The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler posted a list of his 50 top drafted prospects this morning, and three Red Wings prospects made his cut in Simon Edvinsson, Marco Kasper and Axel Sandin Pellikka:
11. Simon Edvinsson, LHD, 20 (Detroit Red Wings — No. 6, 2021):
After an excellent post-draft season playing big minutes in the SHL and a leading role at the world juniors, Edvinsson had a strong first pro season in North America. The Griffins were not good, and he was impactful at both ends considering that context and his age.
He has really cleaned up areas of his game that needed (and still need) some development.
His ceiling has always been high and is backed by a unique set of traits and skills for a 6-foot-6, 215-pound player (let alone a defenceman). These include his uncharacteristically soft hands and control of the puck, his fearlessness with and without it, and his strong foundational knowledge of how to use his towering frame to defend in a variety of ways (with a good, active stick, with step-up physicality when opportunities present themselves, with good neutral-zone gapping and steering, on box-outs, etc.).
If he can develop his shot (one of those areas that still needs work), continue to smooth out his game and make better choices, the potential is there in spades. It has also been nice to see him begin to make more play-ending passes and create a ton of chances to add to his standout transition game as a surprisingly confident carrier and transporter for a big man.
I hate this cliche but you really can’t teach hands like his at that size. When he tries things, he usually pulls them off, and he’s extremely comfortable handling the puck under pressure. He has also found greater control of his gangly frame (he’s a good skater and always has been, but his stride can splay from the knees) and takes up a lot of space defensively. I like how vocal he is for his age out there — a sign of his confidence. I like how hard he makes it for players to get around him. I like how his head is always up (easier said than done when you’re as tall as he is). I like his creativity banking and playing pucks off the wall in the defensive zone.
He’s going to be a very good — and different — player if he can maintain his take-charge mentality on both sides of the puck and put it all together at the NHL level.
I wouldn’t normally post this much text from a subscriber-only website, but, well, I’ll make it up to them by being more spare over the course of the next couple of posts:
31. Marco Kasper, C, 19 (Detroit Red Wings — No. 8, 2022)
You won’t find anyone in the SHL, with the Austrian hockey federation, or working for an NHL club in amateur scouting who doesn’t like Kasper’s game and approach to it. He has really impressed scouts, teammates and coaches with the way he has managed pro competition as a teenager these last couple of years.
I love his patience with the puck. He doesn’t shy away from trying to beat or out-wait guys (whether through changes of directions out of stop-ups or curls) and he’s got a really low panic threshold. He’s also a good skater who never lacks effort and always stops on pucks. He’s an advanced 200-foot forward who was able to progress up levels as fast as he did because of how rounded his game is. He’s feisty and fights off his fair share of checks to stay on pucks. He has made real progress filling out his 6-foot-1 frame (now about 190 pounds). There’s a bit of a hunch to his stride, but he leverages his edges well, building speed through the neutral zone to push pace with the puck.
I don’t see game-breaking skill or finishing, per se, but he plays with pro pace, he’s a good passer, he plays on the interior and he makes plays all over the ice. The maturity and smarts in his game define him. He plays an almost mistake-free game. And maybe most importantly, he handled the responsibilities of center ice really well last year (after playing exclusively on the wing in the SHL in his draft year). He won more draws than he lost and drove possession and goal-differential results at five-on-five. I’m not sure he’s quite dynamic enough with the puck to become a first-line center type, but he’s got all of the makings of a good 2C who can influence play in all three zones at five-on-five, on the power play and maybe even on the penalty kill.
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42. Axel Sandin Pellikka, RHD, 18 (Detroit Red Wings — No. 17, 2023):
Sandin Pellikka was utterly dominant at the J20 level last season, played big minutes when things mattered most as an underager at the world juniors (including in three overtimes), looked himself in the SHL, and was in the conversation as the best defenceman in the tournament at U18 worlds in Switzerland for my money. He’s got really good edges and mobility and has shown improved speed in straight lines to pull away from chasers (with more room for growth there still). He walks the line to get shots through at a high level, wants the puck in the offensive zone and has the skill and shot to make things happen when teammates find him off the point or as the trailer off the rush (which he often activates into). He keeps his head up in the neutral and defensive zones and is a confident puck carrier on exits and entries. Though he’s not big, he’s athletic and he plays hard and physical and engages in battles in the defensive zone with some sneaky strength. He’s got a good stick. He does a good job maintaining gaps and matching opposing forwards step for step skating backward, and times his close-outs and pinches effectively. He’s competitive and can really shoot it with a pinpoint accurate shot, a wrister that comes off hard.
There are times when he can wait too long to make his decisions and I wouldn’t call him super creative, but he makes good choices more often than he’s careless and he has progressed really rapidly. When he’s on, he can control the game in all three zones. I expect him to become an offensively impactful but defensively capable second-pairing guy.
Continued (paywall); Nate Danielson, Carter Mazur and William Wallinder earn “honourable mentions” as well.
