RD Simon Edvinsson - Grand Rapids Griffins., AHL (2021, 6th, DET)

[Ed Ned and Leddy]

What is the knock on this kid? The whole package seems to be there.

I'm not sure there's a "knock" on Edvinsson in terms of any glaring flaw. He was seen by many as a top 2 or 3 prospect this draft, only only slipped a few spots to some other pretty deserving players.

I think what was off-putting to some folks on this board, and what may have been off-putting to some GMs, was the fact that we never got a really robust, consistent look at Edvinsson during his draft year. He bounced between Frolunda U20s, Frolunda's men's team, and his loan spell at Vasteras in the Allsvenkan. Because of that, it was tough for me at least to get a good grasp on what type of player he could be at higher levels. If you saw him at the SHL level he played pretty conservatively in my opinion, so I could see where the questions regarding his offensive upside developed. My concerns eased as I saw more footage of his U20 and Allsvenkan play, as well as his performance in the U20 tournament in Texas.

Now I still don't think he's a clear home-run pick, and to be fair most of the players selected above him have started the year well too, but I do think that Edvinsson having a clear role on the Frolunda men's team has been really valuable and has allowed us to see more of his talent.

 

[Coach Reggie Dunlop]

What is the knock on this kid? The whole package seems to be there.

Shot isn’t that good keeping him limited from powerplay time as of now, but he’s started to practice with PP1 in frolunda.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Shot isn’t that good keeping him limited from powerplay time as of now, but he’s started to practice with PP1 in frolunda.

But it will give him plenty of practice in a game situation. Edvinsson is superb at zone penetration from the blueline this year. And with someone like Soderblom at the front of the net all Edvinsson will have to do is get in, work closer to the net and shoot from the circles and create a rebound.

 

[Eggtimer]

Sounds like he is coming along very very nicely.
Why is it that most analysts and scouts had him below the tier of Power Clarke and Hughes ?
I don’t get how he was not grouped with them pre-draft.
Was it his U-18 tourney or? Is it just his shot that was nit elite or ? I can’t see how that made him not in that tier with the others.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Sounds like he is coming along very very nicely.
Why is it that most analysts and scouts had him below the tier of Power Clarke and Hughes ?
I don’t get how he was not grouped with them pre-draft.
Was it his U-18 tourney or? Is it just his shot that was nit elite or ? I can’t see how that made him not in that tier with the others.

I'll admit that I also had him lower than Clarke and Power. I think it was inconsistency early in his draft year as well as bouncing around numerous leagues due to COVID. For me it wasn't lack of talent or anything but more the consistency of his offensive play and accuracy of his passing. Both have looked better by far. The kid looks like he put in a lot of work.

I think Seider in the AHL and SHL was a better passer than Edvinsson but Edvinsson has shown so much confidence and ability to lug the puck up ice. In that regard Edvinsson is better than Seider and looks like he could be an instant zone entry on a possession.

 

[ThankGord]

beauty of a skater. very impressed to see him gain enough trust from Frolunda to play upwards of 25 minutes as an 18 year old.

 

[cjeagle]

Detroit Redwings European head scout Hakan Andersson gives his assessment of Edvinsson



How good can he become?

HA: -If you go that high in the draft you expect them to be a top 3D or top6F. He looks like he can land there.
He's got very high potential. He's no Klingberg or Karlsson, feels more like a Hedman-defender. Question everyone asks is if he become that good.. who knows? It undoubtedly looks exciting and similarities between him and Hedman can't be ignored.

There's no plan for when Detroit wants to bring him over. It all depends on the season and the level he keeps performing at.

HA: -Generally there's a rule to be a leading player on your team. Next step is to be competing for a national team and being at that level. You need to do that to have a chance in the NHL.

Do you think he can keep going on this path?

HA -It would be great if he could. But I wouldn't be surprised if he falters a little bit in january. A lot of young players do that and it's impossible to be fully trained at that age. We can say more in march and april.

How quickly do you know if you're making the right choice or not in a draft?

HA: -You see it right away when they start playing. Now we feel we're on a correct streak two years in a row by selecting Raymond and now Edvinsson.

 

[Hen Kolland]

Sounds like he is coming along very very nicely.
Why is it that most analysts and scouts had him below the tier of Power Clarke and Hughes ?
I don’t get how he was not grouped with them pre-draft.
Was it his U-18 tourney or? Is it just his shot that was nit elite or ? I can’t see how that made him not in that tier with the others.

Depends on who you’re looking at as your source? He opened the season ranked #2 on Bob McKenzie’s ranking, was T-2 at midseason, and 3rd for the final.

He was always in the mix. The problem was that certain people discredited him offensively or people discredited him defensively along the way. Nobody captured who he was as a prospect. Was he high risk, high reward? Or was he low risk, low upside? And the result was people didn’t know who or what to believe

He’s got elements of both

 

[Michael Brand Eggs]

What is the knock on this kid? The whole package seems to be there.

Pundits (not professional scouts) suggested that due to some ugly video clips, his passing game was bad, and thought maybe it indicated low hockey IQ. As far as I can tell, few if any scouts actually believed this. This season, we haven't seen any of that.

In general, he kinda got lumped in with Philip Broberg, as both are bigger guys who can really skate. But Broberg actually did have those problems, whereas Edvinsson never really did.

 

[ricky0034]

Detroit Redwings European head scout Hakan Andersson gives his assessment of Edvinsson



How good can he become?

HA: -If you go that high in the draft you expect them to be a top 3D or top6F. He looks like he can land there.
He's got very high potential. He's no Klingberg or Karlsson, feels more like a Hedman-defender. Question everyone asks is if he become that good.. who knows? It undoubtedly looks exciting and similarities between him and Hedman can't be ignored.

There's no plan for when Detroit wants to bring him over. It all depends on the season and the level he keeps performing at.

HA: -Generally there's a rule to be a leading player on your team. Next step is to be competing for a national team and being at that level. You need to do that to have a chance in the NHL.

Do you think he can keep going on this path?

HA -It would be great if he could. But I wouldn't be surprised if he falters a little bit in january. A lot of young players do that and it's impossible to be fully trained at that age. We can say more in march and april.

How quickly do you know if you're making the right choice or not in a draft?

HA: -You see it right away when they start playing. Now we feel we're on a correct streak two years in a row by selecting Raymond and now Edvinsson.

that two years in a row line at the end is kinda interesting

is there someone they wish they had taken instead of Seider?

 

[Ed Ned and Leddy]

that two years in a row line at the end is kinda interesting

is there someone they wish they had taken instead of Seider?

Maybe I'm wrong and Andersson is a major Zegras stan, but I'm pretty sure he was referring to the Swedish scouting staff with the "two years in a row" remark.

 

[ricky0034]

Maybe I'm wrong and Andersson is a major Zegras stan, but I'm pretty sure he was referring to the Swedish scouting staff with the "two years in a row" remark.

yeah I guess that makes more sense

just thought it was sort of an odd comment with how well Seider has been doing

 

[SimonEdvinssonAtSix]

that two years in a row line at the end is kinda interesting

is there someone they wish they had taken instead of Seider?

Tyler Wright was still around during the Seider draft. So I'm sure he's referencing the current Draper regime.

 

[cjeagle]

that two years in a row line at the end is kinda interesting

is there someone they wish they had taken instead of Seider?

It is a Swedish website where the interview was made. Hakan probably just wanted to emphasize the Swedish players they drafted which he had the most influence in scouting and recommending to Yzerman.

I think Seider was an Yzerman decision. He went to Germany several times to personally scout Seider. It took a lot of balls to draft a player that was ranked in the 10th to 15th spot in the pre draft rankings at #6 but Stevie made that call.

 

[newfy]

Depends on who you’re looking at as your source? He opened the season ranked #2 on Bob McKenzie’s ranking, was T-2 at midseason, and 3rd for the final.

He was always in the mix. The problem was that certain people discredited him offensively or people discredited him defensively along the way. Nobody captured who he was as a prospect. Was he high risk, high reward? Or was he low risk, low upside? And the result was people didn’t know who or what to believe

He’s got elements of both

I think the reason he got knocked is that due to covid a lot of the internet nerd scouts didnt see him play. I read an article (maybe Pronman?) who said that he was the prospect by far that had the biggest difference in respect between NHL scouts and internet scouts. A big dman that does everything well and isnt flashy isnt going to get respect on youtube clips like an Eklund type player.

Theres a lot of praise coming out of Sweden for him right now, if he keeps going the way hes going Detroits goingt o be scary on defense

 

[cjeagle]

Kronwall on Edvinsson(as well as Soderblom and Niederbach), the 3 players he has personally been mentoring and training at Frolunda



One of the reasons all those 3 players have improved so much this year is that they are being personally mentored in extra training sessions by former Detroit Redwings legend Niklas Kronvall.

 

[Boonk]

Detroit is going to be frustrating to play against in the future with Seider and Edvinsson patrolling the blue line every game

 

[cjeagle]

Comments on Edvinsson's elevation to Frolunda's 1st Powerplay unit:

 

[cjeagle]

Edvinsson's extra training sessions with Detroit's former all around defenceman and current developmental coach Niklas Kronwall.



"Niklas Kronwall, the legendary Detroit defender who works a lot with the club's talents on Swedish soil, of course takes care of them when he can. Talk, check the situation, give feedback, look at details. In addition he makes regular phone calls with accompanying video views."

https://rakapuckar.com/tror-vi-bara-skrapat-lite-pa-ytan-dar-otroligt-smart-spelare/

 

[Kalv]

Detroit Redwings European head scout Hakan Andersson gives his assessment of Edvinsson



How good can he become?

HA: -If you go that high in the draft you expect them to be a top 3D or top6F. He looks like he can land there.
He's got very high potential. He's no Klingberg or Karlsson, feels more like a Hedman-defender. Question everyone asks is if he become that good.. who knows? It undoubtedly looks exciting and similarities between him and Hedman can't be ignored.

There's no plan for when Detroit wants to bring him over. It all depends on the season and the level he keeps performing at.

HA: -Generally there's a rule to be a leading player on your team. Next step is to be competing for a national team and being at that level. You need to do that to have a chance in the NHL.

Do you think he can keep going on this path?

HA -It would be great if he could. But I wouldn't be surprised if he falters a little bit in january. A lot of young players do that and it's impossible to be fully trained at that age. We can say more in march and april.

How quickly do you know if you're making the right choice or not in a draft?

HA: -You see it right away when they start playing. Now we feel we're on a correct streak two years in a row by selecting Raymond and now Edvinsson.

Ummmm, two years in a row? They selected Sider in 2019 and it has all but exceeded expectations.[/QUOTE]

 

[TheMule93]

Ummmm, two years in a row? They selected Sider in 2019 and it has all but exceeded expectations.

[/QUOTE]

That was the previous scouting group, but yes, we appear to hit 3 years in a row all things considered.

 

[De Montreal]

Frolunda season end March 15th. Any chance he joins the Wings at the end of the season for a first taste of the NHL? Or they prefer not to burn one year of his ELC?

 

[FireBird71]

Frolunda season end March 15th. Any chance he joins the Wings at the end of the season for a first taste of the NHL? Or they prefer not to burn one year of his ELC?

PTO in Grand Rapids maybe

 

[cjeagle]

Frolunda season end March 15th. Any chance he joins the Wings at the end of the season for a first taste of the NHL? Or they prefer not to burn one year of his ELC?

Yes but Frolunda might still have to go through the SHL playoffs.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Yes but Frolunda might still have to go through the SHL playoffs.

They're currently 1st in the SHL with the highest ranked offense in the league at the moment. I think that if they remain healthy they will safely make it to the SHL playoffs and take at least a round.