Swedish picks

[johnny_rudeboy]

I just had a look at the players the Leafs have drafted over the years and it look as our trackrecord with drafting Swedes is pretty solid even do it is far from spectacular.

The last 20 years the Leafs have drafted 15 Swedes and 8 of them made it to the NHL with various succesful careers, but they at least made it and considering how low most of them have been drafted I find that very impressive.

Sure, they are mostly depth guys or players with supporting roles and they have mostly played for other teams then the Leafs but that is not the point here. The point at the draft is to pick young players who one way or the other can help the franchise and being good enough to be traded is also part of it.

And one might have to add that there is still hope that Granberg, Nilsson and Johnson will play in the NHL one way or the other to so 8 out of 15 could soon be 12 out of 15.


1993 Kenny Jönsson #12
1994 Fredrik Modin #64
1997 Jonathan Hedström #221
1999 Pierre Hedin #239
2000 Mikael Tellqvist #70
2002 Staffan Kronwall #285
2005 Johan Dahlvberg #173, Anton Strålman #216
2006 Viktor Stålberg #161
2007 Carl Gunnarsson #194
2010 Petter Granberg #116, Daniel Brodin #146
2011 Tom Nilsson #100
2012 Viktor Lööv #209
2013 Andreas Johnson #202


For comparision, the Leafs have during this time picked 30 Americans but only 5 of them have played in the NHL. We have however picked many of those in recent years so that number will hopefully change.

For both nations I exluded players who only had a handfull of games.

Click to read more...

 

[kamosko]

Leafs need more Swedes

Although a player's nationality shouldn't matter as long as they can play but I wish the leafs had more swedish dudes, they seem cool af

 

[Deuce Awesome]

Ive always preferred the Fins, seem to play with more of an edge.


These days though hockey worldwide seems to be reading the same playbooks.

 

[TheVision]

I just had a look at the players the Leafs have drafted over the years and it look as our trackrecord with drafting Swedes is pretty solid even do it is far from spectacular.

The last 20 years the Leafs have drafted 15 Swedes and 8 of them made it to the NHL with various succesful careers, but they at least made it and considering how low most of them have been drafted I find that very impressive.

Sure, they are mostly depth guys or players with supporting roles and they have mostly played for other teams then the Leafs but that is not the point here. The point at the draft is to pick young players who one way or the other can help the franchise and being good enough to be traded is also part of it.

And one might have to add that there is still hope that Granberg, Nilsson and Johnson will play in the NHL one way or the other to so 8 out of 15 could soon be 12 out of 15.


1993 Kenny Jönsson #12
1994 Fredrik Modin #64
1997 Jonathan Hedström #221
1999 Pierre Hedin #239
2000 Mikael Tellqvist #70
2002 Staffan Kronwall #285
2005 Johan Dahlvberg #173, Anton Strålman #216
2006 Viktor Stålberg #161
2007 Carl Gunnarsson #194
2010 Petter Granberg #116, Daniel Brodin #146
2011 Tom Nilsson #100
2012 Viktor Lööv #209
2013 Andreas Johnson #202


For comparision, the Leafs have during this time picked 30 Americans but only 5 of them have played in the NHL. We have however picked many of those in recent years so that number will hopefully change.

For both nations I exluded players who only had a handfull of games.

Looking forward to Granberg making the jump. Loov and Nilsson seem a ways off yet, but that Nilsson lays a mean hit. The wildcard here is Johnson. looks to be having a good season with the big boys in the SEL; had a great World Juniors as well. Looking forward to seeing him develop.

 

[realgoodleafs]

Alex Steen as well

 

[MrLegend28*]

im confused that list is horrifying.

 

[johnny_rudeboy]

im confused that list is horrifying.

As I said in my post, it is no superstars here but not that many Swedes or any players at all in general who are drafted becomes an NHL player but when it comes to Swedes we have a good track record. I think it is rather remarkable that more then half of the picks from one region picked by the same organization plays more then 1 season in the NHL, even more so considering most of the picks are from the lower rounds.

 

[The Podium]

You forgot Steen

 

[johnny_rudeboy]

You forgot Steen

Embarrassing. So that makes it 9 out of 15.

 

[TheJet11]

Draft the most talented player. I'd love to see us land a guy with elite offensive talent and creativity. We've got a decent crop of developing Dmen, and some solid supporting forwards, but we need a Kadri type of offensive player. Sure Kadri's had his share of challenges and defensive shortcomings, but he's easily the most gifted offensive player we've drafted in quite a while. I like Connor Brown, and can't wait to see him in the AHL next year... but he's going to have to fight an uphill battle to end up as an elite offensive NHLer.

 

[crazyaces**]

im confused that list is horrifying.

A lot of them are late picks, it's not like we've drafted many swedes in the first round, steen is the only one I can think of?!

 

[Diatomic]

I definitely want more swedes and europeans in general, especially with the 5th-7th rounders but meh, who knows what this team's management is thinking about. Adding more 4th liners and grinders is more important than boom/bust prospects to them.

 

[Stephen]

The fact that so many of them were taken so low and still made it shows us that Bergman knows what he's doing. Imagine if we dipped into that Scandinavian pool earlier and more frequently, we'd be a lot better off than having guys like Brad Ross and Kenny Ryan.

 

[mcleex]

Am I the only one who doesn't see anything impressive about this list? It seems like the OP is being patriotic to his own country

 

[indigobuffalo]

And Carlo Colaiacovo

 

[Joey Hoser]

Am I the only one who doesn't see anything impressive about this list? It seems like the OP is being patriotic to his own country

5/16 quality regular NHL players and a couple "almosts" with a few promising prospects is a pretty good success rate for random draft picks with only 2 in the first round.

 

[ConnorTO]

Canadians are way better hockey players

 

[Drew311]

Am I the only one who doesn't see anything impressive about this list? It seems like the OP is being patriotic to his own country

There is definitely upside in the Swedish picks made in the last few years. I think the list is a bit unimpressive because we aren't able to watch these players and have really no idea how good they will be.

 

[Stephen]

Am I the only one who doesn't see anything impressive about this list? It seems like the OP is being patriotic to his own country

Keep in mind 11 of the 16 picks were made after the 100th pick. Seems like we're under utilizing the Scandinavian scouting earlier in the draft. When was the last time we went to Europe in the first round? Alex Steen in 2002, Tuukka Rask in 2005, Jiri Tlusty in 2006. 2/3 great picks.

 

[johnny_rudeboy]

Keep in mind 11 of the 16 picks were made after the 100th pick. Seems like we're under utilizing the Scandinavian scouting earlier in the draft. When was the last time we went to Europe in the first round? Alex Steen in 2002, Tuukka Rask in 2005, Jiri Tlusty in 2006. 2/3 great picks.

That was exactly what I was thinking of. We have done some solid picks regarding Swedes and Europeans in generall. Perhaps we should try and pick one in the first or at least the 2nd round.

There is a lot of Swedens getting picked by other organisations in the later rounds but their picks never even seem to make it over, not even for a depth role, not like our picks anyway.

Hard to argue we should have done things differently in the previous couple of drafts. Burakovsky instead of Gauthier? Lindholm instead of Rielly? Cant really say one pick would have been better then the other. In 2011 the 4 best Swedes where already gone when we picked.

But it could be the other way around as well, perhaps it was good scouting on our behalf that made us not pick Pajaarvi but instead picking Kadri when we had the chance?

Anyway, I think our scoutning of Sweden/Europe seem to be really good but perhaps we could get more talent out of it and that means picking earlier.

 

[johnny_rudeboy]

Canadians are way better hockey players

It is not that kind of a thread. Of course Canada produce the most and the best players. But how many of the Canadians we pick play more then a handfull of games if they even get that far compared to how many we pick?