D Stian Solberg - Vålerenga, Norway (2024 Draft)

[Marc the Habs Fan]

Against a Canadian team that is all NHL players, Solberg looked fine in the 1st period.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Kid looks really confident with the puck. Impressive - could be 2 Norwegians in the top 15-20 of this draft.

 

[FinPanda]

I like his game.

 

[FinPanda]

He just scored against Canada

 

[Hale The Villain]

He's got NHL quality tools and a meanstreak.

I just question whether the brain is top 4 quality. Couple terrible turnovers in the 3rd today.

 

[Realgud]

He's got NHL quality tools and a meanstreak.

I just question whether the brain is top 4 quality. Couple terrible turnovers in the 3rd today.

Solberg has handled himself very well for being used as an 18 years old #1 dman vs a full NHL roster. It's inevitable that you're gonna see the good and the bad with that much responsibility.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Solberg has handled himself very well for being used as an 18 years old #1 dman vs a full NHL roster. It's inevitable that you're gonna see the good and the bad with that much responsibility.

Sure, but I'm not going to ignore the bad and focus only on the good.

The risky passes and poor puck management is an issue that could carry forward to higher levels.

But from what I have seen of him in this tournament overall we're absolutely looking at a 1st round quality prospect.

 

[Petes2424]

Kid isn’t scared of anything and the stage hasn’t been too big for him at all, during these Worlds.

Haven’t watched him much outside of an U20, U18 type format, but have heard his name is being thrown around (with high praise) by those who’s opinions count. So I’ve been looking forward to watching how he thinks the game at a pro level pace during this tournament. Test passed with flying colors in these handful of games. He also hasn’t been helped like you’ll see sometimes, with the bigger ice surface.

I find myself looking for things wrong with his game, and that’s usually a great sign. His thought process is correct, but sometimes his partner or the winger aren’t thinking that far ahead. These aren’t blind passes to imaginary friends because a kid is panicking. He expects others to think 2 plays ahead, and that’s how it will be in the league. I mention this all the time because it’s so important, and it’s literally ignored on this site. One of the major differences between an NHL player and players in other leagues isn’t natural talent. It’s how they process the game, as it happens. This kid was doing it against NHL players very well.

The kid can flat out play the game, and there’s no reason he shouldn’t be a 1st Round pick. In fact, there’s a lot to suggest he could be a top 15-25 pick even. Will people be floored if he went even higher, ahead of some other dmen who people have penciled in? Probably would be, but maybe they shouldn’t be.

This is his coming out party to the draft media types/public, but I can tell you he’s been talked about for awhile by those who matter. Lots is gonna depend on the ceiling teams attach to him. How much they think his game can still grow. I haven’t seen him enough over the last two years to even give an educated guess on that.

He has NHL retrieval skills already, but it’s his recovery skills, as well as how good he was in transition, and how he actually pushes pace against NHL players, that’s real impressive. Like he’s been playing at a high level for awhile. That’s an 18 year old kid. Haven’t seen this since Seider raised eyebrows doing the same.

All in all though, just haven’t seen enough of him to say he’s that type of a prospect, and likely won’t before the draft. He doesn’t scream off the tape as someone who’s raw, and sometimes teams will see that as not having a ton of growth to his game. That said, nobody should be surprised if he goes much higher than anticipated by the draft media.

If he’s not a 1st Round pick, it’ll be a draft order type of reason.. Where those who are really high on him didn’t have a pick in that range, or simply had another kid they really liked too. Think it’s safe to say he probably goes in the last 1/3rd of the 1st Round, unless there’s issues we’re not aware of with his character, etc. Like I said, I’m not familiar enough with him, just going off his pure talent.

Lots to like.

 

[lilidk]

He's got NHL quality tools and a meanstreak.

I just question whether the brain is top 4 quality. Couple terrible turnovers in the 3rd today.

He has bad team around him, bad coaching and he's trying too much. When he goes offense, nobody covers for him

 

[Artorius Horus T]

Kid is 100% legitimate 1st round top prospect.
When, how did this happen???

How did Norwegian player become this good??
Awesome stuff, but this does not happen very often.

 

[Castle8130]

Just saw the turnover that led to the Cozens short-handed goal. It looks like Solberg had no clue Cozens was anticipating the play. Cozens was directly behind one of the Norwegian players. Just one of those things that happens unfortunately

 

[apoptygma]

Just saw the turnover that led to the Cozens short-handed goal. It looks like Solberg had no clue Cozens was anticipating the play. Cozens was directly behind one of the Norwegian players. Just one of those things that happens unfortunately

Norway had been kept to 0 shots on goal after 2 periods and just got a goal (by Solberg) to make it a 1 goal game. The whole team played with very high risk at that time and chasing a goal to tie the game. Solberg is playing on 1. PP and have a lot og icetime in WC before he is able to be drafted. Even for a weak nation like Norway that is not normal. Have been very interesting to see how much trust the teenagers on the squad have been given by the coach (Solbarg, Brandsegg-Nygård, Vesterheim and Steen). We might see Norways best ever national team in a few years.

 

[Castle8130]

Norway had been kept to 0 shots on goal after 2 periods and just got a goal (by Solberg) to make it a 1 goal game. The whole team played with very high risk at that time and chasing a goal to tie the game. Solberg is playing on 1. PP and have a lot og icetime in WC before he is able to be drafted. Even for a weak nation like Norway that is not normal. Have been very interesting to see how much trust the teenagers on the squad have been given by the coach (Solbarg, Brandsegg-Nygård, Vesterheim and Steen). We might see Norways best ever national team in a few years.

I was more-so defending the "bad giveaway" because it seemed pretty hard to track where Cozens was. I was very impressed with Solberg. I think he is a huge riser coming off his playoff performance and WC performance. There is a clear "big 6", but I could see scouts being so blown away by his play as of late that the "big 6" becomes a "big 7". I currently project Solberg to be drafted in that 13-23 range

 

[apoptygma]

I was more-so defending the "bad giveaway" because it seemed pretty hard to track where Cozens was. I was very impressed with Solberg. I think he is a huge riser coming off his playoff performance and WC performance. There is a clear "big 6", but I could see scouts being so blown away by his play as of late that the "big 6" becomes a "big 7". I currently project Solberg to be drafted in that 13-23 range

Ah, I understand. The draft this year is going to be really surreal as a Norwegian. We are usualy happy just be getting someone drafted in the tail end of the draft now we suddently got 2 players possible in the first round.

It's all a bit weird, as local hockey is pretty popular in my area, but those that go on a ton of games for my local club have no knowledge of the countrys best proespects as they often leave to Sweden before they play senior hockey. So these days I got a lot of questions regarding the draft etc. as a fan of a NHL team more invested in that part of the sport.

 

[Castle8130]

While im still on the topic of Solberg. I heard on the athletic podcast today, Pronman talked to an NHL scout that had Solberg AHEAD OF Buium. This was surprising to me. To note, Pronman said this was an outlier and there were no other scouts that shared a similar opinion to his knowledge

 

[WeThreeKings]

While im still on the topic of Solberg. I heard on the athletic podcast today, Pronman talked to an NHL scout that had Solberg AHEAD OF Buium. This was surprising to me. To note, Pronman said this was an outlier and there were no other scouts that shared a similar opinion to his knowledge

Further to this, he expects there will be defenseman who go after that initial 6, and that you're looking at Solberg, Emery and Jiricek as that group.

Mentions San Jose and St. Louis as two teams doing their due diligence on defense.

 

[TK 421]

Freij and Solberg are two guys we've discussed on the Blues board, I'm team Freij personally, saw he just got loaned to Bjorkloven in Allsvenskan.

 

[DemiGod]

Is there any chance he will be chosen in the top 10?

 

[Castle8130]

Freij and Solberg are two guys we've discussed on the Blues board, I'm team Freij personally, saw he just got loaned to Bjorkloven in Allsvenskan.

From what Pronman's been saying, Freij is likely an end of the 2nd round/early 3rd round pick in scouts minds. Plenty of chance to get him. Solberg on the other hand has a good chance to go top 15

 

[TK 421]

From what Pronman's been saying, Freij is likely an end of the 2nd round/early 3rd round pick in scouts minds. Plenty of chance to get him. Solberg on the other hand has a good chance to go top 15

I'll be surprised if Solberg goes top 15, I see him as a guy more likely to go in the 2nd.

In regards to Freij, the last couple days his position on aggregate lists has bumped up 3 spots from 44th to 41st and I would expect him to climb some more on the final lists. Solberg will certainly climb those same lists but he's further back than Freij and I prefer Freij to him.

 

[Marc the Habs Fan]

I'll be surprised if Solberg goes top 15, I see him as a guy more likely to go in the 2nd.

Prepared to be surprised. When guys like Pronman now have Stolberg going top 14, that's not out of nowhere. He is getting info on Stolberg's rise from scouts and the last 2-3 years, Pronman has proven he has great sources with scouts.

 

[LeProspector]

He is the next Seider

 

[TK 421]

Prepared to be surprised. When guys like Pronman now have Stolberg going top 14, that's not out of nowhere. He is getting info on Stolberg's rise from scouts and the last 2-3 years, Pronman has proven he has great sources with scouts.

Super, none of that changes my opinion though so we'll just have to see how it plays out at the draft.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

If the Sens pick a forward with their #7 pick, I'd definitely be interested in this guy with #25.

 

[Juxtaposer]

If the Sens pick a forward with their #7 pick, I'd definitely be interested in this guy with #25.

There’s no chance that he’s still available at 25.