I think he’s Nyquist+. I think his skating and skill is such an exciting package. I’m just not very high on Evindsson, the decision making concerns me.
I see him as Nyquist- and he hasn't been developing in NA which is an advantage Nyquist had in my opinion. We covered this in the last one but I think people forget how good Nyquist was as a prospect and really how good he was when he first got to the league before they adjusted to his game when he became a chalk talk player. Now we will see, I think there was no player more hurt by Franzen going down than Nyquist, they had an unreal connection. Perhaps Berggren hits it off with someone and they stick together. For me I project him as a third liner still, he has the potential to be more, but he has to continue to make gains in terms of consistently getting to the middle of the ice. He is somewhat predictable in terms of what he tries to do so when NHL D-man figure that out where is his adjustment?
I can see being high on him. However, the other thing I would say is Berggren has been healthy one season. Sure it was a really good season, but a guy with injury issues going to a more physical league does concern me. I think he can be a player, he is the kind of guy we need to hit on and get more out of to get where we want to go. But while everyone reacts to the explosive season in the SHL, I have him at 6... So he isn't in front of either Cossa or Veleno for me. Now I will say he is a player that probably has the most upside to me in the mid-season poll as most of my questions I will have a much more comfortable (hopefully) feeling answering.
Top 6 players play top 4 D-man in this league. So that is the top 128 or let's just be generous and say 22 players outside of the league are on the lists. You are looking at one of the best 150 D-man in the world on most shifts. It is really hard to break those guys down, if you want to skate around on the outside where trouble doesn't happen a lot, they will leave you to do that. If you cut in at the wrong moment they will also knock you into next week. There are going to be some adjustments, the best D-man he faced last year was Seider, so for those about to pump up the SHL, I like the league I will continue to say I don't have it above the AHL and it is a different style of hockey. You can certainly make big gains there, I am happy to have prospects develop there, but I would start Berggren in the AHL and I don't necessarily expect him to be a powerhouse right away in the league. I hope he can be, that would change my thought process mid-season but for now I am unmoved to gamble on his one season over players I see having higher potential or really in the case of Veleno I believe a player with more flexibility and rounded NA game as the tie-breaker between the two.
I do hope Berggren has made some more gains on his shot this year. I think that will be big, he needs to be a true duel threat to get some more space, it will allow him to do more of his playmaking. This for me is what ultimately doomed Nyquist from being a bigger player than he was. Still he was first liner for a pretty significant chunk of his career, holding time there at all three stops. We talk about Nyquist and Tatar as failures at times when that is kind of wrong. They weren't the guys to pick up the mantle and carry your team, but they certainly were useful top 6 players and have been since departing minus Tatar's disaster year in Vegas. If Bergreen is a legit threat from 35 to 50 feet on occasion it will open a lot more passing lanes for him and might let him play his game a little more. That is how he takes that next level. I don't really see him as more promising than those previous two though, frankly being them would be a boost to the rebuild if it is in a second line or third line capacity and slotted correctly on hopefully a much better team...
For the upcoming PP debate
Raymond, Zadina, Vrana...
Now if you want to keep Hronek long term he is in an outside flank position since he struggles terribly at the top. Larkin at times plays out wide though I wish he could excel more as the bumper. This is assuming you don't draft anybody else which we certainly will in the next couple drafts or sign someone which at some point Stevie is going to go in a little heavier, probably next off-season by the looks of things... So anybody else starting see the problem here? Forgive me if I don't see this ample PP time coming. Hopefully he outkicks the coverage and does, but some of these projections are a little hard to follow on Berggren for me right now.