For starters, let’s make sure to dampen any unnecessary hype here. The Mysteron – while very good – still clearly ranks below the dominant young talents out of Swedish Junior: The Sedins, Kopitar and Nylander all scored 50% faster, for example.
But he did actually produce as well or better than Gustav Nyquist, Andre Burakovsky, Victor Rask, Carl Hagelin, the four other first rounders, and the 2015 draft’s top pick from Sweden, Joel Eriksson Ek.
He appears to be a much more capable scorer than Kruger, Fast, de la Rose and others, given that he’s scoring twice as often.
Which is probably not a bad summary of this first perspective:
As a scorer, Nitro is a clear notch below Nylander and other top talents like Backstrom, the Sedins, and Kopitar. But he’s right in the mix with all the other 1st round picks from Swedish Junior over this last decade, and in particular, with the top-notch talents picked in 2014.
“A hard worker, (he) immediately gelled with his teammates and has been a fun guy to have in the dressing room. (The Rock)’s coach says, ‘Sometimes you want to be patient with import players and give them a month, month and a half to adjust. He adjusted on Day One and his personality made him do that.’
5th: Now, maybe it’s because this kid has always been an outsider and had to learn how to play with others, and learn to speak their language. Whatever the cause, he turns out to have a knack for sharing the puck.
In other words, he collects assists like candy.
More assists than Timo Meier or Evgeni Svechnikov or Anthony Beauvillier – all first round picks in 2015. He also did pretty well when compared to other great playmakers from the Q in their draft years, with more assists and a faster pace than:
Claude Giroux. Jakub Vorachek. Nik Ehlers. Mikhail Grigorenko. Jonathan Huberdeau. Nathan MacKinnon.
In fact, the last draft age kid in the Q to get more assists than our Russian Rock was…
Sidney Crosby.
That’s a seriously world-class level of playmaking ability.
6th: Now, I know what you’re thinking. Okay, wait. Actually, no, I don’t. Because I’m not a g*ddamn mind-reader, okay? Still, I’ll bet some of you think this is just another kid from the Q that racks up a million power-play points, but can’t play worth a damn at five on five.
Well, here are his 5v5 numbers against the draft picks from the Q this year — Svechnikov, Timo Meier, and the rest.2015 q
BODY SLAM!
Yeah, that’s a pretty dominating performance.
This kid scored better at five on five than every draft age kid out of the Q this year, and in many cases, waaaay better. As in, 50% better.
