Pontus Åberg

I wrote this in April of this year but didn't post it here originally. Just wanted to add it for the sake of bookkeeping.

"I've been posted in Sweden for about three months now while going to school, and as a result have had a chance to see some of the better prospects for the 2012 NHL Draft play in person. It's difficult to find consistent online video or comprehensive highlights of any of the players over here, so it's nice to get a chance to watch them for a whole game.

This past weekend I had a chance to catch winger Pontus Åberg of Djurgårdens IF face off against Rögle in the last game of the 2012 Kvalserien, which pits the tier-two Allsvenskan's three regular-season leaders and playoff champion against the two teams that finished at the bottom of the top-tier Elitserien. It's round-robin format with two games vs. each opponent. Six teams enter, two teams leave.

One of the better collections of young talent in Sweden, Rögle defied the odds to become the first Allsvenskan team to not only survive the league's playoffs but also secure promotion. Guess who they'll be replacing next year? With everything settled before the puck drop, the game lacked intensity, but the celebrating crowd provided an unbelievable atmosphere.

Bloggin' Ain't Easy

The only attribute necessary to be a writer is the compulsion to record one's thoughts and ideas, but to be read and respected in addition to wearing the name tag requires consistency.

More a note to self than anything.

My schedule for my first week of full-time scouting work starting in October 2012:

10/5 - Waterloo Blackhawks vs. Youngstown Phantoms. Waterloo, Iowa.

Players of emphasis: Ian McCoshen, D, Waterloo [2013]; Tyler Cammarata, F, Waterloo [2013].

10/6 - Wisconsin Badgers vs. USA NTDP U-18 Team. Madison, Wisconsin.
10/7 - Notre Dame vs. USA NTDP U-18 Team. South Bend, Indiana.

Players of emphasis: JT Compher, F, NTDP [2013]; Hudson Fasching, F, NTDP [2013]; Will Butcher, D, NTDP [2013]; Keaton Thompson, D, NTDP [2013] + plenty of others. These are really just preliminary viewings to get a general feel of who I want to focus on individually. The U-18 team is ridiculously talented this year.

10/8 Windsor Spitfires vs. Sarnia Sting. Windsor, Ontario.

Players of emphasis: Kerby Rychel, F, Windsor [2013]; Jordan Maletta, F, Windsor [2013]; Adam Bateman, D, Windsor [2013]; Daniel Nikandrov, F, Sarnia [2013]; Davis Brown, F, Sarnia [2013]; David Nemecek, D, Sarnia [2013]; Anthony DeAngelo, D, Sarnia [2014]. The main player I'll be watching is Rychel but there are some breakout candidates on these two rebuilding teams.

I'll be moving from Los Angeles to Boston in the process. Long drive ahead, but I look forward to getting started!

Hampus Lindholm

Being disappointed with a prospect is something that I've started to understand as being a reality of scouting. It's not so much because a player's poor performance reduces the entertainment value of the game, it's just that it makes me wonder more about intangibles than I should. Were my expectations too high? Did he have an off night? Did somebody who ranked him highly see him on a night where he played above his ability?

When I watched Filip Forsberg a couple weeks back, I didn't have these questions. In fact, he played better than I thought he would. Maybe because Forsberg matched, even exceeded, my preconceptions, I expected Hampus Lindholm to do the same. I wonder if it's fair to Lindholm that I was judging him by the same standards as Forsberg, but if those standards are subconscious is it really possible to have any control over them?

The way the mind processes the game changes with each one. Before the Rögle/Leksands game, I had yet to see Swedish hockey in person, and had yet to see Allsvenskan hockey at all. Based on that game, I came into this Rögle/Malmö game with a certain set of expectations as to how the play would be.

Cost and Value in Sweden

Before I moved to Sweden, I talked to a lot of different people about it. "I'm going to school in Sweden" elicited one of two responses:

"Dude, the girls.."
or
"It's so fucking expensive!"

Filip Forsberg

Filip Forsberg is a guy I've been anxious to get a glimpse of since Craig Button pegged him 2nd overall in his pre-season rankings ahead of Mikhail Grigorenko. Button has a tendency to go against the grain, and I can't say I always agree with his take, so the idea that anyone but Grigorenko could slot in behind Nail Yakupov seemed a little ridiculous to me. I didn't get a chance to watch the 2011 Ivan Hlinka Tournament but I knew that Forsberg was a standout player there and I think that's largely what Button was basing his ranking on. On the other hand, he had a pretty weak showing at the WJCs with one point in six games, ceding the starring role to 5th round Ducks pick Max Friberg and really getting outproduced by most every other forward on the roster. It might be a little ignorant of me to knock him based on that tournament as I didn't get a chance to watch it while I was traveling, but from a purely on-paper perspective those are weak numbers for a top prospect. Central Scouting seems pretty set on Yakupov and Grigorenko as 1A/1B type talents, but they also have Forsberg first overall amongst Europeans which is a great honor in itself.