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

[TaLoN]

Since Fletcher has taken over the Wilds 1st round picks are Granlund,Brodin,Phillips,Dumba and Tuch.

The Granlund pick does not look that great when you consider some of the players taken after him;Tarasanko,Scwartz and Fowler to name a few.I know a lot of people are still pretty high on him but in my opinion he has not lived up to the expectations.

Brodin was a great pick.

Phillips was not.

Dumba looks like he could be another good one.

Tuch hasn't played even an ahl game yet so it is really to early to say how good this pick will turn out.

Obviously this is an improvement from the preceding years but outside of Brodin and hopefully Dumba there is nothing extraordinary here.

... and Leddy.

 

[plock]

Like I said earlier I don't think this was a horrible pick.I just think they passed over some players who have more potential and may become better players.All these guys are young with a lot of development to come in the next few years,hopefully I am wrong and he becomes one of the top players out of this draft class.

 

[tomgilbertfan]

Since Fletcher has taken over the Wilds 1st round picks are Granlund,Brodin,Phillips,Dumba and Tuch.

The Granlund pick does not look that great when you consider some of the players taken after him;Tarasanko,Scwartz and Fowler to name a few.I know a lot of people are still pretty high on him but in my opinion he has not lived up to the expectations.

Brodin was a great pick.

Phillips was not.

Dumba looks like he could be another good one.

Tuch hasn't played even an ahl game yet so it is really to early to say how good this pick will turn out.

Obviously this is an improvement from the preceding years but outside of Brodin and hopefully Dumba there is nothing extraordinary here.

2/4 possibly being "extraordinary" is a great percentage, and even if Granlund only ends up being a 40-50 pt player that has an extra gear in the playoffs (like he's shown so far) that's not bad at all. Add in Leddy and that's a solid 1st round history.

 

[Spurgeon]

Ek's Press Interview

I like this kid.

 

[tomgilbertfan]

 

[forthewild]

If you doubt this kid loves to shoot and is a scoring center look at this stats.

In the J20 league he put in 20g in 25 games, in the playoffs for that squad he put in 5g in 6 games,

in WJC 18, he scored 5goals in 5 games.

I'm thinking the scoring center fits quite well in here which will be nice to go along with all the pass happy players we have.

 

[forthewild]

... and Leddy.

Wasn't it a pick GMCF went with because he didn't have time to get his staff in place and do his process.

still pissed we lost him for nothing, there would have been nothing wrong with leaving him on the gopher for 2 years and sending him to AHL to season a bit...

 

[Nsjohnson]

He looks like the lovechild of Dany Heatley and Evgeni Malkin

YESSS YESSSS THIS

 

[plock]

If you doubt this kid loves to shoot and is a scoring center look at this stats.

In the J20 league he put in 20g in 25 games, in the playoffs for that squad he put in 5g in 6 games,

in WJC 18, he scored 5goals in 5 games.

I'm thinking the scoring center fits quite well in here which will be nice to go along with all the pass happy players we have.

And against tougher competition in the SHL he had 4 goals and 2 assists in 34 games.
He did look good in the WJC though.

 

[forthewild]

And against tougher competition in the SHL he had 4 goals and 2 assists in 34 games.
He did look good in the WJC though.

This could also be the case of him being 17 years old not not playing on a scoring line...

SHL is a mens league and he put in 2 points less than Johan Larsson did so a year after being drafted.

 

[AKL]

And against tougher competition in the SHL he had 4 goals and 2 assists in 34 games.
He did look good in the WJC though.

No 17 year old forwards put up numbers in the SEL because they all play 4th line minutes. It's a mens league, not a development league. The teams are all focused on winning the championship, not developing young players. The fact that he even made the team in the first place is a testament to how good he is.

 

[plock]

This could also be the case of him being 17 years old not not playing on a scoring line...

SHL is a mens league and he put in 2 points less than Johan Larsson did so a year after being drafted.

He was 18 for all but 2 weeks of his time in the SHL.
Johan Larsson can't seem to stick in the lineup with Buffalo and it is starting to look like he will be a marginal NHLer at best.

 

[Marlowe Syn]

The one thing I'm wondering about ek that I can't seem to find any info on is how is he in the faceoff dot?

 

[Spurgeon]

The one thing I'm wondering about ek that I can't seem to find any info on is how is he in the faceoff dot?

Read that he's very good at taking draws.

 

[Kari Takko]

And against tougher competition in the SHL he had 4 goals and 2 assists in 34 games.
He did look good in the WJC though.

To put his SHL performance in perspective, at the same age Henrik Sedin scored 5pts in 39 games and his brother Daniel had 12 in 45.

I'm not saying the kid will boom or bust. Who the hell knows? All I know is that Flahr and Fletcher have run the drafts really well since they've taken over.

 

[plock]

All I did was post the rest of his stats for this year,noting that the competition was tougher.If you want to get the full picture you have to look at all the stats,you can't just look at the good numbers and ignore the ones that aren't as sexy (which as you said are not bad for an 18 year old).

 

[Sharppi]

Please have the combined upside of Malkin & Heatley too. I'd be fine with 50+70

 

[plock]

To put his SHL performance in perspective, at the same age Henrik Sedin scored 5pts in 39 games and his brother Daniel had 12 in 45.

I'm not saying the kid will boom or bust. Who the hell knows? All I know is that Flahr and Fletcher have run the drafts really well since they've taken over.

Those Sedin numbers are from when they were 17 years old,Eriksson Ek is 18 years old and was 18 years old for all but 2 weeks of the time he has spent in the SHL.
At 18 years old Henrik Sedin put up 12 goals and 22 assists in 49 games Daniel had 21 goals and 21 assists in 50 games.

 

[Spurgeon]

Those Sedin numbers are from when they were 17 years old,Eriksson Ek is 18 years old and was 18 years old for all but 2 weeks of the time he has spent in the SHL.
At 18 years old Henrik Sedin put up 12 goals and 22 assists in 49 games Daniel had 21 goals and 21 assists in 50 games.

1 year experience vs. 2 years experience. (And most likely different roles)

Not to mention 15 year difference from that league to now.

 

[forthewild]

Those Sedin numbers are from when they were 17 years old,Eriksson Ek is 18 years old and was 18 years old for all but 2 weeks of the time he has spent in the SHL.
At 18 years old Henrik Sedin put up 12 goals and 22 assists in 49 games Daniel had 21 goals and 21 assists in 50 games.

not quite the same, the issue here is draft year not just draft age.

Eriksson Ek put up similar points to the Sedins in his draft year, we will get a new comparison next year when he plays.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Please have the combined upside of Malkin & Heatley too. I'd be fine with 50+70

Oh boy

 

[Ladde]

We picked the safe Two-way center who can possibly score 20-30 goals in the NHL if he develops to match his upside. Hopefully him and Granlund can be our 1/2 centers when they are still in their prime.

 

[Sharppi]

Oh boy

LOOK AT THAT FACE, IT HAS TO BE POSSIBLE, LOOK AT IT

"Hi I'm Anze Kopitar and I'm here to make your Franchise a perennial SC favourite"

LOOK AT HIM

 

[VictorLustig]

I don't get the talk about him being a "safe" pick with low upside. It comes mainly from people who have never seen him play I guess. This guy has a lot of upside and it's mainly because of his IQ. He is the same kind of puck magnet around the net as Loui Eriksson. The puck just always seems to find him and he's really effective when he gets his chances. He also sees the ice and handles the puck really well.

Excuse him for his English. I'm from Sweden and I have a hard time even understanding his Swedish at times.

 

[BagHead]

Big, good skater, and skilled.

Sounds good to me. Plus, he'll be in the new NHL game if I decide to pick it up.

Well yeah, I mean except for this bolded part. Unless we're talking about Koivu levels of speed.

So many centers... so many options... god damnit! That said, I really hope this kid over all others proves me wrong. I will happily, joyously, eat crow.

I don't get the talk about him being a "safe" pick with low upside. It comes mainly from people who have never seen him play I guess. This guy has a lot of upside and it's mainly because of his IQ. He is the same kind of puck magnet around the net as Loui Eriksson. The puck just always seems to find him and he's really effective when he gets his chances. He also sees the ice and handles the puck really well.

Almost feel as though I should compare him to Bruno. Last time I did that was Zach Philips. God help us if that's how it turns out.

Big, good skater, and skilled.

Sounds good to me. Plus, he'll be in the new NHL game if I decide to pick it up.

... and Leddy.

Thommy Thompson's draft... and everyone knew it at the time. Haula? Not Fletch's pick. Nor is Kuemper. Or Leddy, or Zucker, etc.