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

[RobertKron]

Team USA coach didn't trust Hughes defensively so he didn't get the deployment he should have in the 2019 World Juniors. Team USA had better 2-way guys and ridiculously talented forwards so didn't see much extra reward for the risk of playing Hughes who wasn't as good defensively as he is now. However, in the limited time he did play he dominated. Same as his time in Michigan. He was dominant there too. There was plenty of indication that Hughes was going to break out in the NHL.

I've also read scouting reports that said Willander was invisible many games this season - something we didn't hear about Hughes.

VJ has said this before, and it was just as silly the first time. Hughes was the youngest player in D1 hockey his first year at Michigan, as he finished high school early to go to the NCAA a year early. His rookie college season was certainly remarkable. His second year - in what should have been his freshman season - he led his team in scoring and got Hobey Baker consideration.

It's also funny since they've spent every waking moment since Lekkerimaki was named WJHC MVP talking about how definitively strong WJHC performances indicate that a player will be super duper good.

 

[Blue and Green]

VJ has said this before, and it was just as silly the first time. Hughes was the youngest player in D1 hockey his first year at Michigan, as he finished high school early to go to the NCAA a year early. His rookie college season was certainly remarkable. His second year - in what should have been his freshman season - he led his team in scoring and got Hobey Baker consideration.

It's also funny since they've spent every waking moment since Lekkerimaki was named WJHC MVP talking about how definitively strong WJHC performances indicate that a player will be super duper good.

Hughes finished high school in his normal year. He turned 18 that October as a freshman, same as Eichel, Fantilli et al. Celebrini was the guy who finished a year early.

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

Showing up today, 2g 1a with another period to play. Probably the most minutes on the team as well.

 

[DeltaSwede]

TW has been Swedens best defensemen during the first 3 games. He looks like an NHLer amongst junior players out there. Very mature game and most importantly, a playstyle that will transition to the NHL really well.

Really great prospect we've got on our hands here. Got robbed of the player of the game award. Was brilliant throughout the game.

 

[Raistlin]

TW has been Swedens best defensemen during the first 3 games. He looks like an NHLer amongst junior players out there. Very mature game and most importantly, a playstyle that will transition to the NHL really well.

Really great prospect we've got on our hands here. Got robbed of the player of the game award. Was brilliant throughout the game.

I'm going to cede the hat trick game to ASP. But in terms of minutes, TW's been gobbling it up and relied on the most to stabilize the game every game.

 

[Vector]

Showing up today, 2g 1a with another period to play. Probably the most minutes on the team as well.

While true for the first two games, ASP lead the Swedes in ice time for today's game and 7 players, total, played more than Willander.

 

[sandwichbird2023]

Team USA coach didn't trust Hughes defensively so he didn't get the deployment he should have in the 2019 World Juniors. Team USA had better 2-way guys and ridiculously talented forwards so didn't see much extra reward for the risk of playing Hughes who wasn't as good defensively as he is now. However, in the limited time he did play he dominated. Same as his time in Michigan. He was dominant there too. There was plenty of indication that Hughes was going to break out in the NHL.

I've also read scouting reports that said Willander was invisible many games this season - something we didn't hear about Hughes.

For his playstyle, being invisible isn't a bad thing. On the other hand, Hughes' playstyle tend to be more noticeable, so him being invisible will be more of an issue.

 

[Breakers]

I don’t know where the hell this narrative at Hughes came from in the world juniors

He literally played more than anybody on his roster and was top 3 in the tournament in average TOI.

Got a silver medal with trash like Tyler Madden, Logan cocker ill, and Jay Obrein

 

[rypper]

Whether a player stood out at the WJC or not, I don't think it's something you can put a ton of stock in for how a player will turn out. Because when you do that, you become Jim Benning and nobody wants that.

 

[Bleach Clean]

Good on Willander for posting 3 points. A pleasant surprise.

Can't put too much stock in it, but it's nice that he's getting recognition amongst other fanbases.

 

[Hammman]

While true for the first two games, ASP lead the Swedes in ice time for today's game and 7 players, total, played more than Willander.

While true, Willander had the second most shifts on the team (30 to Lindstein's 31). He just took shorter shifts than a lot of other players.

 

[sting101]

I don’t know where the hell this narrative at Hughes came from in the world juniors

He literally played more than anybody on his roster and was top 3 in the tournament in average TOI.

Got a silver medal with trash like Tyler Madden, Logan cocker ill, and Jay Obrein

He also played hurt after jumping the jack ass Czech that took out his brother in Langley in a exhibition game

Played with badly bruised ribs from what i was told

 

[RobertKron]

Hughes finished high school in his normal year. He turned 18 that October as a freshman, same as Eichel, Fantilli et al. Celebrini was the guy who finished a year early.

Hughes accelerated his education and finished high school early to attend the University of Michigan and play for the Wolverines this year.

https://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/1526186-nhl-draft-prospect-profile-quinn-hughes

Hughes, like any player his size, has done everything he can to show he can continue to be a difference maker. He even graduated from high school early to be eligible for the collegiate level.

Quinn Hughes: The Florida-Born, Canada-Raised, Teenage Phenom In Michigan - FloHockey

Quinn Huges is 17 years old, a potential top-10 pick in the NHL draft, and playing in the Frozen Four. Yeah, he's doing a pretty good job so far.

www.flohockey.tv

I'd read a different article mentioning it previously, but I can't find it anymore.

Furthermore, this blurb from 2015 when he was announced as a Michigan commit supports him going a year early:

Hughes has a late 99 birthday so that probably will make him a member of the 2018 class with current recruit Blade Jenkins.

Quinn Hughes Commits To Michigan

The Wolverines received their first commitment from a 99 defenseman this evening

www.maizenbrew.com

And this from a scouting video posted in 2015:

Projected as one of the top defenders in the age group, he's recently committed to Michigan University for 2018

Edit:

Also, FWIW, you mentioned Eichel, but he went in a year early as well.

He accelerated a year in high school as his birthday, Oct. 26, 1996, would have made him a junior this year.




Accelerating is no joke, with a heavy workload on top of hockey and school work over the summer to complete. At age 17, with a bright NHL future ahead, how many kids want to do extra school work? You also have to be pretty bright to take something on like that, which by all accounts Eichel is.

Jack Eichel: The American Prospect Everyone is Talking About

Jack Eichel is early. The often large spotlight cast on the NHL Draft this time of year seems a bit dim, as if conserving energy for what’s to come. Even two months away from the day every pr…

unitedstatesofhockey.com

He accelerated his studies, entering college a year early, meaning Eichel, who will turn 18 on Oct. 28, will compete against players 22, 23 and 24 years old this winter.

Chelmsford’s Jack Eichel turning heads around the hockey world

BOSTON — A man standing next to the ice rink at Boston University spots a reporter and smiles. “Let me guess. You’re here to see Eichel, right?” The man is Mike Eruzione, th…

www.lowellsun.com

 

[Blue and Green]

@RobertKron

I don't care what that article says, he finished high school at the normal age, i.e., the calendar year in which he turned 18. Fantilli, Power, Beniers, Kent Johnson, I could go on and on and on with guys who all played their pre-draft season in university at the same age that Hughes did. All guys who turned 18 after the Sept 15th cutoff. There might be areas where they start a year later if they are born late in the year but for many you start Grade 1 in the calendar year when you turn six and you finish in the year that you turn 18. It's no big deal for a late-birthday guy to start university before his 18th birthday.

Brady Tkachuk was taken three picks before Quinn Hughes. Same thing, born just after the Sept 15 cutoff, spent his pre-draft year in university. Charlie Stramel, Dylan Holloway, Jake Oettinger, Charlie McAvoy, Eichel, Tage Thompson, Jamie Oleksiak... those are just the other first-round guys in the past dozen years, there are more from the second and third rounds (including none other than Phil Di Giuseppe). It's not uncommon at all.

And there's a few guys like Celebrini, Wood, Hanifin and Werenski who started university in the calendar year in which they turned 17, which is rarer and even more difficult.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

He also played hurt after jumping the jack ass Czech that took out his brother in Langley in a exhibition game

Played with badly bruised ribs from what i was told

he also was the captain

 

[Wry n Ginger]

Willander playing with ASP or whatever his initials are, is perfect for him right now. He has to anticipate what a vastly lesser Dman ( compared to Hughes) might do and then adjust his reads and reaction off of it. This will give WW5 a god idea about reacting off his partner

 

[Nick Lang]

I don’t know where the hell this narrative at Hughes came from in the world juniors

He literally played more than anybody on his roster and was top 3 in the tournament in average TOI.

Got a silver medal with trash like Tyler Madden, Logan cocker ill, and Jay Obrein

It's pretty hilarious watching people do backflips to try to prove Willander is better than ASP and on par with Q. Hughes, or whatever they're trying so hard to say lol. Who cares about these other guys, TW is as good as TW. These other comparisons are useless. Those guys are both completely different style players (Offence vs Defence) who didn't play forward most of their lives.

 

[LemonSauceD]

It's pretty hilarious watching people do backflips to try to prove Willander is better than ASP and on par with Q. Hughes, or whatever they're trying so hard to say lol. Who cares about these other guys, TW is as good as TW. These other comparisons are useless. Those guys are both completely different style players (Offence vs Defence) who didn't play forward most of their lives.

Well actually, Willander was a forward until about 15-16 years old. He’s only been a defenseman for about 4 years. Unless that’s what you meant.

 

[me2]

Anyway can we move on from the ASP and Hughes comparisons for a bit and focus on Tom.

 

[Warh1ppy]

The comments/statements regarding Willander/Hughes and the WJC are literally relegated to point totals only. Not medals, not success before or during.

People have made comments on various forums/sites regarding not taking ASP over Willander and with ASP posting a 5 point game and tied for the lead for the tournament in points the comments in some places have cropped up again.

The Canucks have had numerous players over the last 10-15 years that have scored buckets at the tournament and who have gone on to do very little post tournament in professional hockey.

Hughes as a perfect example as over 2 years worth of WJ tournaments he only posted 5 points, and Pettersson netting 20 points over 65 total games at the WJC and U-18/U-20 internationals

Basically, people are trying to remind others that point totals at the World Jrs are not the metric for success that so many claim they are and that numerous players have banked great WJCs and done little after while others have had pedestrian WJCs and gone on to be top tier league players.

It's all subjective. For myself, I think Willander is a beauty pick and his size, skating and composure/intelligence on the ice is translatable in any league and the Canucks are lucky to have been able to pick him

 

[beachcomber]

Even the floor hockey crowd here who judge a player based on point totals are going to have to admit this kid is a stud in the near future.

 

[VanJack]

Even the floor hockey crowd here who judge a player based on point totals are going to have to admit this kid is a stud in the near future.

Wilander has everything you could ever want in a stud d-man.....everything except maybe size (Hockey DB lists him at 6'1" and 180, although he looks bigger out there to me},

The skating, the head-manning of the puck; and the effortless way he moves around the ice and breaks up plays. And his shot is becoming lethal from the point....and he gets it off so quick.

I just get the sense that he'll be a better player in the NHL than we're seeing right now. The fast, structured game in the NHL, would just seem to fit his style more closely.

Becoming more obvious by the day, that he's going to be in the Canuck lineup by March. If the Canucks were willing to let Cole McWard burn off his first year of ELC eligibility, I can't believe they won't do the same with Wilander.

So no matter how the rest of the NHL season goes for the Canucks--their fans really have something to look forward to this spring.

 

[Diversification]

It's pretty hilarious watching people do backflips to try to prove Willander is better than ASP and on par with Q. Hughes, or whatever they're trying so hard to say lol. Who cares about these other guys, TW is as good as TW. These other comparisons are useless. Those guys are both completely different style players (Offence vs Defence) who didn't play forward most of their lives.

People are addicted to the drama. On the prospect boards there's a lot of crowing about how the Canucks blew it picking Willander over ASP and maybe some are reacting to that.

ASP is having a stellar season so far in the SHL and now in the WJC. Kudos to him.

Willander has not progressed offensively as many of us had hoped, although to be fair the whole BU team took a big step backwards this season. But watching him, you can see a lot of hockey IQ and mobility traits and defensive habits that look like they will translate to the NHL as early as this upcoming March. You can see the same in the WJC tournament so far. We'll see how things progress as the elimination rounds begin and we'll know even more when he inevitably signs his ELC and gets his games in this spring.

 

[MarkMM]

Both will almost definitely be NHL regulars and likely be good, ASP may be better as an individual player but my bet is Willander will be better for our specific needs. Everyone wins.

 

[beachcomber]

All this talk about his size is bs as well. There was a fellow countryman who was about the same size or smaller than Willander who kind of survived through the physical brand of NHL hockey for a number of years. Nik Kronwall was his name.