Prospect Info: Tom Willander: 11th Overall 2023 Draft (Rogle BK J20) - Part 02

[Diversification]

One thing I know for sure is that if I wanted a career in journalism as far as being known as an evaluator of young talent then I would throw out the phrase "may need more time" as often as I possibly could.

Plus I don't think anyone was seriously under the impression he wouldn't get reps in in Abby first? The number of guys who are ready to jump from NCAA to NHL directly are limited at best. Especially so given that no one is projecting Willander (that I know of) as a true dynamic "can't miss" guy. But just a super solid, top 3, minute munching steadying presence. You look at the pairing USA has right now of Slavin and Faber and see the impact they have on a game, that's the style I'm anticipating Willander to be.

When you look at our RHD depth, it's Hronek, Myers, Soucy playing on his offside (and making more salary than is ideal), and *throws up a bit in my mouth* Juulsen. I would say the odds of Soucy being dealt in the offseason as better than 50/50, which leaves a wide path for Willander to step in next season on the bottom pair with the opportunity to work his way up as injuries hit the blue line.

 

[krutovsdonut]

Jimbo never would have picked him either.

i think no way would he have taken another winger after pods. we'd have sillinger.

 

[Lindgren]

Just glancing at Willander's stats, something that sticks out is his penalty minutes.

Minutes for the other three apparent top four D: 54, 45, 29.
Minutes for Willander: 6.

Can the Willander watchers tell us whether, on balance, that striking contrast is more due to a complete lack of a physical game, or, rather, to smart positional play and elite skating meaning he's rarely forced to take a penalty?

 

[sting101]

i think no way would he have taken another winger after pods. we'd have sillinger.

or Svechkov

 

[logan5]

Just glancing at Willander's stats, something that sticks out is his penalty minutes.

Minutes for the other three apparent top four D: 54, 45, 29.
Minutes for Willander: 6.

Can the Willander watchers tell us whether, on balance, that striking contrast is more due to a complete lack of a physical game, or, rather, to smart positional play and elite skating meaning he's rarely forced to take a penalty?

Not a Willander or defenceman expert, but having watched some shift by shift videos of his games, he is always in the right spot. It looks like he is not doing much out there, but nothing bad happens when he is out there.

 

[Peen]

How does that make any sense? He hasn’t had any association with the Panthers for 5 seasons.

It's also funny because Bukala has always been higher than everyone else on D-Petey.

And that doesn't mean that we should take his word for gospel, but it just means that there isn't bias here. He just sees things differently. It isn't a big deal. At least he explains his justification for it too.

It's not like that stupid Dom L article where he found some guys who didn't watch Hughes' end of 22-23 where he took a leap defensively and took really stupid quotes from management like "Not a good two-way D" as gospel and was being super defensive about it.

 

[BluesyShoes]

Just glancing at Willander's stats, something that sticks out is his penalty minutes.

Minutes for the other three apparent top four D: 54, 45, 29.
Minutes for Willander: 6.

Can the Willander watchers tell us whether, on balance, that striking contrast is more due to a complete lack of a physical game, or, rather, to smart positional play and elite skating meaning he's rarely forced to take a penalty?

I raise you one Chris Tanev's collegiate penalty minute numbers. (41 games on the top pairing, 4 penalty minutes)

Tanev's absurdly low penalty minutes was actually the thing that peaked my curiosity when we signed him out of college.

For big minute d-men, it can indicate excellent mobility, positioning, and stickwork. Other low PIM guys that come to mind are Jonas Brodin, Jared Spurgeon, Jaccob Slavin.