LD Emil Andrae (2020, 54th, PHI)

[Appleyard]

Andrae is not good defensively.

He makes poor decisions while defending the blue line and is over the top aggressive in his own end, which leads to more bad decsisions and poor positional play. He was on the ice for the 3rd most goals against in J20 SuperElit Top10, clearly most on his team despite playing two games less than most of his teammates. He also plays reckless with the puck in his own end, sometimes it works and he looks fantastic and other times he is a turnover machine which gets his team stuck in their own end.

It will be hard for him to improve his stride as the main issue it has is that it is is too short, which is almost fully tied to Andrae's legs not being very long.

He was relied on a lot to drive play in J20 though. I think he is fundamentally sound with his gap and under pressure. He showed that multiple times at higher level when played junior international.

Other small players have improved their stride... he has some technical flaws there, but has looked better this pre-season.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Andrae is not good defensively.

He makes poor decisions while defending the blue line and is over the top aggressive in his own end, which leads to more bad decsisions and poor positional play. He was on the ice for the 3rd most goals against in J20 SuperElit Top10, clearly most on his team despite playing two games less than most of his teammates. He also plays reckless with the puck in his own end, sometimes it works and he looks fantastic and other times he is a turnover machine which gets his team stuck in their own end.

It will be hard for him to improve his stride as the main issue it has is that it is is too short, which is almost fully tied to Andrae's legs not being very long.

Sound way more like Johannesson or Grans than Andrae. If anything it’s Andrae who bailed them out for the issues you mentioned.

Only issue with Andrae is size.

 

[DatDude44]

My thoughts on him:
My #7 ranked defenceman. Moves well and is very good defensively away from the puck, plays the rush well, is very aware of everything around him, takes very good angles to pucks/playing a rush and has a good defensive stick. He reminds me a lot of a Nik Hjalmarsson type. Not gonna wow you at all but defensively will be extremely reliable and moves the puck well and keeps it simple. Has some poise and ability to walk the line and make some plays. Efficiency and IQ seem to be strengths of his. I’d project somewhere around a reliable #4-6 D at the NHL level(depends on situation obviously), if he’s given time to develop and mature, I could see him becoming an impactful, solid depth defenceman and I think one of the safest picks to make outside the top 4 D I have ranked, which are Drysdale, sanderson, Guhle and O'Rourke) and schneider who i have ranked at #6 in front of andrae, tho i think andrae has a bit of a higher ceiling than him personally.

 

[VictorLustig]

My thoughts on him:
My #7 ranked defenceman. Moves well and is very good defensively away from the puck, plays the rush well, is very aware of everything around him, takes very good angles to pucks/playing a rush and has a good defensive stick. He reminds me a lot of a Nik Hjalmarsson type. Not gonna wow you at all but defensively will be extremely reliable and moves the puck well and keeps it simple. Has some poise and ability to walk the line and make some plays. Efficiency and IQ seem to be strengths of his. I’d project somewhere around a reliable #4-6 D at the NHL level(depends on situation obviously), if he’s given time to develop and mature, I could see him becoming an impactful, solid depth defenceman and I think one of the safest picks to make outside the top 4 D I have ranked, which are Drysdale, sanderson, Guhle and O'Rourke) and schneider who i have ranked at #6 in front of andrae, tho i think andrae has a bit of a higher ceiling than him personally.

Hjalmarsson would be the polar opposite of Andrae in so many ways IMO. Sure you didn't mix him up with someone else?

 

[DatDude44]

Hjalmarsson would be the polar opposite of Andrae in so many ways IMO. Sure you didn't mix him up with someone else?

Who does he compare to for you then?

I saw a ton of hjalmarsson in his game when i watched him from the way he skates to the way he defends to his puck movement ability etc..

Obvi i haven't been able to see a ton of him. But two full games and some other videos of him lead me to believe what i said above.

 

[QJL]

Who does he compare to for you then?

I saw a ton of hjalmarsson in his game when i watched him from the way he skates to the way he defends to his puck movement ability etc..

Obvi i haven't been able to see a ton of him. But two full games and some other videos of him lead me to believe what i said above.

I mean, Hjalmarsson is a 6‘2 shutdown defenseman. Andrae is a 5‘9 offensive defenseman. I don’t know how they could possibly be compared.

 

[DatDude44]

I mean, Hjalmarsson is a 6‘2 shutdown defenseman. Andrae is a 5‘8 offensive defenseman. I don’t know how they could possibly be compared.

Well it was from the 2 games of Andrae I watched and stylistically I thought he played like hjalmarsson, wasn’t thinking size wise.

He seemed pretty good with the puck but not overly dynamic and was smart enough away from the puck, positionally and had very good stick detail with smooth skating that was very Hjalmarsson like in my views.

 

[CaptTennille]

Well it was from the 2 games of Andrae I watched and stylistically I thought he played like hjalmarsson, wasn’t thinking size wise.

He seemed pretty good with the puck but not overly dynamic and was smart enough away from the puck, positionally and had very good stick detail with smooth skating that was very Hjalmarsson like in my views.

I would say those two games were more conservative showings. You are correct in that he uses his IQ to smartly position himself to make up for his lack of stature, but he has a good amount of riverboat gambler in his game with his creativity and aggressiveness. He loves faking-out attackers at the blue-line and walking in for a quality chance - sometimes to his detriment.

 

[DatDude44]

I would say those two games were more conservative showings. You are correct in that he uses his IQ to smartly position himself to make up for his lack of stature, but he has a good amount of riverboat gambler in his game with his creativity and aggressiveness. He loves faking-out attackers at the blue-line and walking in for a quality chance - sometimes to his detriment.

Ok, appreciate that, i'll have to watch him some more and get a clearer picture.

 

[swedehollow]

Watched the game today. He looked awesome! Smooth and a lot of poise. He looks like the go-to guy at age 18! He’s quite a prospect!

 

[theslatcher]

First SHL point!

 

[MMC]

Welcome to Philadelphia!

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

They draft well. Credit where it's due.

 

[theslatcher]

 

[BritainStix]

Excited about this pick. He looks fairly solid.

 

[Tripod]

Love that Flyers fan Appleyard was high on this guy all thru the thread while undrafted and now he is a Flyer.

Apple mentioned him looking like Spurgeon on the Flyers board, which would be a great result.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Been fantastic so far in Allsvenskan. 6 points in 5 games. Playing really well.

 

[Manhattan]

Weak skater, constantly gets burned by average skating forwards.

Most likely his short legs, but it’s rare to see a young player with upside lacking that much in footspeed/skating technique.

 

[S E P H]

Weak skater, constantly gets burned by average skating forwards.

Most likely his short legs, but it’s rare to see a young player with upside lacking that much in footspeed/skating technique.

What? He's #4 for Sweden right? He was their best defender after Edvinsson.

 

[Manhattan]

What? He's #4 for Sweden right? He was their best defender after Edvinsson.

No one is saying he is bad.

The post is all about his skating ability.
Go take a look and even you will notice The lack of foot speed and even in a lesser league like Hockeyallsvenskan you can tell he’s struggling to keep up.

And people has compared him to a poor man’s Quinn Hughes. Quinn can skate like very few others whilst Andrae can’t keep up like very few others.

 

[57special]

He looked good to me. Not everyone needs to be a fantastic skater, especially on D.

 

[VictorLustig]

I don’t see his game translating well to the NHL.

 

[Manhattan]

He looked good to me. Not everyone needs to be a fantastic skater, especially on D.

Fantastic….
We are talking well below average.
Actually bottom range in a league like Hockeyallsvenskan.

You can’t fake everyone forward out and it’s already tough being 5’9 with weak skating holding off opponents.

Dropped into the 2nd round due to his offensive upside and puck handling skills, but he has improved nothing at all when it comes to his skating two seasons later from his draft day.

You guys are watching him playing smaller/lighter juniors, take a look at the men’s games.

 

[HaNotsri]

No one is saying he is bad.

The post is all about his skating ability.
Go take a look and even you will notice The lack of foot speed and even in a lesser league like Hockeyallsvenskan you can tell he’s struggling to keep up.

And people has compared him to a poor man’s Quinn Hughes. Quinn can skate like very few others whilst Andrae can’t keep up like very few others.

Speed isn't that much different between SHL and HA. In some ways HA is more "skating intense" since the teams lack real talent so the gameplan is basically "work as hard as you can and hope for the best."

Agree that skating is the no. 1 weakness when it comes to Andrae but should be fixable when he goes to NA and has access to PEDs.

 

[NitroF]

Looks pretty good in these WJC!

What kind of career should be expected of him?