Hype Train #2 coming through
He received a lot of flack when drafted due to poor numbers and complete obscurity (I am not innocent here either). However the numbers did not tell us, the role he was given in Djurgarden's junior team. He played mainly in the bottom 6. Moving on to this past season, I watched every game Blomstrand was dressed in for Djurgarden this season, there are only 2 games where he played more than 2 minutes, the remainder he was benched or played only one shift. But in Sweden, they will count sitting on the bench as a GP, so remember the GP number is deceiving. Fair to say, he wasn't getting the time he needed.
He was then traded/loaned to Almtuna, where he was thrown on the top line and top PP unit. He did not see PK time here. Here, he scored 13 goals and 6 assists, in 30 games (0.63 pts/g). Despite joining the team 1/3rd of the way through the season, he ended up 5th in team scoring and 3rd in goals (16 goals on 58 shots, which is a high and likely unsustainable shooting % - 22.41). A comparable I used based on age was Pontus Aberg (both are '93s who were playing in their 19 year old season). Aberg, who is/was highly regarded by many here in his draft year, was afforded top line minutes from the start of the season, deserving or
not, but he finished 12-28-40 in 52 games (0.77 pts/g). Djugarden (5th place) scored 34 more goals than Almtuna (12th).
Now for his play on ice. It was a tale of two Blomstrands in Sweden. In Djurgarden, he was used on the 4th line and played an aggressive game, he was hard along the boards, pressured the puck and showed a physical presence. He also may have let his emotions get a hold of him, made a few borderline hits and took a couple of poor penalties. In Almtuna, he was in a scoring role and lost a lot of that aggressiveness he had in Djurgarden. He was more passive defensively, not moving his feet as much. But he put himself in good position around the net and used his size to his advantage. Also, showed well on the transition as he used his speed often and a surprisingly good shot. With the wolves, we saw the former and his speed/size impressed even more on the small ice.
I see this past season as a success for Blomstrand, as we finally got a chance to see what he is capable of when he is given a chance to flourish. I see him as a bottom 6 winger who has the ability to score, play a good forechecking and defensive game.
Neat fact: Blomstrand was sometimes used on faceoffs (both offensive and defensive zone) in Almtuna and faired surprisingly well (53.85%) in the very small sample.
