Prospect Info: 22nd Overall Tobias Bjornfot, Defence

[saintsnsoldiers]

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.

Agree with you on Strand, this kid stood out at the rookie games in Vegas last year. He was skating N,S,E,W, was able to escape and bust a tape to tape break out pass consistently. Kid oozed confidence and out played all the other D there including Clague. Small sampling I know but I too think this kid will surprise and have a top 4 spot on this team.

 

[SFKingshomer]

A stay at home dman that can skate and is quick at moving the puck out has a lot of value. I can understand the frustration if he were like Gudbranson or Teubert/Ellerby but I think he's got a lot more upside. Burke is an overrated moron who got lucky Edmonton gave away Pronger and the Ducks had Scott's brother Rob to convince him to play there.

 

[cyclones22]

A stay at home dman that can skate and is quick at moving the puck out has a lot of value. I can understand the frustration if he were like Gudbranson or Teubert/Ellerby but I think he's got a lot more upside. Burke is an overrated moron who got lucky Edmonton gave away Pronger and the Ducks had Scott's brother Rob to convince him to play there.

I'm thinking left shot Voynov archetype, but shiftier while carrying the puck but less offense.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

I don’t think Bjornfot has near the offensive upside as Voynov. You have to worry about any defenseman who can skate as well as Bjornfot but not create a ton of offense.

I stand by my Hickey comparable. Hickey was a good skater, average size, lauded mostly for his leadership intangibles. That’s Bjornfot to a tee. Hickey ended up becoming a middle #4-5 PMD for the Islanders.

At 6’0, Bjornfot absolutely must improve his production to become a top four defenseman in the NHL. Guys like Kaliyev can outscore the holes in their game to carve out an NHL career (Semin is a good comparable). Bjornfot doesn’t have that luxury.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

^^^

Erik Karlsson had two more goals and 13 more assists, my son. Same age, same league, a couple of games less.

A player he is compared with, Hampus Lindholm.
5 goals and 12 assists in 28 games.

Bearfoot’s lack of offense is a little overblown and getting out of hand. Besides, a defender must play defense first and Voynov was LA’s worst defender in both cup runs.

Yes he could be Hickey 2.0 but so could be anyone based on your logic.

 

[member 88115]

I don’t think Bjornfot has near the offensive upside as Voynov. You have to worry about any defenseman who can skate as well as Bjornfot but not create a ton of offense.

I stand by my Hickey comparable. Hickey was a good skater, average size, lauded mostly for his leadership intangibles. That’s Bjornfot to a tee. Hickey ended up becoming a middle #4-5 PMD for the Islanders.

At 6’0, Bjornfot absolutely must improve his production to become a top four defenseman in the NHL. Guys like Kaliyev can outscore the holes in their game to carve out an NHL career (Semin is a good comparable). Bjornfot doesn’t have that luxury.

I disagree, I remember watching the WJC that Hickey Captain and he had a lot of trouble Defending the rush. That seems to be Bjornfot bread and butter. Bjornfot also much more solid that would make it more difficult for the Offensive player to take the puck away. But Hickeys biggest issue was defending.

 

[johnjm22]

Voynov's career high in points was 34.

Hickey is clearly NOT a comp to Bjornfoot. Hickey was known as an offensive dman coming out of the WHL.

 

[cyclones22]

Voynov's career high in points was 34.

Hickey is clearly NOT a comp to Bjornfoot. Hickey was known as an offensive dman coming out of the WHL.

Yep, and I don't know where the I stated Bjornfot was Hickey. That's some serious lost in translation vibes. And hell, since when is Voynov a bad on ice archetype to have on the team? In the 2012 run, he was a damn rookie and played quite well at almost 20 minutes a game in the playoffs. Bump that up to 23 minutes per game for the 2014 run. He and Mitchell were getting much harder match-ups than Martinez and Greene. To be clear, I'm higher on Bjornfot than most, it seems and I think his offense will come. It's just not his primary attribute that stands out.

 

[johnjm22]

Yep, and I don't know where the I stated Bjornfot was Hickey. That's some serious lost in translation vibes. And hell, since when is Voynov a bad on ice archetype to have on the team? In the 2012 run, he was a damn rookie and played quite well at almost 20 minutes a game in the playoffs. Bump that up to 23 minutes per game for the 2014 run. He and Mitchell were getting much harder match-ups than Martinez and Greene. To be clear, I'm higher on Bjornfot than most, it seems and I think his offense will come. It's just not his primary attribute that stands out.

Yep. And since when do you need to be a scorer to be a top 4 dman? Mitchell didn't score but could play 20+ minutes a night like you said. Scuderi was on the top pairing with Drew.

 

[cyclones22]

Yep. And since when do you need to be a scorer to be a top 4 dman? Mitchell didn't score but could play 20+ minutes a night like you said. Scuderi was on the top pairing with Drew.

The comps are never going to be perfect, I get it. But what I was probably doing a poor job of communicating is that this is a kid who has played great defense at his level of competition AND he can skate and carry the puck on the rush. If he turned into a Mitchell or Scuderi type defensively who can skate the puck out of trouble and then rush it up the ice and get the opponents defense to back off the blue line? This pick would be an absolute home run, even if he only put up 10 to 20 points a season (I think his offense is better than that). Forbort can play defense and skate some. But he makes poor decisions with the puck and forget skating out of trouble. He'll skate into it. He's the negative Kings break-out of the zone. Walker and Roy can skate and provide some offense. Defense TBD. Bjornfot's got more potential than any of our D in the pipeline save Mikey Anderson. I don't like comparing any of our prospects to Drew, but finding an elite PMD who is also a shutdown defender? That's a rare breed. Anderson and Bjornfot look like guys who can play shutdown and move the puck, not like Drew, but better than anyone else we have. I haven't forgotten Clague. I know he can move the puck. Hopefully he's better at defending than Roy/Walker.

 

[Sol]

Dudes dance moves put him top pair easily.

 

[tonellisghost]

Out of the dudes you’ve listed there, there’s maybe 3 who I think are NHLers when it’s all said and done. Clague, Anderson and Phillips. Durzi? Walker? Time will tell. If management really loved this kid, I don’t think it matters that we are “stacked” in D prospects. Reality check, though, we aren’t. That’s not an elite group. Clague struggled in Ontario. Phillips & Durzi are OHLers; you make it seem like they’re all bonafide future NHLers.

Did you get to watch Durzi last season or during the Memcup? that kid looked like he will be a very solid NHL'er when the time comes. He plays exceptional D in his own end is a great skater and is one of the most gifted you O minded d outside of the NHL imo and loads of others. Phillips is like a mobile Gravel who is playing pretty well in Edmonton (a deathbed for young D). I would say that Durzi is a future NHLer and that Phillips has a very very good chance of making it in 3-4 years.

 

[Steve Zissou]

I'm thinking left shot Voynov archetype, but shiftier while carrying the puck but less offense.

That and more leadership capabilities.

 

[tonellisghost]

I don't expect all of them to make it but I can see at least 1 or 2 in the next year and then another 1 or 2 a year or 2 after. I would say that we have a solid reserve list on D, but the team is clearly unbalanced because they lack anything near what we have on D with our forward reserve list of scorers. BLuc said they were going to address the scoring (pathetic) deficiency. So while the D is still not an elite group, its not the **** show we have with our offense. They should have selected Tomasino. Not doing that was a mistake.

I like the pick (at 33 or so) but I completely agree with what you said here.

 

[Steve Zissou]

Dudes dance moves put him top pair easily.

This needs another visual...

 

[Steve Zissou]

Future leadership!

 

[ru4reals]

Kid at this age already looks better then Forbort today. Loving this pick more and more.

 

[KINGS17]

I am happy with the Kings first three picks in the draft, and taking Bjornfot at #22 overall. There was a run on defensemen, and I don't think he would have been there at #33.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

I am happy with the Kings first three picks in the draft, and taking Bjornfot at #22 overall. There was a run on defensemen, and I don't think he would have been there at #33.

I could be wrong, but from all the reading I have done and footage I've seen - 4 of the defensemen that went ahead of Bjoronfot : Soderstrom, York, Lassi Thomson and Heinola - they are may be better offensively, but all of them are smaller and I have also seen that all of these may have more of a ways to go, in getting bigger and stronger to handle NHL forwards. Bjornfot may be better than all of them on the defensive side of things. And he's not lacking for moving the puck at all. I am not questioning their skill....but I think Bjornfot is going to be on the PK and be a rock defensively, in a Mattias Norstrom way. He's built like Mattias and can skate as good as those 4 taken in front of him. Except for Soderstrom, I'd rather have Bjornfot than the other 3. Not sure how good York is going to be.
He may well be very good. Also not sure if any of those 4 wear a letter.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Yep. And since when do you need to be a scorer to be a top 4 dman? Mitchell didn't score but could play 20+ minutes a night like you said. Scuderi was on the top pairing with Drew.

Mitchell was a wizard defensively with expert gap control and an unnaturally long reach. Mitchell was also 6’3. No one is saying you need to be a scorer to play in the top four.

Both Scuderi and Mitchell were drafted in the 5th and 8th round, respectively. They slowly developed their games for years in the minors before carving out an NHL career. They were not drafted 22nd overall with first round expectations because no one really wants to draft shutdown defenseman in the first round. And that’s exactly why many of us were questioning the logic behind the Bjornfot pick.

Hickey was NOT considered some virtuoso offensive d-man coming into the draft. He was way off the board at 4th overall. He scored 9 goals in his draft year in the WHL. His scouting report was very similar to Bjornfot’s - good skater, fantastic leadership qualities. Except, yeah, Hickey’s offensive game was considered better than Bjornfot’s is considered now. So that’s not particularly encouraging.

No one is saying Bjornfot is not a good prospect. He could very well develop into a strong defender for us. People are questioning whether he’s worth picking at 22nd overall.

 

[johnjm22]

Mitchell was a wizard defensively with expert gap control and an unnaturally long reach. Mitchell was also 6’3. No one is saying you need to be a scorer to play in the top four.

Both Scuderi and Mitchell were drafted in the 5th and 8th round, respectively. They slowly developed their games for years in the minors before carving out an NHL career. They were not drafted 22nd overall with first round expectations because no one really wants to draft shutdown defenseman in the first round. And that’s exactly why many of us were questioning the logic behind the Bjornfot pick.

Hickey was NOT considered some virtuoso offensive d-man coming into the draft. He was way off the board at 4th overall. He scored 9 goals in his draft year in the WHL. His scouting report was very similar to Bjornfot’s - good skater, fantastic leadership qualities. Except, yeah, Hickey’s offensive game was considered better than Bjornfot’s is considered now. So that’s not particularly encouraging.

No one is saying Bjornfot is not a good prospect. He could very well develop into a strong defender for us. People are questioning whether he’s worth picking at 22nd overall.

You specifically said Bjornfot needs to improve his production (scoring) to be a top 4 dman. When in fact his production is comparable to top 4 NHLers who played in similar leagues at similar ages.

As for Mitchell he was awesome. One of the best defensive dmen ever. He used his height and reach to his advantage (he also used an extra long stick). But that was HIS game. Ultimately it's not height that matters, it just matters how effective you are. Every player has different tools/attributes and uses them differently.

The fact that Scuderi and Mitchell were drafted in late mid/rounds doesn't mean anything. There's also been lots of great scorers taken later in the draft. If you can get a guy who you think is going to be a good top 4 dman late in the 1st you take him there. Bjornfot isn't simply a shutdown guy anyways. His scouting report literally says "Two-way defenseman" "contributes both offensively and defensively." I would absolutely take Willie Mitchell in the 1st round, BTW.

Hickey had the 8th most points of any Dman in the WHL as a 17 year old. He was absolutely considered a good offensive dman that would probably go in the 2nd round.

 

[Fishhead]

Kid at this age already looks better then Forbort today. Loving this pick more and more.

That's just one set of clips from one tourney, but the large amount of clips where he makes a play leading to a chance, a quick breakout, or denying a good opportunity is really impressive. His skating reminds me of Norstrom, he's got that same acceleration and lateral movement (although Bjornfot takes quicker compact strides than Matty). His lines and puck control though are very reminiscent of Doughty. He's got his head up all the time and makes space for himself, especially when he's retrieving pucks behind his own net. Quick stops, looks guys off, and so on. There's a good sequence after about 7:30 for the next minute or so. How many times do we see Doughty do those plays? Yea Drew does that against the best guys in the world, but you aren't going to get much stiffer competition in your age group than that tournament.

 

[RocketKing]

^^^

Erik Karlsson had two more goals and 13 more assists, my son. Same age, same league, a couple of games less.

A player he is compared with, Hampus Lindholm.
5 goals and 12 assists in 28 games.

Bearfoot’s lack of offense is a little overblown and getting out of hand. Besides, a defender must play defense first and Voynov was LA’s worst defender in both cup runs.

Yes he could be Hickey 2.0 but so could be anyone based on your logic.

There nothing wrong with a stud Norstrom clone IMO. He doesn't HAVE to score a bunch of goals but he does have to be strong on D and make good breakout passes.

 

[cyclones22]

I remember Matty Norstrom skated so well backwards that forwards had a hard time getting around him because of that. I was floored that he was so fast skating backwards. What a beast.

 

[regulate]

People have become so enamored with defensemen that put up big points in juniors that playing defense has almost an afterthought. It shouldn't be. Watching this kids highlights you can tell that he is extremely responsible defensively. And those first few strides when he accelerates.......NHL level + already with his skating.