This is what happens when you give Hakan Andersson your top draft picks.

[Run the Jewels]

The system for the past few years has always had great depth, having lots of NHLer potential in the system. Where it lacked was in its top 5 and showing significant star potential, now it has that in a big way. Seider, who started from uncharacteristically low probability in his draft year, has shot up and now, after his first season in the NHL, looks to be a certain star, a stud even. Raymond was always a player that many, including myself, were high on. It took a little bit longer for him to really pop but he has exploded as well with his first NHL season.

On top of the big two, Berggren, Johansson and Edvinsson have all made big jumps in their post-draft development years and as a result the Red Wings top 5 is now one of the best in the league. Each player has significant star and NHLer potential.

Link: Team Strength Rankings: 1 to 10 (May 2022)

Click to read more...

 

[SpookyTsuki]

Wonder if anyone has tried really hard to poach him.

 

[golffuul]

Wonder if anyone has tried really hard to poach him.

Wouldn't be shocked if Holland has tried.

 

[Run the Jewels]

Wouldn't be shocked if Holland has tried.

Why, so he could continue to give Hakan picks in the 3rd round and later?

 

[19 for president]

The Wings drafting under Holland really started to go downhill after the Ryno, Axelsson, Jarnkrok, Backman, etc years. He clearly stopped trusting and relying on Anderson for top picks. Even the Euros we did draft were typically NA based.

Glad to see Stevie going back to this teams bread and butter. Hopefully he can improve the NA and pro scouting too.

 

[Frk It]

I did say it for awhile had more to do with him not being given round 1-2 picks than anything else. He was getting some shit on this board for a bit there.

Glad to see he’s still got it.

 

[golffuul]

Why, so he could continue to give Hakan picks in the 3rd round and later?

Hey...Holland is all about appearances. If having Hakan on his staff makes him look good. He'll do that, rather than actually putting a competitive team on the ice.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

What does it mean to "given Hakan a pick"? What if he uses the pick on a North American kid? Does that count? What if he thinks that none of the Euro prospects are worth the pick? Would we still need to make a draft list? Should we can our other Euro scouts? They seem unnecessary under this strategy.

 

[cjeagle]

This is what happens when Andersson picks your draft picks with Kronvall guiding them so they can achieve their potential.

It takes more than drafting to help a player achieve their potential. A good developmental coach is just as important.

 

[SCD]

This is what happens when Andersson picks your draft picks with Kronvall guiding them so they can achieve their potential.

It takes more than drafting to help a player achieve their potential. A good developmental coach is just as important.

Although coaching is important in a player's development, drafting greatly out weighs everything else. It is not just skill that makes one player better than another. When ever Yzerman or Draper talk about drafting, they often reference personality traits that got their attention. Players like Seider who are self-driven to succeed, would do well in any system.

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

In Hakan we trust.

His track record has been very good here lately.

 

[lilidk]

You don't need to be very smart to draft Edvinsson or Raymond. It's very hard to find jam in the 5-7 rounds. Did we have any good one since Zetterburg ?.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Top 10 picks are signed off on by your GM and head of amateur scouting... I am happy with the selections, I think this is just Hakan is a pretty simplistic way to look at it. Yzerman and Draper appear bigger on athleticism and the scouting staff seems to be delivering on that vision. That Hakan is such an amazing scout helps, I think he grasped that vision right away, curious to see the next couple of drafts. We are going to start getting to harder selection areas soon hopefully.

 

[WF19]

You don't need to be very smart to draft Edvinsson or Raymond. It's very hard to find jam in the 5-7 rounds. Did we have any good one since Zetterburg ?.

This Soderblom guy is pretty good He is also super high on Johansson which both are developing very nicely

 

[ricky0034]

You don't need to be very smart to draft Edvinsson or Raymond. It's very hard to find jam in the 5-7 rounds. Did we have any good one since Zetterburg ?.

how many good players has anyone drafted in the 5th-7th rounds since Zetterberg?

there's like maybe one a year and some years don't even have any

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

how many good players has anyone drafted in the 5th-7th rounds since Zetterberg?

there's like maybe one a year and some years don't even have any

Scouting leaguewide has really improved over the last decade with the adoption of advanced analytics. It is making total draft steals much harder to find. I forget who posted it, but someone posted draft scoring charts from 2008 to 2018 compared to a few other 10 year spans and as the timeline moved closer to 2018 the highest scorers inched closer and closer to the top half of the draft.

In the 70s, 80s and 90s there were guys like Brett Hull, Mark Recchi, Kevin Stevens, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and so on getting drafted late because guys would only see them play once, if at all. Hell, Hakan's story about how he accidentally tipped off Vancouver to Edler is kind of an indictment of the system itself.

 

[Frk It]

You don't need to be very smart to draft Edvinsson or Raymond. It's very hard to find jam in the 5-7 rounds. Did we have any good one since Zetterburg ?.

Raymond wasn’t a foregone conclusion at 4 and didn’t do that much in the SHL in his draft year. That was a case of good scouting and betting on his skill set.

People on here doubted him in his +1 season before his success this year.

So yeah, some big time hindsight here.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Raymond wasn’t a foregone conclusion at 4 and didn’t do that much in the SHL in his draft year. That was a case of good scouting and betting on his skill set.

People on here doubted him in his +1 season before his success this year.

So yeah, some big time hindsight here.

There's probably a good deal of insider knowledge as well. Hakan was previously on the board for Frolunda. I would imagine he still has a high level of access with that team.

EDIT: I'm also curious to see how many NHL stars and high end prospects Frolunda has producd since 2008.

EK53
Dahlin
Raymond
Edvinsson

I'm sure I'm missing a few. Are there any others that come to mind?

DOUBLE EDIT: I think I answered my own question.

Frölunda HC: The Gold Standard of NHL Prospect Development

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

Raymond wasn’t a foregone conclusion at 4 and didn’t do that much in the SHL in his draft year. That was a case of good scouting and betting on his skill set.

People on here doubted him in his +1 season before his success this year.

So yeah, some big time hindsight here.

Please explain to us how you know that Hakan was the only one in the organization supporting him at 4th OA? The kid was not exactly coming out of nowhere. He had been playing in IIHF competition for two years prior to his draft and played in one of the three most high profile leagues in the world. Everyone and their mother knew about this kid.

In 2020 you could easily watch Raymond without leaving your bed if you wanted to.

 

[Frk It]

Please explain to us how you know that Hakan was the only one in the organization supporting him at 4th OA? The kid was not exactly coming out of nowhere. He had been playing in IIHF competition for two years prior to his draft and played in one of the three most high profile leagues in the world. Everyone and their mother knew about this kid.

In 2020 you could easily watch Raymond without leaving your bed if you wanted to.

Do you think you should draft someone just off play in international tournaments?

I’ve said in various other threads that scouting is a collaborative process. But I don’t think it’s crazy to think Hakan saw the most of this kid being that Raymond is Swedish and Hakan is our most prominent/influential scout in that region. (And from an organization he was part of for years.)

I also didn’t even say Hakan’s name in the post you are quoting.

 

[lilidk]

Raymond wasn’t a foregone conclusion at 4 and didn’t do that much in the SHL in his draft year. That was a case of good scouting and betting on his skill set.

People on here doubted him in his +1 season before his success this year.

So yeah, some big time hindsight here.

To me , he was my third choice after Lafranier and Stutzle

 

[odin1981]

how many good players has anyone drafted in the 5th-7th rounds since Zetterberg?

there's like maybe one a year and some years don't even have any

Pavelski is the only one I can think of.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

how many good players has anyone drafted in the 5th-7th rounds since Zetterberg?

there's like maybe one a year and some years don't even have any

Palat was way late in the 7th round of 2011.
Goudreau was in the 4th that year fyi. Not quite your threshold.
And weren’t TJ and Gourde free agents?

Mackenzie Weegar was a 7th in 2013.
Viktor Olofsson was a 7th in 2014.
Troy Terry and Connor Garland were 5th rounders in 2015. Andrew Mangiapane was a 6th in the same year.
Jesper Bratt was a 6th in 2016

 

[Euro Twins]

To me , he was my third choice after Lafranier and Stutzle

But see you just pointed out the flaw. You're talking about how Raymond is basically a sure thing at 4 and an easy pick. But lafreniere was the clear choice at #1. A large % of top 10 picks don't work out, no matter how sure thing the pick might seem, especially in hindsight

 

[Pavels Dog]

Wouldn't be shocked if Holland has tried.

Andersson has confirmed a long time ago that Holland wanted to bring him to Edmonton.

What does it mean to "given Hakan a pick"? What if he uses the pick on a North American kid? Does that count? What if he thinks that none of the Euro prospects are worth the pick? Would we still need to make a draft list? Should we can our other Euro scouts? They seem unnecessary under this strategy.

Why would the director of european scouting use a pick on a North american kid? If Håkan isn't confident about one of the european kids he won't advocate very strongly for them. Cossa over Wallstedt is one such example.