Confirmed with Link: Avs Sign Oskar Olausson to ELC

[Cousin Eddie]

Allsvenskan and J20 are perfectly good leagues for draftees and +1's. Allsvenskan is among the best 2nd tier pro leagues in Europe.

Why do the highlights look so pathetic?

 

[UncleRisto]

Why do the highlights look so pathetic?

Probably cause the rink is the size of Lake Erie.

 

[Foppa2118]

Interesting. The Avs must want him developing closer.

Interesting. I thought this signing might be a sign they wanted him to come over next year. They did this with both Mikko and Kaut.

The tentative plan is probably to have him play a full year with the Eagles for stability, but if he impresses he could earn a callup. Kaut didn't get one, but Mikko got a few games to start and end his first season in NA.

I like this route for European players to help them get acclimatized to the NA style of play. Especially when they've already been playing pro against men in Europe.

 

[AvsMakar08]

Interesting. I thought this signing might be a sign they wanted him to come over next year. They did this with both Mikko and Kaut.

The tentative plan is probably to have him play a full year with the Eagles for stability, but if he impresses he could earn a callup. Kaut didn't get one, but Mikko got a few games to start and end his first season in NA.

I like this route for European players to help them get acclimatized to the NA style of play. Especially when they've already been playing pro against men in Europe.

To be a really good team we need to get one more player similar to what Rantanen is now. If Olausson could be Rantanen 2.0 then we should be contending for a long time.

 

[Foppa2118]

To be a really good team we need to get one more player similar to what Rantanen is now. If Olausson could be Rantanen 2.0 then we should be contending for a long time.

I don't think we quite need another player as good as Mikko. Maybe in terms of a reset 6-8 years down the line, perhaps that's what you're referring to, but not necessarily to win with this current group. They just need good players to fill out the rest of the lineup.

Mikko is an elite player in the NHL though. We have three elite players already with Nate, Mikko, and Cale. We're pretty lucky in that regard.

I have a good feeling about Olausson's skill and I like this pick, but he most likely won't reach Mikko's level. If he does as a 28th pick, holy hell this would become an all time great pick for the Avs.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Starting the clock at 18 is not ideal. Nobody who has any other options should be in the AHL unless there’s a realistic plan to call them up that year.

 

[Ararana]

Starting the clock at 18 is not ideal. Nobody who has any other options should be in the AHL unless there’s a realistic plan to call them up that year.

Isn’t he in the same situation as Kaut though, with the 5 year ELC?

 

[tigervixxxen]

Isn’t he in the same situation as Kaut though, with the 5 year ELC?

Right, unfortunately.

I know the contract would slide and that is not a benefit to the player at all to have a 5 year ELC and 4 years of waiver exemption. They basically give up a lot of rights in this scenario.

When a guy starts playing pro regardless of age the runway to make it gets shorter by the day. There’s a little consideration that the guy is still a teenager, it’s early, but not much. The AHL should be a last step springboard to a NHL career.

 

[Foppa2118]

Starting the clock at 18 is not ideal. Nobody who has any other options should be in the AHL unless there’s a realistic plan to call them up that year.

If he can play well in the AHL it is the ideal league for him though IMO. As Risto noted, he's already been playing pro against men.

He'll be 19 on November 10th too. Basically the same as Mikko in his D+1 season who turned 19 October 29. Mikko had a very good year in San Antonio.

If Oskar can have half as good a season as Mikko did, I think this could help make him ready for the NHL full time in 2022-23, more so than if he stayed in Sweden. Staying in Sweden for 2021-22 might have meant he still needed to get acclimatized to NA hockey by splitting time or more in the AHL in 2022-23.

 

[Ararana]

Right, unfortunately.

Seems like plenty of time to me, if it ends up shorter than 5 years than something went right. But I easily admit I probably don’t know what I’m talking about when if comes to stuff like this.

The Avs definitely have a track record now of wanting their Euros to North America ASAP.

 

[McMetal]

I think TV is talking about how quickly the Avs run out of patience with prospects in the AHL. Guys can get lost down there. It might already be happening to Kaut (although who knows with the weird taxi squad thing last season). It seems like if you don't impress right away in the AHL you can get buried and forgotten.

Whether that's a symptom of bad development or whether guys just aren't good enough is up for debate, but either way, the pattern is there.

 

[Foppa2118]

There's always been a debate though on whether certain prospects get lost/aren't given enough of a chance, or whether they just weren't NHL caliber prospects to begin with.

I tend to believe it's the latter for most of them. If you look at the track record for guys the Avs have moved on from, they haven't really done much better in other organizations.

Even a guy like Will Butcher has come back down to earth as the fairly one dimensional PP specialist we thought he was when he left.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

I think TV is talking about how quickly the Avs run out of patience with prospects in the AHL. Guys can get lost down there. It might already be happening to Kaut (although who knows with the weird taxi squad thing last season). It seems like if you don't impress right away in the AHL you can get buried and forgotten.

Whether that's a symptom of bad development or whether guys just aren't good enough is up for debate, but either way, the pattern is there.

Who are the guys who have been buried and forgotten though? It seems more like just a lot of shitty drafting to me.

 

[McMetal]

Who are the guys who have been buried and forgotten though? It seems more like just a lot of shitty drafting to me.

I not necessarily arguing for TV's hypothesis, just trying to clarify what she likely means by "starting the clock". If I'm wrong then by all means correct me @tigervixxxen

 

[tigervixxxen]

The facts are it does not benefit anyone to spend years in the AHL. Anyone that’s succeeded here has been out between 40-60 games and even the “patient” orgs have them out by 100. If a guy makes it past 100 AHL games it’s in a second chance + opportunity elsewhere. If they want to start Oskar this early hopefully there’s a graduation plan in place.

 

[UncleRisto]

If they want to start Oskar this early hopefully there’s a graduation plan in place.

Why else would they bring him over.

 

[Islay1989]

Why else would they bring him over.

To ruin his career obviously.

 

[Vaslof]

Staying in Europe for an additional year or two is usually the best route to develop for players who are not sure shots for the NHL. If Avs did not want him to play for the particular team, they could sign him and then loan him to another team in the SHL.

 

[Foppa2118]

The facts are it does not benefit anyone to spend years in the AHL. Anyone that’s succeeded here has been out between 40-60 games and even the “patient” orgs have them out by 100. If a guy makes it past 100 AHL games it’s in a second chance + opportunity elsewhere. If they want to start Oskar this early hopefully there’s a graduation plan in place.

I think this is most likely due to the fact that if a player spends "years" in the AHL, it probably means they never really proved they were NHL caliber in those years, and if they made the NHL after 40-100 AHL games, then it's probably because they proved they were NHL caliber in that time.

That's just the nature of how it's going to play out. The AHLers are going to get stuck in the AHL for years, and the NHLers are going to show relatively quickly they're NHLers.

If a team like the Avs doesn't draft well for over a decade, then they're going to have more guys that "get stuck" in the AHL, because they didn't do a good job at identifying NHL caliber players.

 

[Tommy Shelby]

I think being bad at drafting is one thing, but our inability to develop bottom-6 forwards is almost non-existant.

Take Bowers for example, rather than having him work on the attributes that he has that makes him a good bottom-6er, they'll have him be an offensive catalyst in the AHL and when that isn't working, just move on.

Would be much more beneficial to have him carve out a role rather than top-6 or bust him. Looks like it's happening with Kaut too, although his issue is his conditioning for the most part.

The only bottom-6 guy this team has developed in the last 10 years is Jost, and that was unintentional. The org probably still believes he can be a 2C. After that you have to go all the way back to Mark Olver to find that type of guy.

Funny enough, the one player that they actually pegged as a 3C and were trying to develop there was ROR, even more proof of how bad they are at doing that.

 

[henchman21]

I think being bad at drafting is one thing, but our inability to develop bottom-6 forwards is almost non-existant.

Take Bowers for example, rather than having him work on the attributes that he has that makes him a good bottom-6er, they'll have him be an offensive catalyst in the AHL and when that isn't working, just move on.

Would be much more beneficial to have him carve out a role rather than top-6 or bust him. Looks like it's happening with Kaut too, although his issue is his conditioning for the most part.

The only bottom-6 guy this team has developed in the last 10 years is Jost, and that was unintentional. The org probably still believes he can be a 2C. After that you have to go all the way back to Mark Olver to find that type of guy.

Funny enough, the one player that they actually pegged as a 3C and were trying to develop there was ROR, even more proof of how bad they are at doing that.

I don't buy the Avs can't develop bottom 6 guys. LOC looks like he'll be a great one. Jost and Compher have spent their entire pro careers in the Avs' org. I just think the Avs are very bad at finding guys who can fit what they do and be okay when they disappoint. In that case, Jost is a shining example of that possibly changing in the org. They've kept him around despite him disappointing on the level they thought he'd be.

I do think the Avs have high expectations and low patience levels on players. If a player can't cut it early in their by their 3rd ELC year, they are usually looking to move on shortly after. I hope the Jost change is something the the org as a whole is going through.

 

[Tommy Shelby]

I don't buy the Avs can't develop bottom 6 guys. LOC looks like he'll be a great one. Jost and Compher have spent their entire pro careers in the Avs' org. I just think the Avs are very bad at finding guys who can fit what they do and be okay when they disappoint. In that case, Jost is a shining example of that possibly changing in the org. They've kept him around despite him disappointing on the level they thought he'd be.

I do think the Avs have high expectations and low patience levels on players. If a player can't cut it early in their by their 3rd ELC year, they are usually looking to move on shortly after. I hope the Jost change is something the the org as a whole is going through.

I'd argue that LOC developed mostly in College, and was brought in with the knowledge that he'd be a bottom-6 guy, so they never tried to force him to be more than that and expectations were lower. Compher is the same as Jost, the org doesn't view them as bottom-6 guys, never tried to develop them that way, and still try to force them into the top-6 whenever they can.

 

[henchman21]

I'd argue that LOC developed mostly in College, and was brought in with the knowledge that he'd be a bottom-6 guy, so they never tried to force him to be more than that and expectations were lower. Compher is the same as Jost, the org doesn't view them as bottom-6 guys, never tried to develop them that way, and still try to force them into the top-6 whenever they can.

LOC took his large step forward with the Eagles. He wasn't on the radar of a lot of people as a legit NHL prospect, then he took off when he went pro. I'd personally throw that as a win on the scouting and development side.

I don't think the org saw Jost or Compher as bottom 6 guys when they broke in, but they have mostly played bottom 6 roles in the NHL while never breaking out. Compher has had the most chances in the top 6, but even he hasn't been sustained. I'd say they have pivoted with Jost hard to developing him into being a bottom 6 guy. He's taken on a heavily defensive role with an emphasis on PK. Compher has been a PK guy since he broke in. With how the Avs operate, those are bottom 6 roles.

A shorter version of what I'm saying... I don't think the Avs have problems developing those players. I think they have problems identifying them, and staying patient enough for the payoff.

 

[Perratrooper]

Right, unfortunately.

I know the contract would slide and that is not a benefit to the player at all to have a 5 year ELC and 4 years of waiver exemption. They basically give up a lot of rights in this scenario.

When a guy starts playing pro regardless of age the runway to make it gets shorter by the day. There’s a little consideration that the guy is still a teenager, it’s early, but not much. The AHL should be a last step springboard to a NHL career.

If he’s not ready for the A he can simply go to the O. He’ll now be involved in our rookie camp and pre-season which likely wouldn’t have been the case prior to him signing as he would have been playing in Sweden. This give our team the greatest control of one their top non-NHL assets and allows Olausson to grow accustom to NA ice.

 

[The Kingslayer]

This guy does look like Bura