Player Discussion: Nikolaj Ehlers

[AstrophysicalJet]

For some reason the Ehlers thread is closed.

So I am going to post a nice little video update here.
Hope it is viewable outside Denmark: (In Danish)

NHL-stjerne træner med hos Pirates

Talks about his off season training, beeing home in Denmark and so on.

He is practicing with his hometown club of Aalborg.

Click to read more...

 

[YWGinYYZ]

For some reason the Ehlers thread is closed.

It was over 1000 posts, and a new one wasn't created. Congrats - we're pivoting off your post for a new thread. Nice video - thanks for posting! It plays for me in Toronto, so it works outside of Denmark.

 

[AstrophysicalJet]

It was over 1000 posts, and a new one wasn't created. Congrats - we're pivoting off your post for a new thread. Nice video - thanks for posting! It plays for me in Toronto, so it works outside of Denmark.

Yay me

And thanks

 

[Nickel eye Heel hers]

I think we need to refer to all our forwards as "ishockeyspiller".

Good to see a big grin as he trains.

 

[AstrophysicalJet]

Not so much off season training, but off season none the less.

Ehlers has become an ambassador for his local soccer club Aab, who play in the Premier Danish league.

(Btw I hate this team)

Nikolaj Ehlers - AaB-ambassadør - YouTube

Ehlers has spent most of, if not all his off season in his childhood hometown of Aalborg in Northern Jutland - where his family resides in the very affluent neighborhood Hasseris.

AFAIK he has been conditioning most of the summer and been on ice the last 2-3 weeks.

It always hits me when I hear him speak Danish, for those who don't speak it, he has a Northern Jutland Accent, which always strikes me as weird, as for some reason I expect him to speak as a Copenhagener.

 

[AstrophysicalJet]

I think we need to refer to all our forwards as "ishockeyspiller".

Good to see a big grin as he trains.

It just means Icehockey player.

In Denmark they actually call a forward, a forward

 

[Howard Chuck]

Not so much off season training, but off season none the less.

Ehlers has become an ambassador for his local soccer club Aab, who play in the Premier Danish league.

(Btw I hate this team)

Nikolaj Ehlers - AaB-ambassadør - YouTube

Ehlers has spent most of, if not all his off season in his childhood hometown of Aalborg in Northern Jutland - where his family resides in the very affluent neighborhood Hasseris.

AFAIK he has been conditioning most of the summer and been on ice the last 2-3 weeks.

It always hits me when I hear him speak Danish, for those who don't speak it, he has a Northern Jutland Accent, which always strikes me as weird, as for some reason I expect him to speak as a Copenhagener.

I am so happy that we have HFJets representatives from all over the world to help us understand the various languages and cultures. Thanks for this!

 

[Nickel eye Heel hers]

It just means Icehockey player.

In Denmark they actually call a forward, a forward

Thank you for the translation sir.

The word looked a lot more fun to me not knowing the language, mystery ruined

 

[AstrophysicalJet]

Just got this vid in my feed, and it made me think of an interview Ehlers did with a local radiostation in Aalborg.
He talked about rushes, speed and zone entries being a speciality of his.
He went on to say, he wants more of his rushes/zone entries to become goals/assists, and that he has worked hard this summer to make that happen.

So many of his awesome plays go unnoticed because he sometimes maybe makes the wrong decision, or forgets his own speed, he himself mentioned he has to be better at either shooting at the right angles, or passing the puck faster, instead of holding onto it - Utilizing his speed in a smarter way so to speak.

 

[Howard Chuck]

Just got this vid in my feed, and it made me think of an interview Ehlers did with a local radiostation in Aalborg.
He talked about rushes, speed and zone entries being a speciality of his.
He went on to say, he wants more of his rushes/zone entries to become goals/assists, and that he has worked hard this summer to make that happen.

So many of his awesome plays go unnoticed because he sometimes maybe makes the wrong decision, or forgets his own speed, he himself mentioned he has to be better at either shooting at the right angles, or passing the puck faster, instead of holding onto it - Utilizing his speed in a smarter way so to speak.

I'm glad to hear he's thinking like this. I've been saying all along that if he and his linemates can figure out how to take advantage of his incredible zone entries, we would have a crapload more goals. Yes, crapload is the technical term

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

I'm glad to hear he's thinking like this. I've been saying all along that if he and his linemates can figure out how to take advantage of his incredible zone entries, we would have a crapload more goals. Yes, crapload is the technical term

And if he could learn to get a goalie to move on a breakaway he would have a crapload more goals himself.

 

[buggs]

And if he could learn to get a goalie to move on a breakaway he would have a crapload more goals himself.

Lose the slapshot, that might help a fair bit. That big arse windup is a bit telling. Or at least just vary it a bit.

 

[1stDan]

Lose the slapshot, that might help a fair bit. That big arse windup is a bit telling. Or at least just vary it a bit.

Him and Little both.

 

[AstrophysicalJet]

Lose the slapshot, that might help a fair bit. That big arse windup is a bit telling. Or at least just vary it a bit.

Its weird, because he used his pretty decent wrister alot in Jr.

 

[Psych0dad]

Just got this vid in my feed, and it made me think of an interview Ehlers did with a local radiostation in Aalborg.
He talked about rushes, speed and zone entries being a speciality of his.
He went on to say, he wants more of his rushes/zone entries to become goals/assists, and that he has worked hard this summer to make that happen.

So many of his awesome plays go unnoticed because he sometimes maybe makes the wrong decision, or forgets his own speed, he himself mentioned he has to be better at either shooting at the right angles, or passing the puck faster, instead of holding onto it - Utilizing his speed in a smarter way so to speak.

It's great to hear he is aware of those traits and wants to work to fix them.

 

[Ippenator]

Lose the slapshot, that might help a fair bit. That big arse windup is a bit telling. Or at least just vary it a bit.

His slapshot seems to be pretty hard and he has scored some nice goals with it. But it is not very accurate unfortunately. So I do definitely agree with getting a bit more variation with his shooting. His wrister hasn’t been too impressive though. Hopefully he will still be able to develop it and start using it more.

He would be already a lot better player if he can fix the things that he acknowledged already in the video (exactly the things that I said to be his clearest weaknesses already quite a while ago), and also the shooting related things that have been discussed here. All those things together would make him a very difficult player to handle. Hopefully this is what will happen.

 

[AstrophysicalJet]

His slapshot seems to be pretty hard and he has scored some nice goals with it. But it is not very accurate unfortunately. So I do definitely agree with getting a bit more variation with his shooting. His wrister hasn’t been too impressive though. Hopefully he will still be able to develop it and start using it more.

He would be already a lot better player if he can fix the things that he acknowledged already in the video (exactly the things that I said to be his clearest weaknesses already quite a while ago), and also the shooting related things that have been discussed here. All those things together would make him a very difficult player to handle. Hopefully this is what will happen.

I think most people here aknowledged those as things he could improve.

They just did not agree with him having a low iq, and having reached his peak.

I think Ehlers has a great shot, both wrister and slapper, he just shoots when he shouldnt shoot, and chooses bad angles at times.

his NHL career so far, and his jr. career would also attest to that

 

[DashingDane]

Ehlers is a waay better shooter than the majority of the league.. Anyone is going to look average compared to Laine.

In terms of his slap shot. Look at Laine's first hattrick. His second goal doesn't happen if Ehlers never uses his slapper. His slap fake has been very useful so far..

 

[Daximus]

And if he could learn to get a goalie to move on a breakaway he would have a crapload more goals himself.

He needs to utilize those crossovers and misdirection he does when he is gaining the zone. He just so often goes straight at the goalie and goes for a last minute deke. He's one kid who if he figures out how to get better passes off could be an offensive wizard.

 

[ffh]

He needs to shoot more like his rookie season but as long as Laine is on his line he always defers to him instead of shooting. More shots less passing alot more shots.

 

[DashingDane]

He needs to shoot more like his rookie season but as long as Laine is on his line he always defers to him instead of shooting. More shots less passing alot more shots.

That's why I don't think they should be on the same line...

Funny thing is, all season you would hear fans complain that he never passes. Then he started passing and then it becomes the opposite. Sometimes you just can't win

 

[Ippenator]

I think most people here aknowledged those as things he could improve.

They just did not agree with him having a low iq, and having reached his peak.

I think Ehlers has a great shot, both wrister and slapper, he just shoots when he shouldnt shoot, and chooses bad angles at times.

his NHL career so far, and his jr. career would also attest to that

Well, if you are trying to make it look like I have said that Ehlers has low hockey IQ, then you are wrong and making a strawman. I did say a few times that his hockey IQ does seem a bit average, which does not mean LOW after all. I did also say that he is so fast with his skates and rarely has shown that he knows what to do quickly and accurately at his full speed. To me that seems like his hockey IQ doesn’t really match the very high speed that he is skating at. Still I didn’t say even that meaning that he has LOW hockey IQ - just that it seems pretty average, at least for the speed that he constantly has tried to play at. In fact his smartest plays have usually come when he has been able to slow down his game a bit.

This is anyway the problem of most of the real speedskating players in the NHL - not just Ehlers.

I have for sure not said that Ehlers has LOW hockey IQ. But if you think that low and average are the same things, then I can’t help it.

[It's] not fair to expect Ehlers to still develop very substantially. It can of course happen still, but on the other hand most of the forwards are reaching their peak already at 23, so Ehlers is not really that far from that age anymore. He might be even an exception, but still just because they can exist - I wouldn’t EXPECT the really great development for him anymore. Great though, if it will still happen.

 

[AstrophysicalJet]

Well, if you are trying to make it look like I have said that Ehlers has low hockey IQ, then you are wrong and making a strawman. I did say a few times that his hockey IQ does seem a bit average, which does not mean LOW after all. I did also say that he is so fast with his skates and rarely has shown that he knows what to do quickly and accurately at his full speed. To me that seems like his hockey IQ doesn’t really match the very high speed that he is skating at. Still I didn’t say even that meaning that he has LOW hockey IQ - just that it seems pretty average, at least for the speed that he constantly has tried to play at. In fact his smartest plays have usually come when he has been able to slow down his game a bit.

This is anyway the problem of most of the real speedskating players in the NHL - not just Ehlers.

I have for sure not said that Ehlers has LOW hockey IQ. But if you think that low and average are the same things, then I can’t help it.

I have also not said that Ehlers has completely peaked, but just that he is already two years older than Laine so most probably he is already much closer to his peak than Laine and any only 20 year ole player is. So probably it’s not fair to expect Ehlers to still develop very substantially. It can of course happen still, but on the other hand most of the forwards are reaching their peak already at 23, so Ehlers os not really that far from that age anymore. He might be even an exception, but still just because they can exist - I wouldn’t EXPECT the really great development for him anymore. Great though, if it will still happen.

[...]

I never said you specifically said so, but other posters did indeed.

However, I still disagree with your take, that his iq is avg. at best, which is what you wrote.

And I don't agree that forwards peak at 23, or that Ehlers is peaking.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

He needs to utilize those crossovers and misdirection he does when he is gaining the zone. He just so often goes straight at the goalie and goes for a last minute deke. He's one kid who if he figures out how to get better passes off could be an offensive wizard.

I think he is pretty close to 'Wizard' already.

The passing could improve a bit but I really think the breakaways are a big thing for him because he gets so many. I agree that some of the moves he uses on entries might help. Just actually using his backhand a little more often would be a big step in the right direction. Right now he usually does exactly what the goalie is expecting.

 

[LowLefty]

I think he is pretty close to 'Wizard' already.

The passing could improve a bit but I really think the breakaways are a big thing for him because he gets so many. I agree that some of the moves he uses on entries might help. Just actually using his backhand a little more often would be a big step in the right direction. Right now he usually does exactly what the goalie is expecting.

I'll agree on his passing but there is absolutely no reason he can't improve on that - I'd assume he didn't do enough of it coming up through the ranks

On entries, he usually beats the first guy with ease - he's typically flying at that point and he gets a lot of respect (gap) once he's in the zone.
He usually finds himself in trouble when he finally takes a look around in an effort to pass - he should have been lining guys up well before this point and that rushes him a bit. This is an easy fix

When he addresses these issues, he has huge upside. Players with his speed, edge work and puck handling are super dangerous every time they touch the puck. On top of that, he's a good shooter but I personally see him picking up more helper points once he sorts out the zone entry issues.

Get him on a line with quick players and leave them together for awhile - I can see this guy potentially developing into a McD light - give him a year or two.