Prospect Info: Nils Lundkvist: Part III

[Slurpeelover27]

Minus the drama plus better defense would be amazing.

I don't think you need to worry too much about drama. Kid seems like he has a great personality. Girls are going to go crazy over him. I believe he already has a following in that department.

 

[BKGooner]

? I wouldn't call our d physical and our centers are much more offensively inclined than defensively

In the future there will be less Lundkvist and Zibs.

 

[CupSeeker]

Lundkvist won't be a carbon copy of Fox which is a good thing too as they have slightly different strengths. Lundkvist appears to be a better skater and have a much better shot so should be better suited to number 1 power play duties. Fox is insanely good at making the right play and being in the correct spot and using his small frame to defend. Both look like excellent passers. Not sure how strong on defense Lundkvist is, but all reports seem to suggest he is more than capable. If Nils can develop into a top dman scorer and play above average defense and with Miller, Lindgren, Hajek and others coming the Rangers should have one of the best d corps for the next decade. Not that it is necessary as much these days but fortunately Miller, Trouba and Hajek are all pretty big and by all accounts Fox and Lundkvist can hold their own in the physicality department.

Nils is defense first. The questions have always been about his offense.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Nils is defense first. The questions have always been about his offense.

This

 

[NYRFANMANI]

Crazy. Next camp is gonna be something guys.

 

[Slurpeelover27]

Nils is defense first. The questions have always been about his offense.

I hope you are right

 

[AlaBlueShirt]

A defenseman with a bomb one timer?!!!! Is that allowed?

Not on David Quinn’s gameplan. Nils will see PP minutes in 2025.

 

[42]

That'd be amazing.

But the expectation shouldn't be there for Nils to be another Fox, thats unfair to Nils and he just isn't that level of player. If he does hang around, I hope people give cut him a bit of slack when he resembles Pionk more than he does Fox out of the gate.

He can be better than Fox.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

He can be better than Fox.

Better than Fox would put him at the level of a top 1-3 D in this league and a perennial Norris favorite.

I'm going to go ahead and give that one a big fat no.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I'm assuming he can't play any games for us this season or we would have heard something about it?

 

[42]

Better than Fox would put him at the level of a top 1-3 D in this league and a perennial Norris favorite.

I'm going to go ahead and give that one a big fat no.

Fox isn't as good as this, yet. Let's not get carried away. Nils is better than Fox at similar stage of their careers.

 

[Fitzy]

Nils is defense first. The questions have always been about his offense.

I think people look at his size and numbers and assume the opposite, but this is what I have read too.

More Spurgeon-esque than DeAngelo esque

 

[The New Russian Five]

I'm assuming he can't play any games for us this season or we would have heard something about it?

Yeah it was mentioned somewhere earlier in this thread, but basically the terms of his contract in Sweden doesn't release him until the summer.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Yeah it was mentioned somewhere earlier in this thread, but basically the terms of his contract in Sweden doesn't release him until the summer.

Why would it be the summer and not when his season finishes? Makes no sense to me.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Fox isn't as good as this, yet. Let's not get carried away. Nils is better than Fox at similar stage of their careers.

He certainly has been this year and really, since December of 2019.

I don't think that you can really say that Nils was better than Fox in their D+3 seasons either, in fact I disagree with that statement completely (and I wouldn't have 2 years ago.)

Theres a sizable gap between NCAA and the SHL, but Fox pretty much did what ever the f*** he wanted on the ice during his Junior year. He controlled the flow of play more so than almost any defenseman I've seen at that level. I made the mistake of knocking him a bit for playing in the ECAC (though he ripped up the teams he played out of conference as well), lesson learned.

At the end of the day though, Fox's brain is just on another level. I feel like the larger ice surface helps Nils more than some want to admit and the adjustment to the smaller rink is going to be a rude awakening for anyone expecting a seamless transition. That doesn't mean that hes going to suck long term, but it's going to take some time and I don't think he'll ever bridge gap that Fox has on him in terms of processing the game at the NHL level.

 

[The New Russian Five]

Why would it be the summer and not when his season finishes? Makes no sense to me.

If I recall the contract includes a clause that says he will play on the national team for tournaments over the next few months. Something along those lines. AK has a more concrete answer. All I know is that he is still at this point not released from his contract.

 

[42]

He certainly has been this year and really, since December of 2019.

I don't think that you can really say that Nils was better than Fox in their D+3 seasons either, in fact I disagree with that statement completely (and I wouldn't have 2 years ago.)

Theres a sizable gap between NCAA and the SHL, but Fox pretty much did what ever the f*** he wanted on the ice during his Junior year. He controlled the flow of play more so than almost any defenseman I've seen at that level. I made the mistake of knocking him a bit for playing in the ECAC (though he ripped up the teams he played out of conference as well), lesson learned.

At the end of the day though, Fox's brain is just on another level. I feel like the larger ice surface helps Nils more than some want to admit and the adjustment to the smaller rink is going to be a rude awakening for anyone expecting a seamless transition. That doesn't mean that hes going to suck long term, but it's going to take some time and I don't think he'll ever bridge gap that Fox has on him in terms of processing the game at the NHL level.

Short sample size and an unusual season. I'll wait until Fox plays a couple of regular NHL seasons before we can decide what he will settle into.
We will see but whatever the outcome, it's a good "problem" for the Rangers to have.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

He certainly has been this year and really, since December of 2019.

I don't think that you can really say that Nils was better than Fox in their D+3 seasons either, in fact I disagree with that statement completely (and I wouldn't have 2 years ago.)

Theres a sizable gap between NCAA and the SHL, but Fox pretty much did what ever the f*** he wanted on the ice during his Junior year. He controlled the flow of play more so than almost any defenseman I've seen at that level. I made the mistake of knocking him a bit for playing in the ECAC (though he ripped up the teams he played out of conference as well), lesson learned.

At the end of the day though, Fox's brain is just on another level. I feel like the larger ice surface helps Nils more than some want to admit and the adjustment to the smaller rink is going to be a rude awakening for anyone expecting a seamless transition. That doesn't mean that hes going to suck long term, but it's going to take some time and I don't think he'll ever bridge gap that Fox has on him in terms of processing the game at the NHL level.

And, regarding the bold, none of us expected his ability to just control play and basically toy with the opposition to somehow translate to the NHL. That never seems to - for obvious reasons. Yet, here we are. He's controlling the play when he's on the ice and he just toys with opponents at times.

He's the best defender we've had since Leetch/Zubov and I am confident that he will surpass Zubov in terms of a career.

And Zubov is one of my favorite players of all time, mind you.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

And, regarding the bold, none of us expected his ability to just control play and basically toy with the opposition to somehow translate to the NHL. That never seems to - for obvious reasons. Yet, here we are. He's controlling the play when he's on the ice and he just toys with opponents at times.

He's the best defender we've had since Leetch/Zubov and I am confident that he will surpass Zubov in terms of a career.

And Zubov is one of my favorite players of all time, mind you.

I recently saw that we're getting NHLers back in the Olympics. I'm so excited to see him represent the US.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

And, regarding the bold, none of us expected his ability to just control play and basically toy with the opposition to somehow translate to the NHL. That never seems to - for obvious reasons. Yet, here we are. He's controlling the play when he's on the ice and he just toys with opponents at times.

He's the best defender we've had since Leetch/Zubov and I am confident that he will surpass Zubov in terms of a career.

And Zubov is one of my favorite players of all time, mind you.

I was surprised when it carried over to Traverse City, which isn't exactly the highest level of hockey, but it was higher than anything he had experienced.

Fast forward a year and a half later and he's crushing the best level in the world.

 

[Levitate]

It's highly doubtful Lundkvist is going to sniff PP1 minutes any time soon. Fox is not getting bumped from the top spot and Zibanejad and Panarin are the triggermen with the big bombs on the power play, they don't "need" a defenseman with a bomb
If anything is going to change with PP1 it's eventually Strome getting punted and Kakko or Lafreniere going in his spot

 

[TheDirtyH]

It's highly doubtful Lundkvist is going to sniff PP1 minutes any time soon. Fox is not getting bumped from the top spot and Zibanejad and Panarin are the triggermen with the big bombs on the power play, they don't "need" a defenseman with a bomb
If anything is going to change with PP1 it's eventually Strome getting punted and Kakko or Lafreniere going in his spot

Personally, I'm getting excited for us to roll out the never-before-seen 3D 2F PP unit 2 of

Howden
Lundvist Blackwell Miller
Trouba

 

[Slurpeelover27]

Detroit Red Wings' blue chippers, Montreal Canadiens' Cole Caufield headline Top 75 prospects list - TSN.ca

Nils ranked 10th overall ahead of many highly touted dmen prospects including Brannstrom, Bouchard, Heinola, Sandin, Beaudin, York etc. Craig Button does these lists every year and he is pretty good.

 

[Slurpeelover27]

Top 50 NHL-Affiliated Prospects - TSN.ca

Pretty good list from 2019 although Kravstov much too high he had Shesterkin and Fox ranked better than most I would guess at the time.

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

Detroit Red Wings' blue chippers, Montreal Canadiens' Cole Caufield headline Top 75 prospects list - TSN.ca

Nils ranked 10th overall ahead of many highly touted dmen prospects including Brannstrom, Bouchard, Heinola, Sandin, Beaudin, York etc. Craig Button does these lists every year and he is pretty good.

nils at 10 is a shaft

he should be like 3