Three Things: On Gustav Lindstrom, Evgeny Svechnikov and Martin Frk’s 2017-18 goals

Of Red Wings-related note this evening:

1. The Red Wings signed defenseman Gustav Lindstrom to a 3-year entry-level contract on Friday, but Lindstrom will remain in Sweden for at least another year or two as he’s signed with the SHL’s Frolunda Indians.

That being said, Lindstrom was playing hockey in the Swedish version of the AHL, the Allsvenskan, with Almtuna last season. As such, Red Wings director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright told Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff that Lindstrom is a step ahead of the normal developmental curve:

What is Lindstrom, and what should Wings fans expect from him in the future? That’s hard to say at this point in his development, but he has spent the last two seasons, playing for Almtuna IS in the Allsvenskan, Sweden’s second division, and that could give him a leg up over North American prospects playing junior and college hockey. Lindstrom collected 14 points in 39 games this season, including six goals, which gave him a share of the team lead among defensemen.

“He’s playing against men already,” Red Wings director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright said. “As far as their development, they’re exposed an earlier age. You’re forced to grow up a little faster and forced to grow up a little more physically.”

As to his immediate future, the 6-2, 187-pound Lindstrom, 19, who is also a right-hand shot, always coveted along the blueline, will remain in his homeland. He will take a step up in competition, skating for Frolunda HC in the Swedish Elite League during the 2018-19 season.

“He’s just a real solid, steady, puck-moving guy,” Wright said. “A good heads-up player, who jumps into the play at times, and plays a 200-foot game. I think you just can’t have enough of those guys who can skate and move pucks.”

Duff continues, and Lindstrom posted a picture of himself on Twitter:

2. Regarding drafts of the past couple seasons, the Free Press’s Helene St. James examines the Wings’ 2015 draft haul today, and she spotlights Evgeny Svechnikov:

F Evgeny Svechnikov

Drafted: 19th.

Draft-year doings: 32 goals, 46 assists in 55 games with Cape Breton (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League).

Draft-day scouting report: “He’s the complete package — size, strength, competitiveness, skill,” director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright said. “There’s not one thing he doesn’t do very well.”

Draft-day quote: Asked what he liked about living in North America, Svechnikov smiled and replied, “chocolate milk and cookies.”

Post-draft doings: Recorded 32 goals and 47 assists in 50 games with Cape Breton in 2015-16. Turned pro and appeared in two playoff games with the Grand Rapids Griffins (American Hockey League). Scored 20 goals among 51 points in 74 games with the Griffins in 2016-17, his first year of pro hockey. Had five goals and seven assists in 19 playoff games in the Griffins’ run to the 2017 Calder Cup championship.

His impressive season led to hopes that Svechnikov would push for  a job in Detroit during the 2018 exhibition season, but he ended up suffering a neck injury. He joined the Griffins’ lineup on Oct. 20 and had two goals and one assist in his first 10 games. He was better in spurts during the second half, but still finished with only seven goals and 16 assists for 23 points in 57 games (for comparison’s sake, he had a .69 points-per-game average in 2016-17, and a .40 average in 2017-18).

Detroit doings: Was called up late in the 2016-17 season and made his NHL debut April 3, played again the next night, then was sent back to Grand Rapids. In 2017-18, he made his first appearance March 8 and scored his first NHL goal March 20. He recorded his first multi-point game (goal, assist) on March 29 and finished with two goals and two assists in 14 games.

Draft assessment: It’s a familiar story to see a promising prospect do well in his first pro year, then struggle in his second. Svechnikov is an incredibly driven player, so much so that the team has urged him to find the balance between pushing himself and punishing himself. Svechnikov, 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds, has the ability to make plays in tight areas and keep control of the puck. Tyler Bertuzzi, Svechnikov’s teammate in G.R. in 2016-17 and part of this season, said in late March, “everyone thinks he’s Russian-skilled, but he’s a really hard worker,” meaning Svechnikov has the talent to be an NHL goal scorer but is gritty, too. That’s what the Wings hope they see in 2018-19.

St. James continues, and the 2015 draft class is intriguing because it includes Svechnikov, a defenseman who has significant promise in Vili Saarijarvi, a goaltender who’s stuck around in the Swiss NLA league in Joren van Pottelberghe, and an intriguing pair of University of Maine Black Bear teammates in Chase Pearson and Patrick Holway.
As far as Svechnikov is concerned, I believe that his ultimate “upside” will be determined by how successful he is at overcoming self-criticism. He could very well be a 15-to-20-goal-scorer, or he could be a grinding support forward. I’m not sure where on that spectrum he will end up.
3. Finally, and regarding another player who is particularly hard on himself, AWood40 posted a clip of Martin Frk’s 11 2017-18 season goals:

Update: AWood40 posted a clip of Luke Glendening’s 2017-18 goals as well:

Published by

George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!

18 thoughts on “Three Things: On Gustav Lindstrom, Evgeny Svechnikov and Martin Frk’s 2017-18 goals”

  1. Give Chevy a 3rd line role with some solid leadership (players, not coaches) and I think we’ll get a better feel on his future.

    This draft has not had enough time to see what we’ve got. In 2 years, will Saarijarvi be knocking on the NHL’s door? Will Chevy be a 20 goal guy? etc

  2. Svech has SIZE, Strength, Competitiveness…notice no mention of skating. Strange because I thought speed and skill were our big draft priorities?

    1. So if a beat writer like HSJ doesn’t mention skating then he’s not considered a good skater or is this just the narrative you want to throw out there? I ask because I can go through many prospect analysis of him from his draft year and almost all of them mention he’s a strong skater, some even use the word excellent skating abilities with good speed. Not a burner but a strong fast skater. My other question is, outside of the 16 NHL games he’s played have you actually watched him play?

      https://futureconsiderations.ca/player/evgeni-svechnikov/
      Svechnikov is a talented power forward with an attractive blend of size and skill. He
      has great puck control, which allows him to use his reach to protect the puck while still making plays in motion. Svechnikov is an excellent skater with a long and efficient stride. He edges very nicely and
      his weight transfer is textbook. All this allows him to change directions very rapidly and he can juke
      defenders out of position with ease. Great balance and strong on his feet; hard to knock off the puck and hard to poke check. He is extremely athletic. Shows high-end, top-notch puck protection

      https://dobberprospects.com/evgeny-svechnikov/
      This 2015 19th overall pick is a strong, smooth skater who puts defenders on their heels on a routine basis paired with a devasting mixed bag of tricks on the offensive end makes him a threat anytime he’s on the ice

      http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/evgeny-svechnikov/
      Svechnikov’s greatest asset is his ability to find the open areas in the offensive zone; and, contributing to his offensive success, he also possesses quick, hard and accurate wrist and snap shots that often find the minimal open space opposing goaltenders allow. He’s a strong skater and, despite having limited experience playing on the smaller ice surface, is quickly becoming adjusted to the physicality of the North American game. He can often leave his defensive zone assignments unattended, but that’s something that should improve as he continues to get acclimated to the game on this side of pond

      https://thehockeywriters.com/evgeny-svechnikov-the-next-ones-nhl-2015-draft-prospect-profile/
      A powerful and skilled forward…has great strength and balance on his skates…decent speed and agility, but not a real burner…has the creativity and hands to skate the puck through defenders and then power his way to the net…has a heavy shot that when it hits its mark, is pro caliber…uses his strength and long reach to protect the puck well

      http://lastwordonsports.com/2015/04/21/2015-nhl-draft-profile-21-evgeny-svechnikov/
      Evgeny Svechnikov is a strong skater with very good speed and acceleration. He loves to drive the net and can finish in close when he gets there. He shows great versatility on the rush as he has the speed to take a defender wide, the agility and strong stickhandling to beat them with his lateral movement, or by fooling them with changing speeds. He could add some lower body strength and be a bit stronger and more balanced on the puck.

      1. George himself has even mentioned him being a good skater from him in person observations at training camps, prospect tournaments etc etc.

        http://kuklaskorner.com/tmr/comments/impressions-from-the-first-day-of-the-red-wings-training-camp-17
        Evgeny Svechnikov #77: I’m still of the belief that Svechnikov is best-served with another half to full season in the AHL to truly come into the NHL completely confident in his scoring abilities. Svechnikov has the strength and skating to make the NHL right now, but the Wings have the luxury of bringing him along a wee bit slowly

        http://kuklaskorner.com/tmr/comments/training-camp-15-impressions-from-the-first-day-of-the-red-wings-training-c
        Evgeny Svechnikov #37 looked fantastic for somebody on his first day of an NHL training camp. There was no intimidation whatsoever in the cobra-sneaky slithery goal-scorer’s touch and the speedy Russian generated scoring chances for his linemates as well.

        Just saying…

  3. So if a beat writer like HSJ doesn’t mention skating then he’s not considered a good skater or is this just the narrative you want to throw out there? I ask because I can go through many prospect analysis of him from his draft year and almost all of them mention he’s a strong skater, some even use the word excellent skating abilities with good speed. Not a burner but a strong fast skater. My other question is, outside of the 16 NHL games he’s played have you actually watched him play?

    futureconsiderations
    Svechnikov is a talented power forward with an attractive blend of size and skill. He
    has great puck control, which allows him to use his reach to protect the puck while still making plays in motion. Svechnikov is an excellent skater with a long and efficient stride. He edges very nicely and
    his weight transfer is textbook. All this allows him to change directions very rapidly and he can juke
    defenders out of position with ease. Great balance and strong on his feet; hard to knock off the puck and hard to poke check. He is extremely athletic. Shows high-end, top-notch puck protection

    dobberprospects
    This 2015 19th overall pick is a strong, smooth skater who puts defenders on their heels on a routine basis paired with a devasting mixed bag of tricks on the offensive end makes him a threat anytime he’s on the ice

    hockeysfuture
    Svechnikov’s greatest asset is his ability to find the open areas in the offensive zone; and, contributing to his offensive success, he also possesses quick, hard and accurate wrist and snap shots that often find the minimal open space opposing goaltenders allow. He’s a strong skater and, despite having limited experience playing on the smaller ice surface, is quickly becoming adjusted to the physicality of the North American game. He can often leave his defensive zone assignments unattended, but that’s something that should improve as he continues to get acclimated to the game on this side of pond

    Thehockeywriters
    A powerful and skilled forward…has great strength and balance on his skates…decent speed and agility, but not a real burner…has the creativity and hands to skate the puck through defenders and then power his way to the net…has a heavy shot that when it hits its mark, is pro caliber…uses his strength and long reach to protect

    Lastwordonsports
    Evgeny Svechnikov is a strong skater with very good speed and acceleration. He loves to drive the net and can finish in close when he gets there. He shows great versatility on the rush as he has the speed to take a defender wide, the agility and strong stickhandling to beat them with his lateral movement, or by fooling them with changing speeds. He could add some lower body strength and be a bit stronger and more balanced on the puck.

    1. George himself has even mentioned him being a good skater from him in person observations at training camps, prospect tournaments etc etc.

      tmr/comments/impressions-from-the-first-day-of-the-red-wings-training-camp-17
      Evgeny Svechnikov #77: I’m still of the belief that Svechnikov is best-served with another half to full season in the AHL to truly come into the NHL completely confident in his scoring abilities. Svechnikov has the strength and skating to make the NHL right now, but the Wings have the luxury of bringing him along a wee bit slowly

      tmr/comments/training-camp-15-impressions-from-the-first-day-of-the-red-wings-training-c
      Evgeny Svechnikov #37 looked fantastic for somebody on his first day of an NHL training camp. There was no intimidation whatsoever in the cobra-sneaky slithery goal-scorer’s touch and the speedy Russian generated scoring chances for his linemates as well.

  4. Chill bro. No need to spend an entire day trying to discredit me. As for HSJ, she quoted our director of scouting on draft day. He was the one who started mentioning size and strength, without touching on skating. Which by the way, I never said that means his skating was bad. But it wasn’t a strength. I’ll take Tyler Wright’s opinion over a bunch of fluffy draft reviews. For example, go see what these same draft reviews said about Jurco! Bottom line…we’re already seeing numerous guys from the 2015 draft class making big impacts in the NHL, including many drafted after Svech. He has yet to break through, and SKATING appears to be his downfall. Unless he makes a dramatic improvement, he appears to be a bust of a 1st round pick. I’d like to see us prioritize skating over size at the draft table.

    1. “Chill bro. No need to spend an entire day trying to discredit me”

      I’m perfectly calm lol and it took me about 10 min to discredit you. You always talk about how you want hockey talk, I bring it to you and you dismiss it lol.

      “she quoted our director of scouting on draft day. He was the one who started mentioning size and strength, without touching on skating”

      Just because he doesn’t mention skating doesn’t mean it’s a weakness. Unusually, if it’s a weakness, they mention it. The scouts usually will talk about how prospects skating is an issue. Look no further to the things the red wings scouts have said of Holmstrom.

      “Which by the way, I never said that means his skating was bad. But it wasn’t a strength” & “He has yet to break through, and SKATING appears to be his downfall”

      Sure buddy, you been on and on about his skating for a while now. If it’s not bad than you probably shouldn’t present it as it is or it’s a downfall, while using it for an unfounded strawman argument. I say that because you and one person I’ve seen on hfboards are the ONLY ones I’ve seen say it’s his downfall or that’s it a weakness. If it was, Wright and other Red Wings staff would have mentioned it by now. The consensus on Svech is that his issue is that he gets into his own head and his 2 way game needs work.

      “I’ll take Tyler Wright’s opinion over a bunch of fluffy draft reviews”

      So you’re gonna take the opinion of a guy who you’ve bashed several times over being a crappy scout and director of scouting. Plus, I’ve yet to see Wright talk about Svech’s skating being his weakness or downfall or it being below average. That’s your presumption and until you show proof of Wright saying Svech’s weakness is skating…that all it is…is your presumption to support your strawman with no backing. I have again, yet to see anything stating his weakness is skating.

      To add, those aren’t fluffy draft reviews. Those are reviews done by legit sources. I’m not going to bring some deadspin type b.s. into the conversation. I bring legit sources. Futureconsiderations, thehockeywriters, hockeysfuture etc etc put 100s of hour into their drafting profiles. These are legit places. Or your can go back and search guys like Bob McKenzie and those guys draft previews, non of them say his skating is a weakness, most actually say he’s a good to above average skater. Also, you can do a search on Svech and his skating and 90% of what you’ll find are going to say he is a smooth skater, quick, has good edges and a good stride. Did you even look or presume it was his weakness because Wright didn’t mention it?

      Yes, he may be a bust but you can’t discredit that he had a neck injury to start the year otherwise it might have been him instead of Frk to start the season. To me 16 NHL games is not enough to even remotely start calling him a bust especially after his neck injury.

      1. So you’re gonna take the opinion of a guy who you’ve bashed several times over being a crappy scout and director of scouting.

        Whatever fits his word vomit of the day

    2. Ha ha. All you did was make your usual weakly veiled personal insult passed off as a stupid comment and got called on it from two people who also know you’re total bunk on this issue. Now you’re trying to defend yourself.

      Comedy Gold.

  7. Sigh. OK. Wright gives his review of Svech and raves about his size, Strength, etc…He never mentions skating. But we’re just supposed to assume that Skating is also a strength. Got it. Meanwhile the eye test shows that Svech is an average skater at best. As I said, check out what all these sources said about Jurco…he had it all! Power forward with elite skill. The next Hossa, words right out of our chief scout. So it’s totally cool if you want to read all these reviews and get excited about Svech. You are free to believe that he’s a great skater, to go along with his size and skill. I’m not stopping you. I just don’t assign as much importance on these flowery write-ups. I’ve watched every NHL appearance by Svech, every exhibition game, countless AHL games…and my opinion is his skating is average at best, and as a result I don’t think he succeeds in the NHL. But again, super cool if you disagree. Super cool if you think the Wings emphasize speed at the draft.

    1. The next Hossa, words right out of our chief scout.

      It’s amazing how much you lie dude lol

Comments are closed.