Prospect Info: With the 163rd Overall Pick the New York Rangers Select Simon Kjellberg

[nyr2k2]

If for no other reason that teams get to own the player's rights for 4-5 years, NCAA is indeed a much better path for long-shot prospects.

Doesn't even have to be long-shot prospects. Just non-elite guys. Your second round picks and on. Even first round picks who maybe have a lot of skill but whose games are very raw.

NCAA, you get to practice a lot. You get to play against players that are much more developed physically (on average) and who have years of experience on you. The level of play has really improved, the amount of quality teams and players has really improved. It's a great option for any player, really, which is why you even see more European guys coming over to play in the NCAA--it basically tripled in five years. More Canadian kids are coming.

The really elite guys, playing in the CHL is fine as they can just go do their thing and score 10000 points for a couple years and then join the NHL squad.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Doesn't even have to be long-shot prospects. Just non-elite guys. Your second round picks and on. Even first round picks who maybe have a lot of skill but whose games are very raw.

NCAA, you get to practice a lot. You get to play against players that are much more developed physically (on average) and who have years of experience on you. The level of play has really improved, the amount of quality teams and players has really improved. It's a great option for any player, really, which is why you even see more European guys coming over to play in the NCAA--it basically tripled in five years. More Canadian kids are coming.

The really elite guys, playing in the CHL is fine as they can just go do their thing and score 10000 points for a couple years and then join the NHL squad.

Yes. It's just a much more balanced league IMO than major juniors.

 

[Fitzy]

Yes. It's just a much more balanced league IMO than major juniors.

Provided you don't schedule too many games against the Atlantic division- which really should be in a different league.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

 

[cwede]

as @nyr2k2 had speculated, Simon has retired from competitive hockey
[text below link from Google Translate of the linked article]

NHL-draftade backen avslutar karriären – 23 år gammal

Agenten bekräftar för Hockeysverige.se.

hockeysverige.se

Simon Kjellberg ends his career - 23 years old

He is an NHL draftee and had a successful time in the NCAA. Despite that, Simon Kjellberg now chooses to end his ice hockey career - aged 23. This is confirmed by the player's agent for Hockeysverige.se.

Simon Kjellberg from Falun was a great talent in Sweden's 00 generation. The defender was in the national team several times during his junior years and was also successful in Rögle's J20 team.

Something that meant that in the summer of 2018 he was chosen by the New York Rangers as player number 163 in the NHL draft.

Instead of investing directly in the NHL, however, the talent chose to spend four years in the NCAA. There, the result was 52 points in 107 games.

Betting civilly
Now it is clear that it was also the last thing Simon Kjellberg did in his ice hockey career. The defender now chooses to focus on a civilian career, confirms the player's agent for Hockeysverige.se.

During his career there were two bronze medals in the TV puck and 13 appearances in the junior national team. Father Patric Kjellberg has previously had a successful career playing in the NHL and has also won two WC and one Olympic gold with Tre Kronor. Little brother Joel (born 2004) will next season follow the same path as big brother and play in the NCAA..

 

[The Crypto Guy]

I demand the NHL give us back a 6th round pick.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

One of my least favorite picks of the last few years.

Lindblom is #1, he is #2. Tarnstrom is 3.

 

[RangersFan1994]

as @nyr2k2 had speculated, Simon has retired from competitive hockey
[text below link from Google Translate of the linked article]

NHL-draftade backen avslutar karriären – 23 år gammal

Agenten bekräftar för Hockeysverige.se.

hockeysverige.se

Simon Kjellberg ends his career - 23 years old

He is an NHL draftee and had a successful time in the NCAA. Despite that, Simon Kjellberg now chooses to end his ice hockey career - aged 23. This is confirmed by the player's agent for Hockeysverige.se.

Simon Kjellberg from Falun was a great talent in Sweden's 00 generation. The defender was in the national team several times during his junior years and was also successful in Rögle's J20 team.

Something that meant that in the summer of 2018 he was chosen by the New York Rangers as player number 163 in the NHL draft.

Instead of investing directly in the NHL, however, the talent chose to spend four years in the NCAA. There, the result was 52 points in 107 games.

Betting civilly
Now it is clear that it was also the last thing Simon Kjellberg did in his ice hockey career. The defender now chooses to focus on a civilian career, confirms the player's agent for Hockeysverige.se.

During his career there were two bronze medals in the TV puck and 13 appearances in the junior national team. Father Patric Kjellberg has previously had a successful career playing in the NHL and has also won two WC and one Olympic gold with Tre Kronor. Little brother Joel (born 2004) will next season follow the same path as big brother and play in the NCAA..

I'm shocked this doesn't happen more after being drafted by the Rangers lmfao. What a bust

One of my least favorite picks of the last few years.

Lindblom is #1, he is #2. Tarnstrom is 3.

They all suck. Henriksson is also on my list. Waste of a 2ed round pick

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

I'm shocked this doesn't happen more after being drafted by the Rangers lmfao. What a bust



They all suck. Henriksson is also on my list. Waste of a 2ed round pick

Never drafting a Swede again

 

[Kocur26]

I'm shocked this doesn't happen more after being drafted by the Rangers lmfao. What a bust



They all suck. Henriksson is also on my list. Waste of a 2ed round pick

Weak

We love those weak ass Swedes - never works out our way .

 

[RangersFan1994]

Never drafting a Swede again

Only in the 6th or 7th round

 

[Machinehead]

Weak

We love those weak ass Swedes - never works out our way .

Yeah I can't think of one Swedish player who worked out for the Rangers.

 

[will1066]

Yeah I can't think of one Swedish player who worked out for the Rangers.

Yeah but not being able to develop the second Lundqvist twin like Vancouver did with the Sedins was a colossal failure to me.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Yeah I can't think of one Swedish player who worked out for the Rangers.

Hank was drafted 40 years ago. Feeling old yet?

 

[Kocur26]

Yeah but not being able to develop the second Lundqvist twin like Vancouver did with the Sedins was a colossal failure to me.

Many have trouble comprehending this ..
They’re still hoping we reattain Lias Anderson.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

What a tool, if you had no nhl asperations then say that

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

The Gordie Clarke tree continues to bear fruit!

 

[egelband]

What a tool, if you had no nhl asperations then say that

Being good at hockey and getting drafted ended up getting him a college education and all kinds of great experience, so I don’t blame him at all.
Our front office, though…makeup, drive, determination. These are the keys for a hockey player and I wonder how our front office was picking these guys.

 

[Harbour Dog]

Was always a terrible pick. Now seeing that his aspirations were probably never fully directed at hockey, it looks even worse in hindsight. One would think that if there was a single team in the league that would have some insight into a kid's aspirations, it would be the team that employed that kid's father as a scout.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

During his career there were two bronze medals in the TV puck

 

[RangersFan1994]

Was always a terrible pick. Now seeing that his aspirations were probably never fully directed at hockey, it looks even worse in hindsight. One would think that if there was a single team in the league that would have some insight into a kid's aspirations, it would be the team that employed that kid's father as a scout.

Maybe he lied and said he was dedicated to hockey. Why even go into the draft if you had no vision of being a hockey player as a career?

 

[nyr2k2]

I wouldn't be so hard on him. The guy wasn't that good of a player. He was unlikely to receive an ELC from the Rangers or anyone else. He comes from a hockey family and probably has a bunch of guys he can lean on to give him an honest assessment of his chances. If they told Kjellberg, "You're probably looking at a career in the ECHL or a second tier in Europe," and he didn't want to do that, I wouldn't blame him. His familial connections probably afford him a lot of other opportunities as well, things that the average person might not have such a direct pathway into.

There is literally no one who was more critical of that pick than I was. It was a running joke for a few years. But without knowing the full story, it's very unfair to bash the guy and say he lacked heart or desire or whatever.

I knew a couple guys, one was a very fringe ECHL player and one was a mediocre ECHL player who had an extremely brief stint in the AHL. He said it sucked and he hated it. He loved the game but he hated playing AA hockey. I met them in community college. They were both trying to get degrees so they could do something else. They were just two random young guys that didn't have fathers who played in the NHL. They knew there was no real future for them. If they had Kjellberg's connections I bet you they would have stopped sooner.