Hey guys, Stars fan coming in peace. Just had a question for you guys in regards to Erik Karlsson before he was in the NHL and the 70+ point player he is now. I guess my question is from a prospect perspective what was your expectations for him, or was he always expected to be a guy who would be able to put up big numbers (from when he was drafted to his first season), did he rise out of no where, or was it an expected debut by the time he was in the NHL? Any info would be great! Thanks
To put it simply, from the get go he was a defensemen doing things I had never seen a defensemen do. I thought there was something special about a 19 year old 165 pound defensemen from Sweden that had the balls to pull circus stunts on the blueline - even if they were "bad decisions".
I can only speak to what it looked like once he got to Ottawa in his first pre-season. He approached the game in a brash and risky style coupled with high end skill that may not have been seen from a defensive prospect in the modern era.
Once he got to Ottawa I'd say there were indications that there was a special level of potential.
I learned very quickly that opposing fans can't see beyond their own bias, and that most fans don't understand that high end skills transfer to offense and defense equally. Given an equal mindset and dedication, the higher skilled player will typically become the better defensive player. There's a limit to how much I want him to focus on defense, but my point is, he ended up learning to play defense more than anyone expected. And I still expect that to round out more.