After watching Veleno, Raymond, Berggren, and Seider for 3-4 games I'm going to do a little write up on them.
Veleno- Joe looks noticeably bigger out there. He does not look like a 20 year old in any aspect besides his play with the puck. His biggest knock right now is he tries to do too much on his own which has led to turnovers in the offensive zone. When he gets in trouble I would like to see him make the safe play more often. His straight ahead speed seems good, his in tight skating for a guy his size looks really good and his acceleration is very good as well. He has NHL strength and it shows when he's protecting the puck. I would peg him in as a 3C right now with potential for 2C. Very impressed with his play so far this season, hoping he gets some PK time as well.
Raymond- It's tough to judge a 18 year old in the SHL who is undersized and very weak compared to those he's playing with. Looking past his obvious flaws (size and strength) he has only impressed me. He's not timid out there and will hold on to the puck 5 on 5 and make what I see as a risky play, but he pulls it off. I feel he hasn't had the most puck luck so far this year either. His edges are really good and puck handling as well. I haven't see much fancy puck work yet, but he uses his skating and stickhandling to be deceptive in what he's doing which buys him time and passing outlets. He's used his one timer a couple times which looks surprisingly good and accurate. His wrist shot is inconsistent, I've seen rockets from him and then muffins as well, strength and puck placement will help with that issue. Overall I see a highly skilled guy who at worst is an unreal PP specialist who may have to be sheltered a bit in the middle 6, but that's at worst. I think he can be a very good top 6 forward who plays both ends of the puck. I think he will be similar to a Berggren in a year or two where when he gets his strength you'll see a huge jump in his play.
Berggren- My first time watching him this season it was just highlight after highlight and I saw a guy who could be a top 6 forward in the NHL. He uses his skating and puck control to skate in the offensive zone. What I like most about him, he doesn't do the high risk play much and goes the safer route which will help him get more ice time in the NHL which I think can be as soon as next season in a top 9 role. Another offseason of training his strength will be fine. He reminds me of Nyquist a bit and I think he has that potential to be a 50+ point player as well. Whenever he gets the puck in the o zone, good things happen, it's just getting him the puck has been the only issue I've seen with his team. One thing I do want to point out a lot of his assists are secondary, but he should have way more primary assists that his teammates didn't convert on so I'd say his points are valued correctly at this point.
Seider- Elite. Several times a game I say to myself as he's about to make a pinch "wow that is a dumb pinch", but then I immediately regret it and wonder how he makes these less than 50/50 pinches work every time. His pinches at the blue line are unreal and the rare occasion their forward reads it and makes a play, he always gets back in time to defend. The neutral zone his gap control is superb, he keeps it close and forces that dump or turnover. The one knock I have on him right now is his D zone play, he sometimes gets caught chasing leaving no one in front of the net and when he's in front of the net he's not taking sticks away. He's mean, he's intimidating, he's physically dominant (he's 19 in a men's league, it shouldn't be that way), he's going to be a elite NHL defensemen. Now does he have offense? I don't think so at this moment. He is getting 2PP time now, but I don't think he has the hands or the offensive mindset to be a true PPQB, but he can probably run a PP adequately still.
I may try to watch some of Viro and Johansson in the near future as well.
Veleno- Joe looks noticeably bigger out there. He does not look like a 20 year old in any aspect besides his play with the puck. His biggest knock right now is he tries to do too much on his own which has led to turnovers in the offensive zone. When he gets in trouble I would like to see him make the safe play more often. His straight ahead speed seems good, his in tight skating for a guy his size looks really good and his acceleration is very good as well. He has NHL strength and it shows when he's protecting the puck. I would peg him in as a 3C right now with potential for 2C. Very impressed with his play so far this season, hoping he gets some PK time as well.
Raymond- It's tough to judge a 18 year old in the SHL who is undersized and very weak compared to those he's playing with. Looking past his obvious flaws (size and strength) he has only impressed me. He's not timid out there and will hold on to the puck 5 on 5 and make what I see as a risky play, but he pulls it off. I feel he hasn't had the most puck luck so far this year either. His edges are really good and puck handling as well. I haven't see much fancy puck work yet, but he uses his skating and stickhandling to be deceptive in what he's doing which buys him time and passing outlets. He's used his one timer a couple times which looks surprisingly good and accurate. His wrist shot is inconsistent, I've seen rockets from him and then muffins as well, strength and puck placement will help with that issue. Overall I see a highly skilled guy who at worst is an unreal PP specialist who may have to be sheltered a bit in the middle 6, but that's at worst. I think he can be a very good top 6 forward who plays both ends of the puck. I think he will be similar to a Berggren in a year or two where when he gets his strength you'll see a huge jump in his play.
Berggren- My first time watching him this season it was just highlight after highlight and I saw a guy who could be a top 6 forward in the NHL. He uses his skating and puck control to skate in the offensive zone. What I like most about him, he doesn't do the high risk play much and goes the safer route which will help him get more ice time in the NHL which I think can be as soon as next season in a top 9 role. Another offseason of training his strength will be fine. He reminds me of Nyquist a bit and I think he has that potential to be a 50+ point player as well. Whenever he gets the puck in the o zone, good things happen, it's just getting him the puck has been the only issue I've seen with his team. One thing I do want to point out a lot of his assists are secondary, but he should have way more primary assists that his teammates didn't convert on so I'd say his points are valued correctly at this point.
Seider- Elite. Several times a game I say to myself as he's about to make a pinch "wow that is a dumb pinch", but then I immediately regret it and wonder how he makes these less than 50/50 pinches work every time. His pinches at the blue line are unreal and the rare occasion their forward reads it and makes a play, he always gets back in time to defend. The neutral zone his gap control is superb, he keeps it close and forces that dump or turnover. The one knock I have on him right now is his D zone play, he sometimes gets caught chasing leaving no one in front of the net and when he's in front of the net he's not taking sticks away. He's mean, he's intimidating, he's physically dominant (he's 19 in a men's league, it shouldn't be that way), he's going to be a elite NHL defensemen. Now does he have offense? I don't think so at this moment. He is getting 2PP time now, but I don't think he has the hands or the offensive mindset to be a true PPQB, but he can probably run a PP adequately still.
I may try to watch some of Viro and Johansson in the near future as well.
