C Kimo Gruber - EHC Kloten U20, Swiss U20 (2023 Draft)

[Speyer]

I know its probably to early to make a thread for such a young player but Kimo Grubers play will probably start to get him attention sooner or later anyway. Gruber is a Center for the Kloten youth programm and was recently promoted to the U20 team as a 15 year old, where he put up three points in two games so far, as the youngest player in the League.

While you often hear Nico Hischier comparisons for every semi decent Swiss center prospect, I feel like in Grubers case they might actually be merited. Even for his young age Gruber is already a very complete player with impressive offensive and defensive capabilities. He is already a very good skater with impressive acceleration and agility wich doesnt just help him to carry the puck in the opponents zone, but makes him also a good backchecker that can diffuse the mistakes of his teammates. He is also a good forechecker with an active stick that can force turnovers if the opponent isnt careful. He is a good playmaker with excellent vision even though he tries to make the "safe pass" a bit to often in that regard. His shot still lacks some power right now, but he has great accuracy on his deceptive wrist shot wich he can release in a hurry if he has to. He also has great defensive awareness in his own zone and isnt afraid to battle for the puck along the boards against players up to 4 years older than him. If he wins the battle he is capable to move the puck out of harms way with an accurate outlet pass that almost never misses its mark.

All in all i feel that Gruber is a very promising prospect with little to now red flags and a very complete skill set. If his developing curve stays on track he should be a possible first rounder for 23.

Here is his EP profile.

Click to read more...

 

[JabbaJabba]

Nice to see that Switzerland has bunch of very promising prospects for the next few years after a couple of mediocre drafts. Canonica and Meier next year, Greuter for 2022 and Gruber for 2023. Gruber has good size for his age already, which has probably helped him in U20 league. Hopefully he can keep being productive there as it would be quite remarkable.

 

[WeThreeKings]

We just need a John McClain

 

[WeThreeKings]

I know its probably to early to make a thread for such a young player but Kimo Grubers play will probably start to get him attention sooner or later anyway. Gruber is a Center for the Kloten youth programm and was recently promoted to the U20 team as a 15 year old, where he put up three points in two games so far, as the youngest player in the League.

While you often hear Nico Hischier comparisons for every semi decent Swiss center prospect, I feel like in Grubers case they might actually be merited. Even for his young age Gruber is already a very complete player with impressive offensive and defensive capabilities. He is already a very good skater with impressive acceleration and agility wich doesnt just help him to carry the puck in the opponents zone, but makes him also a good backchecker that can diffuse the mistakes of his teammates. He is also a good forechecker with an active stick that can force turnovers if the opponent isnt careful. He is a good playmaker with excellent vision even though he tries to make the "safe pass" a bit to often in that regard. His shot still lacks some power right now, but he has great accuracy on his deceptive wrist shot wich he can release in a hurry if he has to. He also has great defensive awareness in his own zone and isnt afraid to battle for the puck along the boards against players up to 4 years older than him. If he wins the battle he is capable to move the puck out of harms way with an accurate outlet pass that almost never misses its mark.

All in all i feel that Gruber is a very promising prospect with little to now red flags and a very complete skill set. If his developing curve stays on track he should be a possible first rounder for 23.

Here is his EP profile.

I hear this kid has really soft Hans.

 

[Speyer]

I hear this kid has really soft Hans.

I knew the Die Hard jokes would eventually be inevitable but if they are already starting now I cant imagine what will happen in his draft season. By the way, he actually has soft hands...

 

[Speyer]

He has extended his good start and is just below ppg with 7 points in 8 games as the youngest player in the league. Gruber therefore remains one of the few bright spots in an otherwise rather weak new wave of Swiss prospects.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Was there a reason he didn't play much? It's not as if there were so many good 2022 prospects to give ice time to.

I don't want to be harsh in assessing a player who barely played, but I didn't see much to think that some of the early hype is accurate. I think the other U16 forward from Switzerland was better than him. However, I stress that I have seen very little of him.

 

[Treb]

Was there a reason he didn't play much? It's not as if there were so many good 2022 prospects to give ice time to.

I don't want to be harsh in assessing a player who barely played, but I didn't see much to think that some of the early hype is accurate. I think the other U16 forward from Switzerland was better than him. However, I stress that I have seen very little of him.

He played 34 games in U20 and 5 in U16, so not sure what you mean by not playing much. More than half the players played less than him in the U20 (Tied 185 of 430).

He also played in some U16 and U17 competitions (6 and 3 games), so he might have lost games there too (can't confirm).

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

He played 34 games in U20 and 5 in U16, so not sure what you mean by not playing much. More than half the players played less than him in the U20 (Tied 185 of 430).

He also played in some U16 and U17 competitions (6 and 3 games), so he might have lost games there too (can't confirm).

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I am talking about the Hlinka tournament that ended over the weekend. He was on the Swiss team for that tournament, and didn't play that much. They seemed to be skipping his shift pretty often from what I saw.

 

[Treb]

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I am talking about the Hlinka tournament that ended over the weekend. He was on the Swiss team for that tournament, and didn't play that much. They seemed to be skipping his shift pretty often from what I saw.

Can't say I watched it, but the whole team scored 5 goals in 4 games, which is a pretty embarrassing showing, so it's probably hard to judge him. They also had a tournament leading 78 PIM, so that probably didn't help playing young guys.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

His CHL rights are now held by Oshawa.

 

[Speyer]

His CHL rights are now held by Oshawa.

I hope he moves to the OHL. If he wants to get drafted staying in the Swiss U20 league would be fatal. And I doubt they would let him play a significant role in the Kloten senior team as early as next season. Playing the tougher NA game could also fix his compete level issues if he is willing and able to change in that regard...

 

[pgfan66]

I hope he moves to the OHL. If he wants to get drafted staying in the Swiss U20 league would be fatal. And I doubt they would let him play a significant role in the Kloten senior team as early as next season. Playing the tougher NA game could also fix his compete level issues if he is willing and able to change in that regard...

Signed in Oshawa

 

[Kuracmugger]

Can someone tell how he plays in north america? He started really slow scoringwise…

 

[Speyer]

Still no point in the OHL. Probably won't get drafted either unless some miracle happens. I can't believe this is happening again. Right now it seems that every semi decent Swiss prospect is bound to start stagnating or even regressing sooner than later. I am straight up hoping that both our Jr. national teams will get relegated this year, otherwise this development will not get adressed.

 

[pgfan66]

Still no point in the OHL. Probably won't get drafted either unless some miracle happens. I can't believe this is happening again. Right now it seems that every semi decent Swiss prospect is bound to start stagnating or even regressing sooner than later. I am straight up hoping that both our Jr. national teams will get relegated this year, otherwise this development will not get adressed.

I don’t know how good he was before that, but I never saw much in him last season either. Is it perhaps just the same things as in Germany where since Seider, Stützle etc. came along (for Switzerland it’d be Hischier, Rohrer and I’ll count Rossi as well) ever semi-decent prospect is completely overhyped? Because the reality is that most prospects in every country don’t make it.

 

[Speyer]

I don’t know how good he was before that, but I never saw much in him last season either. Is it perhaps just the same things as in Germany where since Seider, Stützle etc. came along (for Switzerland it’d be Hischier, Rohrer and I’ll count Rossi as well) ever semi-decent prospect is completely overhyped? Because the reality is that most prospects in every country don’t make it.

Sure Gruber may have been overhyped (also by myself), but its becoming a pattern that lately pretty much every somewhat promising Swiss prospect except Bichsel has not just disappointed but completely busted. I am not saying guys like Rochette, Delemont, Greuter, Biasca, Canonica, Gruber etc. should have been first rounders but none of them was even drafted despite comparable stats to Swiss NHL players at an earlier age. And some of them really passed the eye test too playing well against international competition up until the U17/18 age group. This development is getting frustrating and is not explainable by wrong expectations alone.

 

[filip85]

Still no point in the OHL. Probably won't get drafted either unless some miracle happens. I can't believe this is happening again. Right now it seems that every semi decent Swiss prospect is bound to start stagnating or even regressing sooner than later. I am straight up hoping that both our Jr. national teams will get relegated this year, otherwise this development will not get adressed.

Without Russia and Belarus it is easier to reach quarters than get relegated.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

Still no point in the OHL. Probably won't get drafted either unless some miracle happens. I can't believe this is happening again. Right now it seems that every semi decent Swiss prospect is bound to start stagnating or even regressing sooner than later. I am straight up hoping that both our Jr. national teams will get relegated this year, otherwise this development will not get adressed.

I cannot stress how dumb it is for these prospects to go to the CHL before they’re NHL drafted. There is zero pressure for these CHL franchises to give these players meaningful minutes - if you don’t succeed on the third or fourth lines, no special teams time then they’ll release you and be onto their next import pick the next year.

At least when an NHL team drafts you, that CHL franchise has the pressure of said NHL team to play you meaningful minutes.

It has happened to many German players too.

 

[Hinterland]

I cannot stress how dumb it is for these prospects to go to the CHL before they’re NHL drafted. There is zero pressure for these CHL franchises to give these players meaningful minutes - if you don’t succeed on the third or fourth lines, no special teams time then they’ll release you and be onto their next import pick the next year.

At least when an NHL team drafts you, that CHL franchise has the pressure of said NHL team to play you meaningful minutes.

It has happened to many German players too.

Yeah. But that's the same everywhere you go. You don't get anything for free and homegrown players rightfully have priority. The junior leagues of the German speaking countries are nowhere near as good as the Swedish leagues or the CHL. If you go there you have to earn your minutes or just be better what's already there. Sweden is no different than Canada but Lian Bichsel made Leksand's SHL team right away...because he was good enough. All teams want to win and if you give them the best chance to win you're gonna play. As simple as that.

There may be cases of players who got treated unfairly but you can't say that the CHL is always a bad choice for undrafted players. If the German speaking prospects stay at home and still wanna keep their draft hopes alive then they have to play pro hockey rather soon and it's not necessarily easier to get big minutes in pro hockey than in the CHL. There's also players who progressed nicely in the CHL. Attilio Biasca for example. Played a monster WJC20 and is now walking in Timo Meier's footsteps as the next Swiss born captain of the Halifax Mooseheads. Now they may not build a friggen statue for him down in Halifax as they did for Meier but you can tell they value Biasca a lot. Because he's just a good player who paid his dues and earned his current status and minutes.

 

[Speyer]

I cannot stress how dumb it is for these prospects to go to the CHL before they’re NHL drafted. There is zero pressure for these CHL franchises to give these players meaningful minutes - if you don’t succeed on the third or fourth lines, no special teams time then they’ll release you and be onto their next import pick the next year.

At least when an NHL team drafts you, that CHL franchise has the pressure of said NHL team to play you meaningful minutes.

It has happened to many German players too.

I talked about this before in another thread. I don't think its always a bad decision to go over the pond, but a lot of the times it seems like our import players (and their agents) have false expectations when they go over. You can gather that much from a comparison between interviews that they give before reporting and the reality that settles in afterward. I think going over can make sense but only if the player in question has enough talent and a resilient mentality. Context matters a lot as well. If there is a chance for the player to play meaningful pro minutes back here or if the CHL team that drafts him is very deep, then staying in Switzerland could be the better option. And it seems like some of the players going over don't evaluate their options careful enough before committing when picked in the import draft. And such a decision can make or break a pro career.

 

[Kuracmugger]

I talked about this before in another thread. I don't think its always a bad decision to go over the pond, but a lot of the times it seems like our import players (and their agents) have false expectations when they go over. You can gather that much from a comparison between interviews that they give before reporting and the reality that settles in afterward. I think going over can make sense but only if the player in question has enough talent and a resilient mentality. Context matters a lot as well. If there is a chance for the player to play meaningful pro minutes back here or if the CHL team that drafts him is very deep, then staying in Switzerland could be the better option. And it seems like some of the players going over don't evaluate their options careful enough before committing when picked in the import draft. And such a decision can make or break a pro career.

However i can understand moving to the CHL if you’re guaranteed a spot on an NL oe atleast SL team. Id you spend the whole season in the u20 elit you most likely won’t play unless you have a monster u18 world tournament. This is just another consequence of six foreigners in our national league, there’s just not enough roster spots now. Just today Dominik Diem was 13th attacker for zurich… i mean it’s obvious no u18 players get ice time in our league when established NL players and even some time NT players are 13th attackers. I know zurich is stacked but still they claim to be the best youth team. We just need to copy Sweden‘s system you very rarely see swedish players go overseas since it’s much more attractive to stay at home if you have the chance to make it on the pro team… if this is the same case for switzerland you automatically get a better u20 elit league and there’s no need for 4 overagers…

 

[Hinterland]

However i can understand moving to the CHL if you’re guaranteed a spot on an NL oe atleast SL team. Id you spend the whole season in the u20 elit you most likely won’t play unless you have a monster u18 world tournament. This is just another consequence of six foreigners in our national league, there’s just not enough roster spots now. Just today Dominik Diem was 13th attacker for zurich… i mean it’s obvious no u18 players get ice time in our league when established NL players and even some time NT players are 13th attackers. I know zurich is stacked but still they claim to be the best youth team. We just need to copy Sweden‘s system you very rarely see swedish players go overseas since it’s much more attractive to stay at home if you have the chance to make it on the pro team… if this is the same case for switzerland you automatically get a better u20 elit league and there’s no need for 4 overagers…

The Swedes stay in Sweden because their junior system is the best in Europe. In Switzerland you either become a regular on a pro team asap or you gotta leave the country.

 

[Kuracmugger]

The Swedes stay in Sweden because their junior system is the best in Europe. In Switzerland you either become a regular on a pro team asap or you gotta leave the country.

Yeah that’s true and in my opinion i think we should build the same thing here or atleast try to

 

[GoBoltz56]

If only his grandpa Hans was still around to see him play.