Prospect Info: With the 39th Overall Pick the New York Rangers Select Olof Lindbom

[darko]

Kid turned 19 only 3 days ago. Tough crowd.

 

[nyr2k2]

Kid turned 19 only 3 days ago. Tough crowd.

I'm excited to see what he does this year. I want to see if he sticks in Allsvenskan, and if so how many starts he gets, or if he goes back to J20. I think there's some definite upside to the player, based on what I've read.

Still think it was a garbage pick.

 

[Joey Bones]

I think he'll rebound. No point in discussing other prospects picked after him now until he proves he's an NHLer or not. It's still way too early on most of these prospects!!

 

[offdacrossbar]

"benny liked the kid" doesn't cut it for me at 39OA

bad pick. silly pick.

 

[Leetch3]

"benny liked the kid" doesn't cut it for me at 39OA

bad pick. silly pick.

'benny liked the kid' is meaningless to me regardless of when he was picked...we've had some goalies that have worked out very well but we've also had guys that benny wanted that have turned out beyond awful.

 

[nyr2k2]

'benny liked the kid' is meaningless to me regardless of when he was picked...we've had some goalies that have worked out very well but we've also had guys that benny wanted that have turned out beyond awful.

Thank you. I've been down this path many times and I feel like I'm arguing against the whole board. I don't mind having an unpopular opinion, but it's tiresome.

 

[pblawr]

I wasn't a huge fan of the pick, but sometimes the dramatics about how bad it was go so far overboard that it's tough not to feel compelled to defend it.

1) It wasn't a huge reach. McKenzie's scouting poll had him at 53, only 14 spots away from where he got drafted. By comparison, Henriksson (drafted at 58 vs 83 in McKenzie's poll), Ragnarsson (73 vs not ranked in top 93), and Jones (68 vs 88) were all bigger reaches.

2) It wasn't just that Allaire loved him. He started for Sweden's U18 team and led the U-18 tournament with a .950 save percentage. That's better than Spencer Knight (.936) who went 13th overall this year. I'm not saying save percentage is everything, but think about the reaction to Askarov outplaying Knight at the U18's this year. Lindbom did that too. And it wasn't just that he had a good U-18 tournament either. He started for his U20 team as a 17 year old player.

3) The fact that he didn't play very much this year is unfortunate, but everything else - getting picked up by an Allsvenskan team, getting picked for Sweden's U20 team - indicates he's doing totally fine.

I don't really know how to evaluate goalies, so I can relate to the sentiment about drafting a goalie with a high pick, but 1) it happens. There were 3 goalies who were drafted higher than Lindbom was this year and 2) this was actually a relatively on-the-board pick that is performing as expected.

 

[nyr2k2]

I wasn't a huge fan of the pick, but sometimes the dramatics about how bad it was go so far overboard that it's tough not to feel compelled to defend it.

1) It wasn't a huge reach. McKenzie's scouting poll had him at 53, only 14 spots away from where he got drafted. By comparison, Henriksson (drafted at 58 vs 83 in McKenzie's poll), Ragnarsson (73 vs not ranked in top 93), and Jones (68 vs 88) were all bigger reaches.

2) It wasn't just that Allaire loved him. He started for Sweden's U18 team and led the U-18 tournament with a .950 save percentage. That's better than Spencer Knight (.936) who went 13th overall this year. I'm not saying save percentage is everything, but think about the reaction to Askarov outplaying Knight at the U18's this year. Lindbom did that too. And it wasn't just that he had a good U-18 tournament either. He started for his U20 team as a 17 year old player.

3) The fact that he didn't play very much this year is unfortunate, but everything else - getting picked up by an Allsvenskan team, getting picked for Sweden's U20 team - indicates he's doing totally fine.

I don't really know how to evaluate goalies, so I can relate to the sentiment about drafting a goalie with a high pick, but 1) it happens. There were 3 goalies who were drafted higher than Lindbom was this year and 2) this was actually a relatively on-the-board pick that is performing as expected.

These are fair points. For me, though, it wasn't so much that it was a reach by a round or so, it was that it was a reach for a position that we really didn't need to reach for. That's all. Beyond the fact that this was in no way a position of need (certainly not that high in the draft), I have no problems with the player himself and look forward to seeing what he does this year.

 

[NYRFANMANI]

This is entire Lindbom situation literally like: we can really only talk about it in like 3 years.

 

[n8]

I wasn't a huge fan of the pick, but sometimes the dramatics about how bad it was go so far overboard that it's tough not to feel compelled to defend it.

1) It wasn't a huge reach. McKenzie's scouting poll had him at 53, only 14 spots away from where he got drafted. By comparison, Henriksson (drafted at 58 vs 83 in McKenzie's poll), Ragnarsson (73 vs not ranked in top 93), and Jones (68 vs 88) were all bigger reaches.

2) It wasn't just that Allaire loved him. He started for Sweden's U18 team and led the U-18 tournament with a .950 save percentage. That's better than Spencer Knight (.936) who went 13th overall this year. I'm not saying save percentage is everything, but think about the reaction to Askarov outplaying Knight at the U18's this year. Lindbom did that too. And it wasn't just that he had a good U-18 tournament either. He started for his U20 team as a 17 year old player.

3) The fact that he didn't play very much this year is unfortunate, but everything else - getting picked up by an Allsvenskan team, getting picked for Sweden's U20 team - indicates he's doing totally fine.

I don't really know how to evaluate goalies, so I can relate to the sentiment about drafting a goalie with a high pick, but 1) it happens. There were 3 goalies who were drafted higher than Lindbom was this year and 2) this was actually a relatively on-the-board pick that is performing as expected.

i would love it if the Rangers could release their list. Like what did their list look like in 2005 or 2008? I wouldn't expect to see a list from a recent year but from one 10+ years ago? Would be fascinating to see.

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

i would love it if the Rangers could release their list. Like what did their list look like in 2005 or 2008? I wouldn't expect to see a list from a recent year but from one 10+ years ago? Would be fascinating to see.

HFNYR would collapse on itself if that ever happened

 

[007]

I hope they draft/sign kids based on more than just "Allaire loves him," since the reality is most of the goalies we bring in do not pan out. Which of course, is not itself unusual, but with the 39th pick I'd like more than "our position coach loves the guy."

The reality is, however, that Lindbom seemed to grade out in the 3rd-5th round range. If they really liked him, he might not have been there in the third. Still, too early, too raw of a prospect, no at a position of great need. I won't ever get it, but whatever.

I think you're right. What I'm saying is, I hope it's a lot more than "Allaire loves him" PLUS this judgment being based on one tournament. He's our prospect now, though, and I hope he ends up being a stud who gives All-Star Shestyorkin a run for his money. Hopefully, in 8 years or so, we're arguing over whom to keep and whom to trade for the #1OA.

 

[GlasgowNewYorkRanger]

I don't know if you guys ever watched Frasier but there was an episode where Frasier lost a tape of one of his shows (or found out that it was missing) and found a crazy fan that had a copy of the tape. The fan was so obsessed with him, Frasier realized that obsessions aren't healthy and left the tape with him and rendered his collection imperfect. It was as if Gorton wanted to render this rebuild imperfect by drafting this guy and declining the tape.

Absolute class, this should be stickied for preservation

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Absolute class, this should be stickied for preservation

I'm glad you liked it, I've been in Frasier mode for months since I'm part of the show's fan club on FB, haha.

 

[GlasgowNewYorkRanger]

I'm glad you liked it, I've been in Frasier mode for months since I'm part of the show's fan club on FB, haha.

I could quite well see JG being a Frasier man!

 

[Mikos87]

I will say that you are going to see the trend of teams taking goalies early in the second continue. You need your backup to play 20-30 games nowadays and win if you want to even make the playoffs. During the 2019 draft you saw a run on goalies early in the 2nd, and this has happened in previous drafts- not always in the 2nd round, sometimes it's in the 3rd.

Every year you get around 20 goalies drafted, and if a team wants their guy, they will have to take them where they can get him.

Personally speaking, like many others on the board, I would have preferred if they went with one of the 3 picks taken right after Olof or Akil Thomas. Other than maybe Madden who was a reach at the time, I don't have many complaints.

I'm not a goalie expert by any means, but I think Olof playing in the WJC-20 and having a healthy season where he gets 30-40 games at the least will do wonders for his stock on these boards.

 

[broadwayblue]

I'm glad you liked it, I've been in Frasier mode for months since I'm part of the show's fan club on FB, haha.

How ironic.

 

[egelband]

Thank you. I've been down this path many times and I feel like I'm arguing against the whole board. I don't mind having an unpopular opinion, but it's tiresome.

Unless there's some evidence that a team was planning to take this guy between 39 and the next rangers pick... Or the Rangers forth rounder for that matter... It's a pure pick. But maybe someone else legitimately had plans to pick him and the rangers just had to have him. Dunno

 

[cwede]

i think this deserves to be here

Pronman: Do you have an idea of how the goalie situation is going to look?

Thomas Monten (Swedish WJC coach): Olof Lindbom (New York Rangers) was hurt last season, but the year before he was outstanding. Two years ago, I thought he was one of the best goalies to ever come out of our U18 program. He was a difference maker then. But he hasn’t played much lately, so we’ll see. We have like five or six really good goalies, but as of now we don’t know who is going to be the starter.

Q&A: Sweden world junior coach Tomas Monten on prospects for...

 

[nyr2k2]

i think this deserves to be here

Yeah, it's high praise for sure. He's an interesting prospect.

However, being terrific at 16, 17, doesn't necessarily portend any future success. Daniel Bernhardt had 63 points in 38 games between in the J18 Elit at 17/18. Then he killed the J20 SuperElit as an 18-year-old to the tune of 61 points in 44 games. Then, he...completely stagnated for a couple years, before eventually being befallen by injuries and retiring.

So, it's great that Lindbom has looked so good in a few international tournaments. He was a known, ranked player, and that's why. Hopefully he can stay healthy and have an actual good year for his club, whether it's in J20 or Allsvenskan.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

I'm excited to see what he does this year. I want to see if he sticks in Allsvenskan, and if so how many starts he gets, or if he goes back to J20. I think there's some definite upside to the player, based on what I've read.

Still think it was a garbage pick.

Antoine Lafleur won't be 31 until the end of the year!

 

[nyr2k2]

Antoine Lafleur won't be 31 until the end of the year!

That one was amazing. Like, yeah he sucked for his D+1 and D+2 years in the Q, but he didn't even give it a go in the ECHL or AHL or anything. He didn't even go to CIS (as it was then known) for a year or two to try to get back on track. He just up and quit after finishing his time in Major Junior. THAT is the definition of a wasted pick.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

That one was amazing. Like, yeah he sucked for his D+1 and D+2 years in the Q, but he didn't even give it a go in the ECHL or AHL or anything. He didn't even go to CIS (as it was then known) for a year or two to try to get back on track. He just up and quit after finishing his time in Major Junior. THAT is the definition of a wasted pick.

And we never really ever heard anything about him.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I wasn't a huge fan of the pick, but sometimes the dramatics about how bad it was go so far overboard that it's tough not to feel compelled to defend it.

1) It wasn't a huge reach. McKenzie's scouting poll had him at 53, only 14 spots away from where he got drafted. By comparison, Henriksson (drafted at 58 vs 83 in McKenzie's poll), Ragnarsson (73 vs not ranked in top 93), and Jones (68 vs 88) were all bigger reaches.

2) It wasn't just that Allaire loved him. He started for Sweden's U18 team and led the U-18 tournament with a .950 save percentage. That's better than Spencer Knight (.936) who went 13th overall this year. I'm not saying save percentage is everything, but think about the reaction to Askarov outplaying Knight at the U18's this year. Lindbom did that too. And it wasn't just that he had a good U-18 tournament either. He started for his U20 team as a 17 year old player.

3) The fact that he didn't play very much this year is unfortunate, but everything else - getting picked up by an Allsvenskan team, getting picked for Sweden's U20 team - indicates he's doing totally fine.

I don't really know how to evaluate goalies, so I can relate to the sentiment about drafting a goalie with a high pick, but 1) it happens. There were 3 goalies who were drafted higher than Lindbom was this year and 2) this was actually a relatively on-the-board pick that is performing as expected.

But we didn't need a goalie prospect that's the biggest problem.

 

[nyr2k2]

And we never really ever heard anything about him.

Right. He just dropped off the map. There was a random guy somewhere on HF that said years later he was playing pond hockey with LaFleur, and other than being tall, didn't look like he had been a hockey player. Bad skater and all. But never really anything from reporters, no announcement that he retired, etc.