I am prepared for Anaheim to drop two spots, and I don't think they will take a chance on Michkov.
So have really been reading up on Carlsson, and he looks similar to Getzlaf. Has the size, vision, IQ, and etc. He also fits our needs more than even Bedard, but not gonna say no to a potential generational player. lol.
In terms of skating they're practically clones aside from how Getzy had a bit more of a lumbering but powerful stride. In terms of being strong on skates with a big body that is hard to knock off the puck, you get that similarity too. As of now though, I think Getzlaf (when all was said and done with his development) had a higher tendency to utilize his size and strength advantage over his peers to maintain space for himself to employ his soft hands to be an offense driver without being much of a shooter. Right now Carlsson seems to be the type that tries harder to fight for space and use his size to get to dirty areas that ends up drawing SHL defenders out of position. I think for now they have a fundamentally different approach to how they handle offensive zone attack. But Carlsson can pick up those tendencies through NHL experience.
One thing that is apparent to me is Carlsson will probably never play with Getzlaf's edge.
Possible but Fantilli is the favorite.
I'd take Carlsson at 2 and it's not really close for me. Carlsson's IQ and skill-set is top notch and the physical component is going to come.
Fantilli has skills and the physical component but I don't think the hockey IQ is more than average.
I don't think that's being fair to Fantilli. He has a tendency to make ill conceived decisions with the puck and tries a bit too hard to do everything himself without utilizing his teammates but I wouldn't say his hockey IQ is necessarily average as much as I'd say his philosophy and approach isn't sufficiently built around playing off his teammates. That can be coached out. There's still plenty of evidence that Fantilli sees and thinks the game at a higher level than his peers and executes plays that other guys wouldn't even conceive. He just needs the benefit of experience to guide his decision making going forward. And someone needs to coach the lone star hero approach out of him. But I see no reason why that can't happen. And I'm saying this as someone leaning towards favoring Carlsson.
Also I think you're possibly selling Carlsson short on the physical component depending on what you mean by that. In terms of physical build and strength on his skates and carrying the puck he's already way more than capable playing against professional adults. How much that may translate at the NHL if he were to be plopped into the playoffs today is another question but he's definitely going to be a big body that will be hard to challenge physically. If you mean he's not utilizing his body enough for anything aside from fending defenders off, that remains to be seen. From my viewing it looks like he occasionally initiates the board battle but doesn't do so consistently, and he doesn't seem the have a visible snarl in his game that you'd expect from a guy that will throw checks in the vein of, say Ovechkin and to go back to a previous comparable, Getzlaf.
