Prospect Info: Joel Eriksson Ek (C) - 20th Overall, 2015

[roon]

Get White out of the frickin game. Ever since his 3rd game, he has been complete garbage. Roll with stew-JEE-haula as your 4th line. Or demote hanzal to 4th line honestly, JEE is probably faster and has just as good of a shot if not better...

I would say put Hanzal on the 4th line....he hasnt exactly been killing it.

Let JEE center the 3rd line.

 

[DANOZ28]

Get White out of the frickin game. Ever since his 3rd game, he has been complete garbage. Roll with stew-JEE-haula as your 4th line. Or demote hanzal to 4th line honestly, JEE is probably faster and has just as good of a shot if not better...

just another reason im frustrated we overpaid for hanzal. we had JEE as an option.

 

[Minnesota]

Please be Iowa.

 

[Ban Hammered]

Panic move?

 

[Minnesota]

Panic move?

Actually really like the move if he's going to Iowa. Getting Tuch, Kunin, Eriksson-Ek, and possibly Greenway all playing together this year would be great.

 

[MN_Gopher]

Panic move?

I think its part. We are an old team. We need to rest, sit, fake an injury, something to not play Staal, Parise, Koivu and Pomms mainly. Bring in a kid that has everything to prove and a good reason to sit a vet.

We look old and slow and are just off by a hair. Which is enough to lose in the NHL.

Home ice for round 1 is all we need.

 

[BigT2002]

Panic move?

Definitely what I was thinking. I think this whole "old and slow" mentality is about to change. They were winning when they were faster than any team they played against.

 

[57special]

I think it's great! Who gives a **** if we burn a year of an ELC? This is the best team we've ever had, and I'm for going "all in".

We do have to temper expectations on Ek, though. He's still a young pup. What i do like about him is that he has decent size/strength, speed, and knows how to play a sound defensive game.

This team is in a bizarre funk right now. Any move that can get them out of it is much appreciated.

Can Ek play goalie?

 

[TaLoN]

Panic move?

Maybe, maybe not...

[Tweet]846755347910082561[/MEDIA]

 

[123TripleDoge]

Lets get em all to Iowa and win the Calder Cup!

 

[grN1g]

I like it, I think he can provide that rookie spark to snap this slump. Burns a year on his deal so we aren't stuck having to worry about multiple ELCs expiring the same year.

Zucker - Koivu - Granlund
Parise - Staal - Coyle
Ek - Haula - Nino
X - Hanzal - Pominville

Let White/Schroeder/Stew battle for the last spot. Swap EK and Haula on dot if one is struggling.

 

[W75]

I think Ek is better than Haula as center right now. Haulz been quite incompetent lately, looks unwilling to work hard.

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

Haula has been non-existent...where's that speed he once had? He hasn't had a breakaway in forever...minus of course the 2 on 1 in OT. I was kind of glad he took the shot, man, if that would have gone in it would have been a huge boost in confidence.

 

[grN1g]

I feel like Haula is a better player overall when playing with better talent than say how much more Hanzal improves or helps improve his line overall. Give Haula more offensive minded players and he can also contribute more imo.

Also think its a smarter move for us in this situation to tell Ek to play wing and just worry about scoring more than playing center and defense first mentality. Ease him in on dots when hes needed, and only put him in center if its absolutely needed.

 

[Hinterland]

I think Ek is better than Haula as center right now. Haulz been quite incompetent lately, looks unwilling to work hard.

Ek has been terrible earlier this season...what exactly makes you think he's better than Haula now? Haula hasn't been great but I'd be surprised Boudreau plays Ek over him. Always great to have depth but don't expect too much out of a player that went back to Sweden for good reasons earlier this season. It started in camp. He received tons of chances during preason but failed miserably both on the wing and at center. Not impressed with him. I think we got far better prospects. That said, he may just need time to adjust game.

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

Ek wouldn't play over Haula, he'd play over guys like Stewart, White or Schroeder.

 

[nt3005]

Ek has been terrible earlier this season...what exactly makes you think he's better than Haula now? Haula hasn't been great but I'd be surprised Boudreau plays Ek over him. Always great to have depth but don't expect too much out of a player that went back to Sweden for good reasons earlier this season. It started in camp. He received tons of chances during preason but failed miserably both on the wing and at center. Not impressed with him. I think we got far better prospects. That said, he may just need time to adjust game.

Failed miserably? Were you watching a different team? He looked like he could hang in the NHL, just wasn't going to be top 6 on a really good Wild team.

 

[W75]

Ek has been terrible earlier this season...what exactly makes you think he's better than Haula now? Haula hasn't been great but I'd be surprised Boudreau plays Ek over him. Always great to have depth but don't expect too much out of a player that went back to Sweden for good reasons earlier this season. It started in camp. He received tons of chances during preason but failed miserably both on the wing and at center. Not impressed with him. I think we got far better prospects. That said, he may just need time to adjust game.

Ek looked good in the NHL, short stint though. Just tasted it. Don't remember did he play in the AHL or went straight to Sweden after that? But in the Elitserien SHL he was great in the playoffs, no?

But you're actually right. I don't exactly know. Other than that Haula hasn't looked any good recently.

 

[tomgilbertfan]

Ek has been terrible earlier this season...what exactly makes you think he's better than Haula now? Haula hasn't been great but I'd be surprised Boudreau plays Ek over him. Always great to have depth but don't expect too much out of a player that went back to Sweden for good reasons earlier this season. It started in camp. He received tons of chances during preason but failed miserably both on the wing and at center. Not impressed with him. I think we got far better prospects. That said, he may just need time to adjust game.

Ek being terrible in his NHL debut is news to me. If he was terrible Tuch must have been an abomination.

 

[keppel146]

JEE had the absolute snipe against buffalo....

 

[Hinterland]

Ek being terrible in his NHL debut is news to me. If he was terrible Tuch must have been an abomination.

Ek was mostly a non factor, at times even a liability. Tuch wasn't. I liked Tuch a lot. Lots of hustle and proved that he's a complete all round player. For a tall and heavy guy, I thought he showed very well. Has yet to find his scoring touch in the NHL but also didn't quite get the opportunities Ek had. Ek showed flashes of brilliance but overall I thought he played poorly. Shouldn't be more than Iowa reinforcement / depth option this season.

 

[keppel146]

Ek was mostly a non factor, at times even a liability. Tuch wasn't. I liked Tuch a lot. Lots of hustle and proved that he's a complete all round player. For a tall and heavy guy, I thought he showed very well. Has yet to find his scoring touch in the NHL but also didn't quite get the opportunities Ek had. Ek showed flashes of brilliance but overall I thought he played poorly. Shouldn't be more than Iowa reinforcement / depth option this season.

I do not remember it being that bad for Ek, just my opinion.

 

[Hugart]

Ek has been terrible earlier this season...what exactly makes you think he's better than Haula now? Haula hasn't been great but I'd be surprised Boudreau plays Ek over him. Always great to have depth but don't expect too much out of a player that went back to Sweden for good reasons earlier this season. It started in camp. He received tons of chances during preason but failed miserably both on the wing and at center. Not impressed with him. I think we got far better prospects. That said, he may just need time to adjust game.

Wait, what? Didn't he play great in the few (9) games he played in NHL? After he returned to SHL he progressed for every game he played, doing an awesome WJC and then returning to be one of his teams best players in the playoffs.

---

I don't really know if it'll be better if he plays Iowa or Wild. I like the idea that Minnesota mentioned about Tuch, Kunin, Eriksson-Ek and maybe Greenway playing together. At the same time, Ek is in playoff mode right now, playing like a maniac out there. Like some of the Swedish broadcasters said, he reminded of Forsberg when he played his first playoff in Elitserien, regarding his energy. If there's a time for him to take on NHL, it is now! If it burns one year, **** that.

In conclusion I think either way will be good for him.

 

[Hinterland]

Failed miserably? Were you watching a different team? He looked like he could hang in the NHL, just wasn't going to be top 6 on a really good Wild team.

I could swear that after a few flashes of brilliance and some other lucky points his icetime dropped dramatically and he also was a healthy scratch for multiple games before his departure
You might wanna think again. He just wasn't good enough. And he had lots of chances. Played lots of quality minutes but it just became clear he wasn't ready.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Kunin-Eriksson Ek-Tuch 1st line for Iowa