November Notebook: Hedlund

Every season, scouts from Future Considerations spend countless hours gathering information on the next wave of NHL talent coming down the pipe. Future Considerations’ Swedish scout Christoffer Hedlund is no different.

Here is Hedlund’s notebook from November.

Nils Höglander, LW, Rögle BK (SHL), 5-9, 185, DOB 12-20-2000
Höglander looked very good with the puck in his possession; he seemed confident and handled the puck well. His passing abilities stood out in a positive way, he found his teammates with hard, accurate passes, both at short — and long range. His vision was excellent and his decision-making with the puck was also impressive, he would keep calm and find good solutions even when he was under heavy pressure. Höglander’s will to take the puck to the net is strong. Often he would try to take the puck straight to the net, either by outskating or trying to deke past his defenseman. Due to his size he struggled a bit and too often was forced on the outside or to the boards, but he showed good intentions with the puck. Höglander’s skating looked good — it was not outstanding but still above-average, his first few steps were quick, and he could handle the puck well while skating at high speed. Defensively was where Höglander struggled, he had major issues with his positioning and looked at times lost while playing in his own zone. He also looked to avoid oncoming shots couple of times and in general looked very passive while defending. Despite the apparent flaws in his defensive game, Höglander is impressive, at times he led Rögle’s offense and he made things happen when he had the puck in his possession.

Lucas Feuk, C/W, Södertälje SK J20 (SuperElit), 6-0, 185, DOB 02-19-2001
Feuk showed that he has many kinds of offensive tools and a diverse skillset. His great puckhandling and quick first steps made him a dangerous one-on-one player, as he can both challenge on the outside or simply stickhandle his way past a defender. Feuk showed great vision and creativity as he got the puck in the slot and with a between the legs pass found a teammate on the other side of the net. Defensively, Feuk played alright, he was a bit to eager to go on a counterattack at times, but he kept moving his skates and was very active in his own zone to help create those kinds of situations and anticipate plays. Feuk’s skating looked decent, he is quite a smooth skater and got good first steps but his top speed while not bad is a step down from many of his other skills. A little knock on Feuk’s game is that he was quite reckless with the puck, often making quite risky plays, even when it was not needed. He needs to make better decisions with the puck and learn when to take a risk and when to play simple. Feuk still showed an amazing offensive skills and great offensive instincts, even though he can disappear at times.

Albert Lyckåsen, D, Linköping HC J20 (SuperElit), 5-9, 183lbs, DOB 07-29-01
Lyckåsen showed intriguing and diverse offensive skills throughout the game, he could control the pace of the game from his position on the blue line, handling the puck well and showed great composure and confidence with the puck as he waited for lanes to open up before he found his teammates with hard, accurate passes. He had a lot of variance in his passes, one pass really stood out as he faked a one-time slap shot but instead changed direction and gave a teammate an open net as he found his stick with a slap shot-pass instead of firing directly on the net. Lyckåsen also used his shot several times, his slap shot was not only powerful but also very accurate and found it’s way through traffic. His wrist shot looked even better, it got great power, very good accuracy and a quick release. Lyckåsen’s skating did not stand out. He has a decent first steps and his acceleration and top speed is alright, but due to his balance, lower-body strength and by wriggling his upper body he still managed to protect and carry puck past his opponents as he carried the puck into the offensive zone and looked like a very good puck carrier. In his own end, Lyckåsen looked very solid, his gap control is good, and he would either pokecheck or play physical once he got the chance to do so, which made him solve one-on-one situations while defending in an impressive way. Lyckåsen seems to have taken his game to another level, he has taken big steps in his development so far this season.