F Jonah Neuenschwander - Biel-Bienne, U15-Elit (2027 Draft)

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GermanSpitfire

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One of the most promising talents to come out of Switzerland in the next 5 years. He is currently a step above his age group as a late birthday. He has been playing in the Swiss U15 league where he put up an impressive statline for a player his junior. I think He‘ll be a staple for the Swiss NT moving forward and has legitimate potential to be an NHL draft pick.
He is a kid that is much bigger than his opposition. He looks close to 6’1” on the ice. Anticipates the play well and is poised with the puck on his stick. Has good speed but doesn’t use it much, he prefers to conserve his energy and “float” as you will. He is deadly in front of the net where he is able to use his frame to fend off defenders and his shot from in tight is really good at his age. Should note; His brother, Elijah is actually a promising goalie talent for the 2024 draft also.

Should be an interesting follow moving forward.
 
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independent observer

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Almost identical point avgs to Hischier at same age:) except that he is more of a goalscorer. would be about time to have another talent that could crack an early draft round…
 

Speyer

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Almost identical point avgs to Hischier at same age:) except that he is more of a goalscorer. would be about time to have another talent that could crack an early draft round…

Stats don't really mean much at that age unfortunately. There are plenty of players who have put up video game numbers at U15 and are now barely NLA players or never even made it to the pros. A first good indicator will be the u16 national team. But he is certainly a name to look out for in the future, as is his brother.
 

czech

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We probably need to correct the player’s draft status (2027) in the topic title. Both the eliteprospects website and the Biel-Bienne team website list their birth month as March 2009.
 

Speyer

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Seems like he is being fast tracked to the U20 team. The next two years will probably show if he is the next Swiss blue chip prospect or not. I still havent seen him enough to comment on that. Only seen him a couple of times. And in those games he wasn't as immediately noticeable as Hischier and Fiala were for example instantly in almost any junior game you could watch. In any case it seems like the Swiss prospect pipeline for higher end albeit maybe not elite talent is trending a bit better again. There seem to be some promising forwards born in 2010 and 2011 as well. On the other hand our junior program is the ideal enviroment for major stagnation, as the last few years have shown. Hopefully Neuenschwander and some others can break the trend in the future.
 
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Seems like he is being fast tracked to the U20 team. The next two years will probably show if he is the next Swiss blue chip prospect or not. I still havent seen him enough to comment on that. Only seen him a couple of times. And in those games he wasn't as immediately noticeable as Hischier and Fiala were for example instantly in almost any junior game you could watch. In any case it seems like the Swiss prospect pipeline for higher end albeit maybe not elite talent is trending a bit better again. There seem to be some promising forwards born in 2010 and 2011 as well. On the other hand our junior program is the ideal enviroment for major stagnation, as the last few years have shown. Hopefully Neuenschwander and some others can break the trend in the future.
He was pretty dominant in the U17 elite league last season so I think he was always gonna be with the U20 team this season. May still end up helping out the U17 team on a few occasions but I don't think he's got much left to learn there. Short term, U20 elite league should be a good challenge for him though, playing against players up to six years older than him. Will be interesting to see how he does.

Depends on your definition of a blue print prospect I guess. Neuenschwander is well on track to get drafted into the NHL. Too early for conclusions but looking good. He's certainly the most promising Swiss forward prospect in a while. Is he gonna be a 1st round pick and work out the way Meier and Fiala did? It's possible but I doubt it. I don't think that should be the expectation anyway.

Btw: I still like Elijah as well. Gonna be an important season for both brothers.
 
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Speyer

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He was pretty dominant in the U17 elite league last season so I think he was always gonna be with the U20 team this season. May still end up helping out the U17 team on a few occasions but I don't think he's got much left to learn there. Short term, U20 elite league should be a good challenge for him though, playing against players up to six years older than him. Will be interesting to see how he does.
As I said I have only seen him in a very limited capacity and have to result to stat watching a little bit. He had a really good seaon last year in regards to his age but he was still clearly below ppg in the u17 league which isnt exactly an indicator of complete offensive dominance. But he seems really mature phisycally so that probably helped with the decision to move him up.


Depends on your definition of a blue print prospect I guess. Neuenschwander is well on track to get drafted into the NHL. Too early for conclusions but looking good. He's certainly the most promising Swiss forward prospect in a while. Is he gonna be a 1st round pick and work out the way Meier and Fiala did? It's possible but I doubt it. I don't think that should be the expectation anyway.
Its a vague term but i would consider any first rounder a blue chip prospect for swiss standards. Or an older prospect that would go in the first round in a redraft. Again I have not seen him enough to make a case for or agaisnt him regarding that. But from the games that I have seen he didn't seem as special as Fiala or Hischier at the same age. With those guys the skill (Fiala) and Vision/IQ (Hischier) was very noticeable even in the first few shifts of any given game. They just looked a few stepts ahead of their peers which is not the impression I had from watching Neuenschwander. But then there are also late bloomers like Meier who only became an elite prospect later in his junior career. Stats are really not a good indicator for this though. I mean Rochette, Gruber and Greuter all had better U17 stats at the same age. And none of them were even drafted. But Neuenschwander seems a more complete player than those guys which makes me opitmistic that he might have a future in the NHL. Maybe not as a top six player but at least in the league.

Btw: I still like Elijah as well. Gonna be an important season for both brothers.
Me too. I hoped he would go to NA like Kirsch but unfortunately not. I hope that he can get at least some more games against men this season. And I also hope that he gets a fair look fir the WJC as well.
 

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As I said I have only seen him in a very limited capacity and have to result to stat watching a little bit. He had a really good seaon last year in regards to his age but he was still clearly below ppg in the u17 league which isnt exactly an indicator of complete offensive dominance. But he seems really mature phisycally so that probably helped with the decision to move him up.



Its a vague term but i would consider any first rounder a blue chip prospect for swiss standards. Or an older prospect that would go in the first round in a redraft. Again I have not seen him enough to make a case for or agaisnt him regarding that. But from the games that I have seen he didn't seem as special as Fiala or Hischier at the same age. With those guys the skill (Fiala) and Vision/IQ (Hischier) was very noticeable even in the first few shifts of any given game. They just looked a few stepts ahead of their peers which is not the impression I had from watching Neuenschwander. But then there are also late bloomers like Meier who only became an elite prospect later in his junior career. Stats are really not a good indicator for this though. I mean Rochette, Gruber and Greuter all had better U17 stats at the same age. And none of them were even drafted. But Neuenschwander seems a more complete player than those guys which makes me opitmistic that he might have a future in the NHL. Maybe not as a top six player but at least in the league.


Me too. I hoped he would go to NA like Kirsch but unfortunately not. I hope that he can get at least some more games against men this season. And I also hope that he gets a fair look fir the WJC as well.
I think that Hischier and Fiala are just poor comparisons. Even if Neuenschwander does turn out to be a player of similar quality he's never gonna be as flashy as them. If you're looking to compare him to Swiss top forwards, Niederreiter or Meier would be better comparisons stylewise. It's always tough to predict how a junior game is gonna translate to the pro leagues but I think that Neuenschwander is more likely to become a shooter/goal scorer/powerforward than a dangler/playmaker/play driver type of player.

Was hoping for Elijah to move to NA or Sweden as well. Doesn't look like it's gonna happen though. I hope he's still gonna get drafted. Goalie are the complete x-factor in NHL drafts anyway. It's impossible to predict. The Sharks were over the moon after drafting Kirsch in the 4th round, calling him the best goalie prospect available in the draft. At the same time, Lachat goes undrafted. I don't dislike Kirsch but how do you explain this? Therefore, everything is possible for Elijah as well.
 
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Speyer

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I think that Hischier and Fiala are just poor comparisons. Even if Neuenschwander does turn out to be a player of similar quality he's never gonna be as flashy as them. If you're looking to compare him to Swiss top forwards, Niederreiter or Meier would be better comparisons stylewise. It's always tough to predict how a junior game is gonna translate to the pro leagues but I think that Neuenschwander is more likely to become a shooter/goal scorer/powerforward than a dangler/playmaker/play driver type of player.
I didnt mean it as a stylistical comparison. Hischier and Fiala are just those former swiss blue chip prospects that I have seen the most when they were about the same age Neuenschwander is now. And despite them being different player types it was still obvious that they dominated their peers at a significantly higher level than Neuenschwander, albeit with a different kind of skill set. So in that sense the comparison is valid in my book. I am sure the same could be said about Niederreiter who completely shredded our U17 league at 15.

Was hoping for Elijah to move to NA or Sweden as well. Doesn't look like it's gonna happen though. I hope he's still gonna get drafted. Goalie are the complete x-factor in NHL drafts anyway. It's impossible to predict. The Sharks were over the moon after drafting Kirsch in the 4th round, calling him the best goalie prospect available in the draft. At the same time, Lachat goes undrafted. I don't dislike Kirsch but how do you explain this? Therefore, everything is possible for Elijah as well.
Sure, GT selctions are often gambles. Schmid was drafted out of Langnau in 2018 as well, so its certainly possible that Neuenschwander gets picked too. It only takes one team to like him enough. Maybe that team just didnt exist for Lachat last season. Who knows if Kirsch would have been drafted at all, if San José had one goaltender rated higher at the spot where they picked him.
 
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