Coutesy Draftin-Europe
With his head up, Wallberg can carry the puck up the ice pretty impressively for such a big defenseman.
He is surprisingly quick maneuvering the puck on his stick and he has mobile feet. He has a powerful stride, good
acceleration, and he uses forward and backward crossovers well.
He makes confident zone entries, dishes, and gets low into the offensive zone to create space and support the play. Theo makes decent reads under pressure, properly relying on short passing to his supporting teammate when he doesn’t have the time and space to skate with the puck. He makes clean overs behind the net and can calmly skate the puck out, waiting for a passing option to emerge. He has soft enough hands to distribute backhand flip passes on the breakout. Something encouraging off the puck is that Wallberg shows the willingness and strength to pin opponents along the boards and break up the cycle. He uses his size and reach effectively, and is imposing. He throws around a nice hip check. Wallberg’s use of his stick in defensive situations could be better or at least more consistent given his reach. His positioning needs work, both in support when his team has control of the puck or in coverage when the opponents have the puck. Sometimes, he seems unsure of where to position himself in defensive coverage. He needs to react more quickly in defensive situations. For example, sometimes he looks hesitant in net front and slot coverage. He is working on his ability to defend the outside on the rush and stay ahead of the play. With the puck. his long range passing execution needs some refinement. In offensive possession, he is sometimes guilty of unnecessarily throwing the puck away. At this stage he has a tendency to creep forward in all three zones and can get caught. Wallberg has committed to play college hockey next season.
www.eliteprospects.com
