Prospect Info: C Noah Ostlund, 16th Overall, 2022 NHL Draft, Assigned to Rochester 4.17.24

LastWordArmy

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Sep 11, 2011
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Djurgardens has become one of the best prospect development clubs in Europe. Centre Noah Ostlund is one of four prospects who could go in the first round. He spent the majority of his season in the J20 league. Ostlund put up nine goals and 33 assists for 42 points in 32 games. He also put up five goals and two assists for seven points in five playoff games. Ostlund led the league in playoff goals and Djurgardens fell in the J20 Final. He joined the J18 team for the playoffs as well. Ostlund picked up two goals and seven points in four games, helping the Djurgardens affiliate to the J18 Championship. Ostlund also had a call-up to the SHL, but had trouble getting consistent ice time. He played 11 games but did not record a point.

 
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Zman5778

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Oct 4, 2005
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From Pronman:

30. Noah Ostlund, C, Djurgarden Jr. (SWEDEN-JR.)

Mar. 11, 2004 | 5′ 11.0″ | 163 pounds | Shoots left

Tier: Projected middle of the lineup player

Skating: NHL average
Puck skills: Above NHL average
Hockey sense: NHL average
Compete: NHL average
Shot: Below NHL average

Player comparable: Tyson Jost

Background: Ostlund has been a highly productive junior player in Sweden the last two seasons. He got time in the SHL with Djurgarden in limited minutes. He was a top forward for Sweden’s U18 team this season and played for their U18 team as an underage as well.

Analysis: Ostlund posseses impressive speed and skill. He’s able to be an asset in transition due to his abilty to create controlled entries and make defenders miss. He has a pass-first mentaility but can make difficult plays at a high rate. Ostlund has the poise to run a power-play unit and find seams but he’s not much of a shot threat. Ostlund isn’t the biggest, but he works hard enough and has shown as a junior he can reliable defensively. He looks like a potential third line center in the NHL.
 

Zman5778

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From Wheeler:

23. Noah Östlund — C, Djurgårdens IF, 5-foot-10

Östlund’s calling card is his airy, agile skating stride, excellent hands, cleverness, and two-way ability. The skating and defensive aptitude (including on faceoffs) make him an able penalty killer and the rest give him clear tools of creation at five-on-five and on the power play. He wins a ton of short races, creates quickly as soon as he’s in possession, and darts around the ice in control to get into scoring areas or facilitate from the perimeter. His lack of size and strength are definitely going to be impediments as he progresses up levels, but he’s got the benefit of time, his skating, and the fondness coaches have for him to fall back on.

He’s silky smooth in possession (grades out at the very top of the draft in that regard), which makes him one of the very best puck transporters through neutral ice in the draft. There’s some risk that comes with selecting him but he’s got a slippery quality that few players in this range have, the puck just sticks to him in tight coverage, and he is a catalyst on his line in a variety of ways. He’s a nifty little player. Some scouts worry about whether he’ll be able to get to the inside/hold his own physically along the wall against pros (he didn’t score a ton even against his peers this year, given his talent level and linemates) but his approach and skating should help mitigate against that. I like him a lot.

Ostlund’s got two years left on his contract with Djurgården, but the second year has an out built in if they aren’t promoted back to the SHL from HockeyAllsvenskan.
 

TheMistyStranger

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May 21, 2005
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Skilled 2nd line center. Can't have enough skilled centers. And more Swedes, which I'm not going to complain about.
 

Sabresbyswords104

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Dec 7, 2019
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1.) Rosen hasn't busted yet. Not even close.

2.) Ostlund and Rosen share some similar traits, but they're different players. Ostlund is much more defensively responsible and a better playmaker.
But is he good ? Not a Johan Larsson Guy ? Can he be a good 2-3 c ?
 

Chainshot

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There are no complaints about Östlund’s efforts as he competes hard and he tries to attack the net and go for puck battles. His win rate takes a huge hit by his small framed body, but the effort is there. Without the level of competitiveness, he brings he would not have gotten the opportunity to make his SHL debut already. He actually made his pro debut in a pre-season tournament last summer, but he also recorded his first 11 SHL games this season. He failed to produce any points in his short SHL stint, but he impressed massively by being very reliable, smart, and mature in his game. Once again, his lack of physical matureness hindered him from staying up in the big league all season. His ability to drive play and make his teammates better has been the most impressive part of his season. While he struggled to show this in international play for most of the year, he showed this with a bang at the u18 worlds where he dominated. It was like everything we’ve seen from him on home soil just fell into place for him and he went on a crazy run of dominating games, scoring points, and big-time goals. Once again he, and his partner in crime Lekkerimäki led their team to great achievements as team Sweden won the gold at the tournament.

Noah Östlund has been one of the personal favourites of our Swedish scout for the whole season. Östlund's biggest and honestly, only flaw is his lack of size. He has in fact grown quite a lot over the two past seasons, but he still only measures in at 5’10” and 164 lbs, which is quite small to be a prominent centerman in professional hockey. Looking back at the areas in which he has struggled during this season, it has been apparent that his lack of size and strength has held him back in international play. Going back to the Hlinka Gretzky Cup it was almost painful to see him fail to create any kind of separation with the puck and he couldn't manage to find any areas in which scoring opportunities appeared for him, while the whole Swedish team underperformed at that venue, Östlund’s lack of prominence was a big part of it. On a more positive note, his endurance, and athleticism are top of the class and while he may need to add muscle mass, he is still not particularly narrowly built and it seems to be room for physical improvement in that regard.

Östlund surprised a lot of people with his test results at the NHL draft combine which also makes us believe that there is room for him to grow and mature more physically in the upcoming years. On the ice, Östlund is quick, mobile, and has perfect knowledge of his surroundings. His balance and mobility are what is allowing him to perform as well as he does at the j20 level. He has the ability to process the game while moving in all directions, even with the puck on his stick, this makes him very elusive and hard to catch. On the occasions where he gets caught he is often outmuscled and can be found bumped off his feet, but he was close to never caught off guard by a hit that he didn't know was coming his way.
 

Chainshot

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Some of EP's writeup:

At his best, Östlund is a dynamic, shifty playmaker who takes full advantage of the width of the ice to build passing sequences. A dextrous distributor with the full array of reachadjusted passes and the keen eye to find options through traffic, he was the most prolific setup-man in the entire Swedish junior circuit. "Östlund is undoubtedly the sharpest player on Sweden's U18 roster and likely rates among the top-five in this draft for hockey sense period," Elite Prospects Swedish regional scout Jimmy Hamrin wrote in a pre-U18s profile of Östlund. "He is the glue that holds his teams together. He plays with strong puck support, drives play, and has a high motor." The play-driving element that Hamrin cited is most evident in the way Östlund transports the puck up-ice as a transition piece. His constant support in the defensive zone allows him to link defence to offence, often as the main conduit for his team between the blue lines.
 
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stokes84

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Jun 30, 2008
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Interesting pick. It’s almost like he’s setting up Savoie and Ostlund to have to compete with each other. Could be really savvy move to get the best out of both of them.
 

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