Combine results: Top 10 prospects in every drill

The NHL Scouting Combine returned to Buffalo, with all 32 teams getting a final opportunity to assess this crop of big-league hopefuls before the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville. Here is the top 10 in every drill.

www.sportsnet.ca

Seider was the same, can handle high minutes, without exhaustion. Imo, one of the greatest natural ability for high-minute defencemen who play most in hockey games.

 

[Henkka]

I just love this kid how he speaks and smiles. Definitely a good guy added on the lockerroom some day.

 

[Frk It]

I look at Pellikka as likely having a floor of Marek Zidlicky and a ceiling of Scott Neidermayer based on his scouting reports. The fact that his vO2 and bench press are so high shows that he is already identifying his limitations and addressing them. If he can maintain or even improve that core strength at the NHL level, he could be a little nightmare wrecking ball. Imagine a 5'11'' center of gravity with the hitting power of someone a foot taller smacking into guys with higher centers of gravity. His hip checks are gonna be brutal.

To me the things that really limit D at the NHL level are positioning, skating, fitness. This guy has good awareness and positioning, he was the best skating D in the draft, and he's clearly a physical specimen.
The only real knock I see against him is that his play at the SHL level was more reserved than his play in the junior levels. I take that as a good sign; the kid is smart enough to identify that the SHL will bury young offensive d-men with no ice time. He isn't Erik Karlsson acting like a fourth forward. He knows what he has to do and address to succeed.

Saying that is his floor is ridiculous.

 

[Oddbob]

You guys are missing the point here. At least Y didnt trade this pic for Debrincat and extend him 9 million for 8 years.

Thumbs. Up.

No way he would get more than Larkin. Detroit generally doesn't pay anyone more than the captain, unless they were tier(s) above the captain in talent.

To Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet ASP said:

They asked if it was awesome to be drafted by the Wings:

"Yeah, it's awesome. I was so relieved to hear my name and so happy that it was Detroit. Partly because of all the Swedish history with Lidström, Zetterberg and the others, and partly because it's an Original Six team. Feels incredibly mighty.

"I followed Chicago when I was younger, because my dad got Kane jerseys for me and my brother when we were kids and I've always had Kane as my role model.* But I will definitely be following Detroit from now on"

* The role model part seemed more on the ice if anything.

Maybe not, maybe he is in to late night cab shenanigans.

If I hear one more person bring up size I’m gonna lose it ha…. He’s the exact same size as someone named Makar and basically the same as Karlsson… Enough

Yeah, but his size though.

 

[Oddbob]

His floor is Hronek and his ceiling is Karlsson, I'm very excited. This is the element the backend was lacking, very exciting to see how he progresses.

Any players floor is bust. No such thing as a floor that is an NHL player still. If he was considered that good he gets drafted 2nd overall this year.

 

[Oddbob]

No idea if it has been said already, but here it is: Hronek with hands

How about Derian Hatcher with feet.

 

[Oddbob]

He seems to be really nice personality.

And man, does he speak fluent English. Where does that come from?

I thought I read somewhere that they teach English in Sweden. Could be wrong though.

 

[Henkka]

I thought I read somewhere that they teach English in Sweden. Could be wrong though.

I've heard they also teach English here in Finland. Have you heard?

But no 17-year old speaks it that well and fluently, if not being in a different country thanks to parent's job or something.

It doesn't seem to be that case for Pellikka.

SHL lockerroom could use english as their team talk language, but Pellikka has been there only for half season and they had only 1 english speaking Mascherin there and german Kuhnhackl. That Skellefteå team was probably most swedish team in SHL.

If remembering Simon Edvinsson, who had huge struggles to speak english at same point of career.

 

[hot donut]

I've heard they also teach English here in Finland. Have you heard?

But no 17-year old speaks it that well and fluently, if not being in a different country thanks to parent's job or something.

It doesn't seem to be that case for Pellikka.

SHL lockerroom could use english as their team talk language, but Pellikka has been there only for half season and they had only 1 english speaking Mascherin there and german Kuhnhackl. That Skellefteå team was probably most swedish team in SHL.

If remembering Simon Edvinsson, who had huge struggles to speak english at same point of career.

Individual differences? It's a bit funny with ASP being from a tiny mining town in the Arctic Circle, but of course nowadays kids don't depend on just their teacher to learn.

I wonder if ASP speaks any Finnish.

 

[RRhoads]

His ceiling is Erik Karlsson, floor is Oliwer Kaski.