He has a lot of growing support out there
Kind of like Devon Toews
Considered a smooth skater, smart and passing skills
Chapin has more insight to him
In a draft where you're going to see anywhere from 10-15 Dmen taken in the 1st round, both Freij and Wallenius are the types of prospects where basically everyone knows they should be fairly safe NHL topics, but more than enough (we'll call 'em) pundits are finding other Dmen to get excited about upside-wise.
I haven't seen anything to dissuade from the belief that both Freij and Wallenius are the best Swedish Dmen in this draft and, in many years, surefire first rounders, even if in the bottom half/3rd of a draft.
And they both pretty much did everything expected of them at the Swedish U20 level and internationally for Sweden on the U18 squads this past year.
As for Freij, we're talking about a very strong skater with above-average offensive skills and instincts. Very heady. Can dance out of his own zone. Good first pass and rushing abilities. Skating allows him to suffocate opposition attackers. If anything, he just needs to keep rounding out his decision making. He's even got good size already. There are plenty of tools and even though there is some flash 'n dash in his game, he's still a genuinely "safe pick".
Would the Isles be interested in him, even at 20?
Yes, all indications from past drafts point to him as a very projectable pick for the Isles.
If he's so safe, why would they go in another direction?
Quite simply, LHD is the organizational need the Isles are most loaded in. Even with Aho and Salo on the outs, there's still Bolduc (gotta make a decision on him soon), George, Odelius, Warren, and then further along Malinen, Schulz, and maybe even Rajaniemi. Mitchell (signed), Sevigny, Krygier, and Cosgrove (all currently uncertain) are also lefty Dmen. And the team will surely be bringing in at least one replacement for Salo and Cholowski, if they don't just re-up Cholowski.
Odelius is the key consideration here because if he gets on track after his considerable injury this past season, he's basically already a Freij-style prospect.
Naturally, this shouldn't dissuade you from taking the guy you simply feel is the best. I'm not arguing that.
But there will certainly be similarly good prospects at 20 that serve other needs this organization doesn't really have (m)any answers for right now.
My last post discussed how much this draft is very much open to teams being able to lean on organizational needs because of the parity between prospects of a similar quality.
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I'm wondering what the Isles do if particularly a Connelly, Hage, Yakemchuk, or Brandsegg-Nygard are on the board when it's time to pick, if we still have the pick. These are several names that *should* all be terribly interesting to this franchise.