We established last page that he's 5th on his team in ice time per game among defenseman (and I'm sure he got more PP time than some of those other guys). He's got the worst +/- on his team by a decent amount. I'm curious how that possibly comes out to "spectacular" defensive play.
I watched a little bit of Skelleftea this year and that is not what I saw when I watched
Did we confirm that? Because I am on the SHL website and he is 4th among his team in average TOI for Skelleftea. 23:51, 17:55, 17:51
17:38
So he's essentially the same usage as their #2 or #3. Less than 20 seconds is negligible. Situation driven TOI is negligible. If he is being boosted because of powerplay time and no PK time, someone has to be picking up PK time where he isn't. Not to say that there isn't some development left to be had defensively, but we didn't exactly draft him to be a transformative defensive stalwart.
For full transparency, Edvinsson played 19:42 in his final SHL season, but it appears as though Frolunda deployed their defensemen differently than Skelleftea does now.
Don't really get why you are pushing back on the quote you are posting here. Ultimately the development path for every player is going to be different, and I agree with Santos that I think there is 0 reason to rush ASP. Maybe he comes to America next year, and plays in Grand Rapids. I'm all for that. I don't think he would be ready for NHL ready until at least the following season though.
It isn't really push back on the idea that he stays in Sweden, that would be shrug worthy. I am moreso questioning whether that is the likely developmental path we would employ given the recent track record of the Wings bringing over European prospects drafted in the first round by the end of their D+1 season.
But ASP ain't Seider, Ray, Ed or Kasper. ASP overally is much more rawer case, he's developmental path is closer to AlJo and Wallinder than to the names above and i think ASP's offensive flair has blinded folk of his flaws. Defensive game and skating, SHL is a perfect place learn both and get some private lessons from Kronwall.
You think that ASP is a drastically different case than Kasper at this stage? Kasper to me was a developmental play; yes, he is responsible, has good size, is fairly well rounded, but he also was nowhere near as polished as Seider or Raymond or Edvinsson in my eyes. I think this boils down to the proximity to development staff, as good as Kronwall is to have as an asset, having prospects learn North American game within the Wings actual system appears to be something we value.