With the 1st month of the season completed I thought I'd throw out some names that are likely to be outside of the 1st round on most rankings right now, but could be players that are interesting come draft day. Right now these are the Swedish based prospects that have had great starts to the year and could be risers if they sustain their level of play.
Calle Spaberg Olsen - He's currently playing in the SHL after picking up 9 points in 6 games in the Super Elit. He played his D-1 season in the Norway U21 league and was the top scoring U18 player in and finished 3rd in the league in scoring; his p/gp was also the 5th best in the league. He outscored his peers last year and he has continued to do so in a superior league. He also produced well at least years U18 D1A is an underager. He's got decent size as well so it well be interesting to see if he can continue his pace, if so he is going to be a surefire top 30 or 45 pick for me.
Zion Nybeck - He's an undersized forward who has plenty of skill and has had a great start to the Super Elit season. He's currently got 14 points in 9 games, the best for a U18 draft eligible player, and seems to be able to toy with level. He had a fantastic D-1 season, comparable to Raymond and Holtz, and he also played well at the U18. His small stature makes me think that he could be a prime target for our 2nd and would be an all upside style pick.
Emil Heineman - I'm not sure what to make of this player. He has never been a scorer at any previous level and his D-1 season was underwhelming to say the least. He is a late '01 so perhaps there was some sort of late growth spurt or some other reason for his lack of production, but his current stat line is eye catching to say the least. He's currently tied for the league lead with 16 points in 7 games, good for a 2.29 point per game. He's having by far the best "Draft Season" of anyone in the Super Elit thus far so if he can keep it up or at least finish in the 1.50 range he may be a great value pick in the later part of the draft.
Emil Andrae - This is another smaller player except this time it's a defenceman. He's currently over a point per game with 10 points in 9 games and he has produced similar totals at previous levels. The list of defenceman that have produced over a point/gp in their draft season or before is small and even if he falls to the 0.8-0.9 range he is still going to be around some excellent players. He's also played at the Hlinka and had a productive tournament. He's someone that I think can work his way into the top 20 if he continues his pace, but should he slow down he's another player we could target in the early 2nd round.
Other names to watch from Sweden are
Anton Johannesson,
Oskar Magnusson,
Hugo Styf,
Oscar Nilsson, and
Lucas Ramberg. Of this bunch I think Johannesson, Magnusson, and Ramberg are the most intriguing, Ramberg has had 3 games at the SHL level thus far this season.
