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Prospect Info: 22nd Overall Tobias Bjornfot, Defence

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RocketKing said:
I understand that he's a decent dman.

But I don't get it. Where are all these Dmen going to play? Here are the leading prospects we have NOW: Clague, Anderson, Phillips, Durzi, Walker, Roy, Hults and then the next lower tier Brickly, Moverare, Lintuniemi, Strand.

Sorry, I'm not a fan of this pick. We could have used Thomasino.
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I constantly read this. Just because you have a truckload of defensive prospects, doesnt mean they are NHL quality. Each NHL team have just as many as us.

Brickley, Philips are all longshots.
Lintuniemi will never play for LA.
Hults have yet to play professional hockey.
Clague still needs to improve a lot on the defensive side.
Roy & Walker are bottom pairing defensemen for a good team.
Moverare I like but is Rob Scuderi at best.
Strand is IMO the best defensive prospect after Mikey Anderson.

LA needs quality defensemen desperately.
 
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Frolov 6'3 said:
I constantly read this. Just because you have a truckload of defensive prospects, doesnt mean they are NHL quality. Each NHL team have just as many as us.

Brickley, Philips are all longshots.
Lintuniemi will never play for LA.
Hults have yet to play professional hockey.
Clague still needs to improve a lot on the defensive side.
Roy & Walker are bottom pairing defensemen for a good team.
Moverare I like but is Rob Scuderi at best.
Strand is IMO the best defensive prospect after Mikey Anderson.

LA needs quality defensemen desperately.
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All fair statements, although Strand is a project. His skating (not necessarily speed) and balance are an issue. He does have some offensive upside, but it's hard to tell from watching him at this point if his skill set can potentially translate to the next level. Maybe he gets at look at 23 or 24 years old. I don't think so this year. Like his size, needs to bulk up a bit too.
 
Frolov 6'3 said:
I constantly read this. Just because you have a truckload of defensive prospects, doesnt mean they are NHL quality. Each NHL team have just as many as us.

Brickley, Philips are all longshots.
Lintuniemi will never play for LA.
Hults have yet to play professional hockey.
Clague still needs to improve a lot on the defensive side.
Roy & Walker are bottom pairing defensemen for a good team.
Moverare I like but is Rob Scuderi at best.
Strand is IMO the best defensive prospect after Mikey Anderson.

LA needs quality defensemen desperately.
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Agree with all you're saying but understand my point isn't about the player per se, its about where we made our "bet" if you will to improve the team.

All picks to me are "bets". 90% of all picks end up as ZERO. So you're really placing a bet that pick or that pick will pan out in the area of helping us win games down the road.

To make my point I'll say we are building a car. So if the Dmen represent the transmission and the forwards represent the engine that whole thing determines the drive train. We just placed another bet on the transmission and we have allot of decent looking players there. Meanwhile we have a 2 cylinder engine that runs in a V-10 league. This is not a winning picture.

You cant win if you cant score and we REALLY cant score.

Given Tomasino was still on the board, that's my issue.
 
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Forbort-Seattle bound?

Roy/Walker/LaDue/MacDermid - I like them all but I’d be surprised if any are around in two-years. My money is on Roy.

Brickley - (rough year) just don’t know

Hults/Strand - potential seems there

Lintuniemi - doubtful

Clague - He’ll make it.

Durzi - Has a good chance

Phillips - underrated 5/6 pairing guy

Anderson - high expectations

Moravere - low expectations/doubtful
 
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LAKings88 said:
Forbort-Seattle bound?
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Last year of his contract. I think they will see how Anderson looks in the AHL first before making a decision on Forbort. Could be solid trade bait at the deadline as a rental, but I also think we have to keep in mind the Kings lack size on the back end, which is also lacking in the prospect pool on defense. Forbort is just miscast in the first pairing. He's terrible at moving the puck, but he's not as bad defensively as his rap from the fans. May not make it to the expansion draft in two years time.


Roy/Walker/LaDue/MacDermid - I like them all but I’d be surprised if any are around in two-years. My money is on Roy.


Concur

Brickley - (rough year) just don’t know


Really hard to say. Everything that could go wrong did.


Hults/Strand - potential seems there

Have to see Hults first, Strand is a project with some potential. Still early.

Lintuniemi - doubtful

Don't think he'll be qualified this week.

Clague - He’ll make it.

I think so too. More likely next year or later this season.

Durzi - Has a good chance

Concerned about his defense. We'll see how his game translates in ONT this season.

Phillips - underrated 5/6 pairing guy

Fair. Potential bottom pairing guy.

Anderson - high expectations

Gotta like Mikey. Solid player it appears.

Moravere - low expectations/doubtful

Can he skate at the next level. Progressing otherwise.
 
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Frolov 6'3 said:
I constantly read this. Just because you have a truckload of defensive prospects, doesnt mean they are NHL quality. Each NHL team have just as many as us.

Brickley, Philips are all longshots.
Lintuniemi will never play for LA.
Hults have yet to play professional hockey.
Clague still needs to improve a lot on the defensive side.
Roy & Walker are bottom pairing defensemen for a good team.
Moverare I like but is Rob Scuderi at best.
Strand is IMO the best defensive prospect after Mikey Anderson.

LA needs quality defensemen desperately.
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Like I told @KingsFan7824 , do that exercise for the other positions and see how much more scarce they are too.

They'd better feel strongly that he's BPA, because right now he's a redundancy at the only position you could suggest we have any prospect depth at when we desperately need scoring. Transition game is huge and they can't all be offensive players, and I have zero problem with bearfoot as a player himself, but when there's offense on the board right there...they may solve it at 33 anyway so whatever. But my point is if you're going to do a positional audit, watch how much worse everything else is. "Vanilla LHD" is something easy to fill at the deadline for a 2nd round pick or in free agency.
 
I kinda like Björnfot pick. He went a bit too early but obviously Kings scouting liked him and didn't wanna gamble to wait until #33. I've seen him play mostly in international games and I really like his smart and reliable play. He rarely makes mistakes on ice.

In 2017-2018 season as a 16-year-old he already scored 22 points (0,52ppg) in Swedish top U20 league. That shows he has also offensive potential although point producing isn't his bread and butter. Comparable U17 D-men in SuperElit would be:

Dahlin 0,92ppg
Boqvist 0,89ppg
Liljegren 0,76ppg
Brännström 0,74ppg
Sandin 0,50ppg
Broberg 0,39ppg.

Last season though there was no progression point-wise as he scored the same 22 points BUT he was still named The best defenseman in SuperElit. We shall hope that he'll take next step offensively next season. He really didn't get a proper chance in SHL past season because Djurgården's defense was quite stacked. In 7 SHL regular season games his TOI per game was 7.50 and in 4 playoffs games only 2.44.
 
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Personally, I like the Tobias Bjornfot pick. Those who were calling him Thomas Hickey 2.0, are not accurate. This guy knows how to play defense, and I prefer defensemen who are not liabilities in their own zone. Scoring means little when you are helping the opposition to score. This guy is no pylon, he can skate with the opposition's forwards. When Dean Lombardi used to talk about the Kings being tough to play against, this is the guy for that job.
 
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Telos said:
To be honest, after watching that video in its entirety, I actually feel much better about the pick. I love his skating and assertiveness. He doesn't shy away from bringing the puck up the ice and he makes very strong and smart plays. He looks like a decisive player with leadership qualities and he favors the wrist shot and doesn't seem to have too many difficulties getting the puck to the net. Looks great to me. I am much happier with the selection. In the scouts we must trust. He's signed for two years in Sweden, so he will have a lot of time to develop in a solid leauge.
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That was my thought. Regardless if this guy isn't a sniper on the blueline, his vision moving up ice with speed is excellent. What I really liked is this guy gets the puck out of the defensive zone FAST. That is something this team has had little of, and if they do, they don't have much top end speed with the forward group to keep up with him.
 
SuperAlmeida said:
Sportingnews have graded the first round:

22. Los Angeles Kings (from Toronto) - Tobias Bjornfot, LHD, Djurgårdens IF (SHL)
Excellent pick by the Kings to grab one of my favorite defensemen in the draft. Sweden's Tobias Bjornfot is one of the cleanest puck distributors you''l find, but he also is decisive with his counterattacks and he can transition from defense to offense as well as any blueliner available at the draft. He has top-pairing upside and star potential. Grade: B

From NHL Draft results 2019: Grades, analysis for every pick in Round 1
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Some have criticized this B grade, btw, saying it's too low and short sighted.

That, along with a couple of other grades they dished out not entirely accurate.
 
SuperAlmeida said:
Sportingnews have graded the first round:

22. Los Angeles Kings (from Toronto) - Tobias Bjornfot, LHD, Djurgårdens IF (SHL)
Excellent pick by the Kings to grab one of my favorite defensemen in the draft. Sweden's Tobias Bjornfot is one of the cleanest puck distributors you''l find, but he also is decisive with his counterattacks and he can transition from defense to offense as well as any blueliner available at the draft. He has top-pairing upside and star potential. Grade: B

From NHL Draft results 2019: Grades, analysis for every pick in Round 1
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They're going to fix it. Steve Kournianos said it's supposed to be an A.
 
Love this dudes last name. Bjorn The Bear. If he turns out to be good definitely gonna get a jersey
 
I love the pick. The saving grace for all the ones shouting "but...offense, offense, offense!?" was getting Kaliyev at 33. I was just reading Lisa Dillman's Athletic article on Kaliyev and Yannetti said the risk vs reward for Kaliyev was good and acceptable at 33 and they love him....so they must obviously really coveted Bjornfot and took him where they did. And they are very high on Kaliyev!

I think everyone's seen this quote on Tobias: NHL scout on Bjornfot: “He’s not flashy, but he’s a very mobile and smart defenseman. He kills a lot of plays, can skate pucks up and can give you some offense.” Without looking at it a second time, what did it say?? HE'S NOT FLASHY and that's the ugly quote (and you don't recall the rest of the quote, the he's not flashy part sent you into brain freeze and pissed you off) that sticks in your mind and says "WTF then at 22, are the Kings taking a defenseman that sounds like a 5/6? He's not. If you've read all there is out there and watched all 10 minutes of the clips of him, you'll find out he's very solid, skates extremely well, is poised, blocks shots in many ways - as he's skating even in motion and blocking shots...he's using his hand to move pucks in a second, he's getting out of the zone very quickly, he's making great passes and no one is going around him. He's captained several teams, named best defenseman in SuprElit and scored 11 goals and 11 assists in 39 games...sorry, but that's certainly some offensive ability. Non offense ability is like Dion's 1 goal and 5 assist year...that's non offense ability. 5/6 defenseman are not captains of your team and play PK and 2nd PP..or named defensemen of the year in the league you're in.

I personally am tired of seeing gobs of 6th and 7th round defensemen coming up from Ontario and College Free agents and being 1/3 to 1/2 of the Kings defense!!!...and saying "they can play...they can compete" Yes, kind of. It's time to get some real talent and skill on the back end. Skill and Talent is NOT ALWAYS offensive production from your defense. Skill and talent level are also defensive abilities, reads, gap control, boxing guys out, having quickness with your feet, see options fast, making right decision, high hockey IQ and then there's intangibles of being a leader. Tobias Bjornfot is part: Norstrom, part McDonagh and part Bear Foot!

Oh, the OTHER part of the HE'S NOT FLASHY was: "but he’s a very mobile and smart defenseman. He kills a lot of plays, can skate pucks up and can give you some offense.” Kudos to Blake for sending Muzzin away and getting the organization: Grundstrom, Durzi and Bjornfot. Helluva fukkkkin trade.
 
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Sol said:
Lmao he won me over.

As much as I love offense. The Kings couldn't score last year because we have idiots like forbort getting the team hemmed in the d zone. Get rid of that clown.
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Last season it was the biggest difference compared to others. The offense can't start if the defense can't dislodge and retrieve the puck and quickly make the smart pass to exit the zone. Apparently Bjornfot excels at these things on top of being a very good skater and has the ability to carry the puck out of the zone and lead the rush. Regardless of what else he can or can't do on offense, these abilities alone set him apart from most of the Kings prospects on defense. Hopefully, Clague and Anderson break through this season and Bjornfot follows in a couple of years.
 
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