Swedish Junior Leagues 2024/2025

[Gazewithin]

I don’t know what you mean by trolling or uninformed

What I mean is that what you are saying is so absurd that it's hard to take seriously.

but if you think there is a lot of talent in DIF compared to other clubs, your analysis will not age well.

Not sure what aging analysis has to do with the current lot of talent in DIF right now. They are heavily overrepresented amongst the elite talent in all the NIU age groups right now. The consensus best 06 in the country(and another amongst the best, although that is a weak group nationally), the consensus best 07 in the country, as well as a overpopulated group of top players behind him. The consensus best 08 in the country, and a strong group behind him.

Don’t forget that these are young players who are developing, and history is full of hyped talents and child stars who then fall off in the transition to senior hockey.

Absolutely, think of all the talents they ruined. Alexander Holtz and William Eklund! Oh, and Liam Öhgren, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Noah Östlund!!!!! And lets not forget Victor Eklund himself.
The thing is I do in off course agree with you statement in a general sense, and there are certain teams who actually do a lot to hurt their players futures. But this portrayal as DIF as if they were either the biggest offenders of this(they're not) and as if they are not arguably the program that has churned out the most professionals out of junior teams the last couple of years is just completely off base.

Of all the things to criticize them for, you really are going for the senior hockey transition angle?
Even now, Victor Eklund is killing it, Linus Eriksson I believe has the most games logged with a senior team in the 06 age group(and has done fine), and Frondell was already showing massive promise last year as a 07. The only thing keeping him back right now is the injuries, which is incredibly concerning for his development, but it's clearly neither a talent or "pro-transition" issue.

Outside of Frölunda, there is not a team with comparable amount of top talent coming out of their organisation. Now, there are a lot of factors to that, and I don't think that those two teams are the best at developing just because of their amount of talented players. But they are clearly not junior graveyards.

Frondell, Stockselius, Drott, and Nilsson will most likely be drafted, though perhaps not as high as everyone hopes. Of that group, Nilsson is the most interesting with great playing skills.

As for the other three, they do not play at a high level, without going into details.

Can't say much about most of this. because it can mean a million things. But even outside of breaking this down, the fact that we are talking about this amount of players getting drafted(with either 1 or 2 in the first round) doesn't really bode well for your presentation.

DIF, we have two players, Björk and Eklund, who are at a high level and have good potential for development in the coming years. Beyond them, there aren’t many who stand out significantly, even though DIF does everything possible to boost their players.

, but if you think there is a lot of talent in DIF compared to other clubs, your analysis will not age well.

To go back to this, I would go as far to say the problem is closer to the opposite right now. DIF has to many of the nations top talents, and they are competing with each other as opposed to getting to be the guy or one of the guys. Would likely be better for them all if a couple went elsewhere. If Frondell and Eriksson stayed healthy the competiton for pro reps would be absurd.

I have a pretty clear picture of the players in J18 and J20.

I don't believe you.

 

[HockeyAnalys]

DIF has a strategy of selecting a few chosen players from each age group to highlight. Previously, it was Holtz, Grewe, and Björnfot - with Holtz being the big star. Björnfot has fared the best, Holtz didn’t develop as everyone expected, and Grewe seems more like a fourth-line player who just skates around and hits people.





Now it’s Ekberg, Björk, and Frondell. The first of these will go the farthest. As for Frondell, he lacks start and stop on the ice, skating and large turns don’t hold up. He looks heavy on the ice. Björk is good, but we’ll have to wait and see if he can take the step towards senior hockey.





I have a hard time seeing other players in DIF making it to the higher leagues in senior hockey.

 

[HockeyAnalys]

I predict that in the 2025 draft, Swedish players will not go as high as everyone thinks (with the exception of Eklund).

Looking at the 2007 cohort as a collective, they are good, but when examining player by player, there are deficiencies in stickhandling, skating, game perception, and not such a high hockey IQ.

Swedish hockey pushes players too early through the age groups, and biological maturity is prioritized both in national teams and HG/clubs. Just look at the national teams: if you don’t play upwards, you are not selected.

Why does there have to be such a rush to play up and in a senior team?

The latest trend is that players who have played upwards, like in J20, now head to the USA/Canada to try their luck; they don’t want to play with their own age group.

The consequence of all this is that the Swedish junior leagues will lose quality, and it only pressures all players/coaches/parents and agents.

 

[erikhamren]

I predict that in the 2025 draft, Swedish players will not go as high as everyone thinks (with the exception of Eklund).

Looking at the 2007 cohort as a collective, they are good, but when examining player by player, there are deficiencies in stickhandling, skating, game perception, and not such a high hockey IQ.

Swedish hockey pushes players too early through the age groups, and biological maturity is prioritized both in national teams and HG/clubs. Just look at the national teams: if you don’t play upwards, you are not selected.

Why does there have to be such a rush to play up and in a senior team?

The latest trend is that players who have played upwards, like in J20, now head to the USA/Canada to try their luck; they don’t want to play with their own age group.

The consequence of all this is that the Swedish junior leagues will lose quality, and it only pressures all players/coaches/parents and agents.

Clearly a change is needed on how we develop and train our talents.

 

[HockeyAnalys]

Something needs to be done in Swedish hockey.

Today, young players are quickly moved up to play with older age groups, and the pressure is increasing from players and agents for clubs to promote them.

The national team has stopped focusing on players within their own age group and now only selects players who are playing at higher levels.

Are these players better or predicted to have better careers? My analysis suggests the opposite: we risk creating incomplete players who skip crucial steps in their development. They struggle to handle the pressure and the psychological challenges it entails, and when others catch up, their careers may come to an end.

Swedish hockey will deteriorate in the long run if we force young players forward too quickly. We risk losing genuine talents who believe they aren’t good enough because they aren’t promoted.

Next year, a proposal will be introduced to prevent first-year U18 players from playing up without special permission. A good suggestion.

Sweden needs to make significant changes for junior players to enable more people to play hockey longer and to encourage young people to start playing hockey.


1. No underaged players in U18.
2. No playing up in the first year of U18 without special permission.
3. Extend the U20 league by one year.
4. Change the TV-pucken tournament to take place after the U16 season and create more teams based on the number of players in the district.
5. The national team should not bring in younger players before the World Juniors (JVM).
6. The national team must give greater consideration to talent and physical maturity; today, 90% of players are born early in the year.
7. The number of NIU (National Sports Program) spots should be based on the number of players in the district.
8. Let youth leagues compete—every game must have a winner.
9. Eliminate the 2x15 game format; change it to 2x20 or 3x20.
10. Encourage clubs to participate in select/international tournaments, but require opportunities for all players to participate at their level. This creates valuable experience and allows those ahead in their development to play with peers of similar skill.
11. Players accepted into an NIU program must also have a spot on the team for the duration of their studies.
12. Allsvenskan and SHL clubs should be required to offer two rookie contracts per age group per year, for two years, with compensation.