Prospect Info: #134 - Liam Dower Nilsson (C)

[SCD]

Damn I'd love to have a team of Zetterbergs. How's the human cloning stuff coming along?

My first choice, though, without too much thought on this, would be a team of Sergei Federovs.

Now I'm wondering how a team of Zetterbergs would do against a team of Federovs. The Zetterbergs would be playing 4D chess on the ice, but the Federovs would be throwing so many shots on poor goalie Zetterberg I'm thinking the total goals scored in the game might be 25 or 30.

Goalie Federov would be out of position too much joining the rush.

 

[Ed Ned and Leddy]

To be fair, Hakan hasn't had much draft capital to work with prior to 2017. Tyler Wright needed to get his big boys.

He did draft Janmark who is a pretty good player. We can also credit him for the following:

Jonatan Berggren
Lucas Raymond
William Wallinder
Gustav Berglund
Simon Edvinsson
Elmer Soderblom
Theodor Niederbach
Albert Johansson

I'd like to see him look outside of Frolunda more but Hakan has done a great job since 2018 in rebuilding our farm system. Outside of Berglund all of these kids would be a top 5 player in almost any other team's prospect pool.

Right, but this is essentially my point. When Hakan doesn't get his picks in until the shitter rounds, he hasn't had a lot of success in the last 15 years or so. But when we draft a Euro forward in the late rounds it's always "Trust Hakan" or "Next Zetterberg?" despite the fact that we've had dozens of those picks go nowhere. Again, that's fine, Hakan is a great scout and we're granting him leeway.

But when we take anyone in the late rounds with any tangential relationship to Draper or a former NHLer now it's just hell and brimstone around here. No, "Next Bertuzzi" even though it's well-documented that Draper was the guy banging the table for that pick.

I get some of it. The Kieran pick I think has left a bad taste in some peoples' mouth. Fair enough, I think it's a big-time overreaction to a 7th round pick, but fair enough.

Again, if people are skeptical on a pick like Mazur I think that's fine, it didn't knock my socks off either. But all of the "Fire Draper" stuff I've seen all over the board these past few days just seems like a wild overreaction to a couple of late round picks that no one here has seen play a lick of hockey.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Goalie Federov would be out of position too much joining the rush.

But team Fedorov would have the puck all damn game despite team Zetterberg's tenacity.

 

[ChadS]

Fail

 

[Dotter]

Looks like Mazur, Nilsson and probably Savage have something in common. Nose to the net, scrappy, never give on the play. They will their way to scoring from grit and determination. All possess leadership and strong work ethics.

Hard to hate these type of prospects.

 

[SpartyOn]

These are old clips but worth seeing I guess, he was 15.

I think that might be the brother of who we drafted, which was Liam.

 

[ChadS]

I think that might be the brother of who we drafted, which was Liam.

Oops I was wondering why it said 2020 haha

Here are a few of the actual Liam...

Shift by shift with Hanhals (Swe-3) against men


2 goals, 2 assists from the season before last with Frölunda U18

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Oops I was wondering why it said 2020 haha

Here are a few of the actual Liam...

Shift by shift with Hanhals (Swe-3) against men


2 goals, 2 assists from the season before last with Frölunda U18

I like the work ethic. Needs to get stronger for sure. He might have potential as a 3rd liner.

 

[Frk It]

No.
Even in today's age, there are surprises. Even from highly scouted leagues.
But until said player shows me I'm wrong, I'm gonna stick to my guns.
Why would I change my mind just because Detroit drafted him? There's a word for that. It ends in SIMPSON.
At least give me that somewhat glowing scouting report, you know? From someone other than the Red Wings' beat writers and PR staff.
Plandowski...Didn't look at him at all. Didn't like it for a minute. Then I read some so-so scouting reports that hinted at potential and I was fine with it. Helps that he's in round 5 instead of 3, but still.
Problem with Mazur is, when I started digging in, I didn't like the scouting reports.
Then I connected him to Kienan and Kris Draper. And... that just felt like inside baseball to me.

I think criticism of the Kienan Draper pick after the USHL season he just had is totally fair. I think immediately after the pick, most people had no idea if he could play or not.

But if Kris Draper is going to operate the way you are suggesting, he will be fired and won’t get another opportunity to run someone’s scouting department. So I’d like to believe he’s not that dumb/incompetent. I listen to him talk about our draft picks and he sounds pretty knowledgeable and capable to me.

I guess we will have to see how this Mazur kid does in the NCAA. Draper has seen something in guys others have overlooked before, as far as pushing for Tyler Bertuzzi well above where he was ranked.

 

[MBH]

I think criticism of the Kienan Draper pick after the USHL season he just had is totally fair. I think immediately after the pick, most people had no idea if he could play or not.

But if Kris Draper is going to operate the way you are suggesting, he will be fired and won’t get another opportunity to run someone’s scouting department. So I’d like to believe he’s not that dumb/incompetent. I listen to him talk about our draft picks and he sounds pretty knowledgeable and capable to me.

I guess we will have to see how this Mazur kid does in the NCAA. Draper has seen something in guys others have overlooked before, as far as pushing for Tyler Bertuzzi well above where he was ranked.

Why didn't Draper see this in Mazur before?
Anyway - if this was our 6th round pick, I wouldn't care.

 

[Dotter]

Why didn't Draper see this in Mazur before?
Anyway - if this was our 6th round pick, I wouldn't care.

Yet people seem to care about Kienan Draper going in the 7th.

As for Mazur. Yzerman has proven his love for these kind of players. Look no further than his relentless love for Adam Erne, a player that Draper was no part of.