- Jun 10, 2014
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Agree that the expectations are somewhat skewed by perceived need but Salomonsson has been legitimately good in his D+1 and D+2 seasons. In particular, he became a mainstay of the D for an SHL champion at the age of 19 last season. That's an uncommonly good performance at that age and stage of development.
My observation is that in his D+1 season as an 18 year-old he still had some rawness in his puck-handling and decisions with the puck, so his main role was defensively. He was learning to use his skating and natural aggressiveness to play a solid defensive game. As a 19 year-old in D+2 season you could see that his puck-handling had become much more confident and he started to become more and more involved in transition and offensively, while continuing to improve his defensive play.
The foundation of his game is his really good defensive play, where he closes gaps quickly and aggressively in all zones using his mobility and decent size. He also became more quick and confident in moving the puck in his D zone, so his retrieval and puck movement is a strength. Those attributes create a high floor for him as an NHL prospect. You could see these strengths in the Jets' camp last season.
His ceiling will be determined by how much his offense develops. I think it's an area that has been improving quickly. He produced quite a bit of offense without much PP time at all. His point totals don't look very impressive, but he produced as much or more at even-strength than the other D on his team (including highly-touted offensive D Sandin-Pellika). Later in the season and into the playoffs (and in the Champion's League) he showed a lot of offensive dash and confidence. He's so young that I think he still can add a lot more offense. He'll never be a Quinn Hughes or Morrissey type of offensive D because he doesn't "dance and dangle" with the puck, but he could become more like the way Trouba played offensively with the Jets - using his speed to be strong in transition, and aggressive in the offensive zone.
The thing I like right now is his trajectory. Recently he has come to each new season a step above where he left off the season before. If he comes to TC that way again, he could make the Jets out of TC this year, though Moose is more likely. But he could be ready to be the first callup when there are injuries.