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Prospect Info: 22nd Overall Tobias Bjornfot, Defence

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Fishhead said:
I'm on the fence whether he should stay/go, but this is exactly what was done with Doughty and that worked out fine. Drew had a better pedigree for certain, but Bjornfot looks awfully good so far. He looks a bit more impressive than Doughty did in the 08 preseason, in my opinion. And that defense was worse than the one we have now.
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But in 08-09, we had Sean O’Donnell to mentor DD. This team doesn’t have that steady grizzled veteran to take the kid under his wing. I think that keeping TB here for a few games and when Forbort returns, let Toby head back to Sweden. The NHL season is so long, best not to burn out an 18 year old.
 
Sleeping Dog said:
But in 08-09, we had Sean O’Donnell to mentor DD. This team doesn’t have that steady grizzled veteran to take the kid under his wing. I think that keeping TB here for a few games and when Forbort returns, let Toby head back to Sweden. The NHL season is so long, best not to burn out an 18 year old.
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At what do Martinez and Doughty realize they are those vets who need to groom the rookies?

I agree I think Bjornfot stays till Forbort is back. Who knows maybe he looks so good that it allows LA to move another body for picks.
 
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YP44 said:
pastrnak was a late round first. Great get by Boston, but what is really crazy is Panarin was not drafted.
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Panarin was passed over in the 2010 NHL Draft because as a 19-year-old he was listed by NHL Central Scouting at 5-foot-9, 154 pounds. Scouts at the time gave him an outside chance of playing in the NHL if he developed, which he did, outscoring teammate Ilya Kovalchuk for St. Petersburg last season. He received high praise for his speed, balance and mobility, but the thing that really stood out was his work ethic, something he's carried over to the NHL.

"[Panarin] was kind of a late bloomer; he had been good but not great," said Goran Stubb, NHL Director of European Scouting. "He got his real big international breakthrough at the [2015 IIHF] World Championship in Prague in April. I believe the Russian factor may have scared some teams away before that."
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The big question for opening night.

???? - Doughty
Martinez-Roy
Hutton-Walker
 
I'm not saying that Bjorn should stay up all year, but I agree with anyone that argues against the "Doughty had O'Donnell and Bjornfot doesn't have someone like that" as a reason why it shouldn't happen.

Big thing with Bjorn is his maturity. Doughty had never seen the weight room pre-draft and was a clown. Kind of still is a clown. That being said, if Doughty can't become a leader this season then it is never happening. This is a perfect opportunity for Doughty to grow in to that role and it kills two birds with stone: the franchise needs the kids to develop properly and Doughty needs to become a leader for the team to be successful in the future.

As for tonight's D pairings, I think you are seeing 4 of the 6 that will make it. The bottom pairing is fighting for a spot. Doughty makes 5. Bjornfot will come down to worrying about losing someone to waivers, otherwise he is in.

I'd like to see this:

Bjorn/Doughty
Martinez/Roy
Hutton/Walker
MacDermid

LaDue and Ryan can take a walk: especially Ryan.
 
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BigKing said:
I'm not saying that Bjorn should stay up all year, but I agree with anyone that argues against the "Doughty had O'Donnell and Bjornfot doesn't have someone like that" as a reason why it shouldn't happen.

Big thing with Bjorn is his maturity. Doughty had never seen the weight room pre-draft and was a clown. Kind of still is a clown. That being said, if Doughty can't become a leader this season then it is never happening. This is a perfect opportunity for Doughty to grow in to that role and it kills two birds with stone: the franchise needs the kids to develop properly and Doughty needs to become a leader for the team to be successful in the future.
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and Doughty's enamored enough with the kid to embrace that role.

And allegedly Bjornfot's fitness/conditioning is great too--but forget where I read that so don't hold me to it. So the only thing is 'man strength' which...does it really matter since he was already dominant vs. men?

The only thing is the sheer marathon/number of games of an NHL season vs. what he's done in the past.
 
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With two preseason games remaining, Bjornfot is still here. I asked a management source if there was any downside to keeping him at the NHL level, at least to start the season, and was told, “No, not at all.”

Earlier in camp, Kings coach Todd McLellan compared Bjornfot to the San Jose Sharks’ Marc-Edouard Vlasic, bringing back memories of when McLellan coached the young Vlasic in San Jose.

Here is where we attempt to curb the hype we’ve been creating. I reached out to an NHL amateur scout for another comparison for Bjornfot, who is also highly regarded for his leadership skills, having been the captain for Sweden’s gold-medal winning U-18 team at the IIHF Championships earlier this year.

“Not to sit on the fence but way too early to tell,” the scout said, via text, but did agree with the Vlasic comparison. “The problem with comps is people only want to use names like Doughty or (Nicklas) Lidstrom, etc.

“I’ve seen five Doughtys in the last seven drafts which is strange since there was only one Doughty in the last 15 prior.”
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Raccoon Jesus said:
and Doughty's enamored enough with the kid to embrace that role.

And allegedly Bjornfot's fitness/conditioning is great too--but forget where I read that so don't hold me to it. So the only thing is 'man strength' which...does it really matter since he was already dominant vs. men?

The only thing is the sheer marathon/number of games of an NHL season vs. what he's done in the past.
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I think he's bigger than the 6'0" 193 and certainly at least 200 lbs. He looks thick and stocky. Very sturdy and strong on his skates. Some of these 'new NHL' defesnsemen are pretty slight - like Quinn Hughes,
and not to take anything away from Quinn - but not sure some of these 175 lbs D are going to be shutting down forwards in front of the goal on your PK.
Tobias is solid and may be 6'1" 210 in a year...and still be able to hone his offensive skills and be a tremendous, 2 way defenseman.

The offense skills and shot will improve....you could look back at Norstrom, Mitchell, Regehr and it was not like they were ever going to be that adept offensively. Just by watching them hours on end. They were not going to make plays in the O-zone. Or be good on the PP. Sutter put Willie out there several times and he was good holding the puck in, or taking a big windup slapper and maybe getting one on the net once in awhile. But that was it. And all of those guys were older and never going to have O skills or make plays.

Tobias is 18 yrs and 5 months and has never even played Pro! Or small ice. Like a handful of games in SHL last year. And he said that it was only in the second half of last year, he began making plays in the O zone and working on it. So with his skating, skillset and passing, guys like Drew will help him hone his offensive skills. He may never be elite offensively, but maybe to Voynov's level...wait until 2 years from now. He's going to be putting up some decent O numbers.
 
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Raccoon Jesus said:
and Doughty's enamored enough with the kid to embrace that role.

And allegedly Bjornfot's fitness/conditioning is great too--but forget where I read that so don't hold me to it. So the only thing is 'man strength' which...does it really matter since he was already dominant vs. men?

The only thing is the sheer marathon/number of games of an NHL season vs. what he's done in the past.
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This is the thing Drew likes the kid and they’ve both talked about getting on well as people. They don’t need the same relationship Drew had with OD but for it to work they need a good one. There seems to be that and the ingredients are there for Björnfot to be able to make the jump. I agree we see how he does from day 1 and take it from there but that applies to any prospect.

I agree with the assessment that with him not playing last night he’s almost guaranteed to be there on the opening night.

I hate the idea of making a decision based on 9 games though. Sure it’s a factor but it must not be more than a secondary consideration. So for example if they think he’d only physically be able to play 60 games, the question then has to be will he develop more playing 60 games @20 mins per night or 60 games in Sweden/AHL. If Drew is his partner then it has to be the NHL. His ice-time can be managed by limiting his pp and pk exposure, if they need to. It really isn’t that much of an issue for the this kid. I wouldn’t advocate it for any player, but these decisions have to be made on a player to player basis. The decisions have to be based on what produces the better player, not his contract situation.

For me the point where you’d start thinking about sending him out would be if you decide to regularly partner DD with someone else. At that point it becomes a diminishing return. Other than that let’s see what this kid can do.

The best bit is that this is exciting stuff, and what a debate to be having. We are talking about an 18 yr old that most of us hadn’t paid any attention to prior to the draft, potentially being the man to partner DD for the next 8 years. Normally we are discussing if someone in their early 20’s is good enough to be sitting in the press box as our #7 d-man. I can’t wait for opening night.

This year I’m not worried about points on the board, it’s tracking the development of the young guys that will determine the success of this year. Much more fun than fighting it out for a wildcard spot for the pleasure of being swept in the 1st round. Happy days.
 
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Drew Doughty has a new partner on the blue line, and the defenseman has made it clear he's a big fan of his new teammate.

Tobias Bjornfot, who was drafted 22nd overall by the Kings at the 2019 NHL Draft, is the only 2019-drafted player to remain on the LA Kings roster after several cuts throughout preseason.

He's had a strong camp, showcasing his poise, confidence and puck-moving abilities in both ends of the ice.

"He just keeps getting better and better," Doughty recently gushed to The Athletic. "He's so young, so there is a chance he'll go back, obviously. But it's not because of how he's played if he doesn't make the team."

"I can joke with him (on the bench) about the song that's playing during the game or whatever," Doughty said. "He's just got that same mentality I have … just having fun out there but at the same time competing as hard as we can. It's crazy."
 
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