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Originally Posted by Mr. Canucklehead
Similar numbers to Sebastien Erixon, who was signed as an FA out of the SEL. Can't have too many Swedish defensemen.  |
The numbers are simply amazing considering firstly the team; led team defense in points. This was a last place team for most of the year. Absolutely no offense to speak of, but Tommernes was creating it. And soon into the year, he easily leapfrogged Andersson and many other depth defensemen. Starting logging big minutes, averaged 20 minutes per game. Pretty big responsibility given he is still 20 years old and Frolunda really does not seem to lean on the youngins much (Re: Carl Klingberg).
Plays RD according to the Elitserien website, same as Erixon. I really see them as equivalents except Erixon is better on D. But the knock on Tommernes is still defense - a minus 17, one of the worst on defense. I know a finicky stat, but by all swedish accounts, it jives with what they say. He needs to be smarter and stronger defensively. He is no Lidstrom or Edler, far far away from both. Maybe an Enstrom without the defense.
Here's a post about him:
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Tömmernes is very much the definition of an offensive defenseman. He's a great skater with good offensive instincts, making him an obvious option for a team that's looking for a powerplay quarterback in the future. He controls the play in the offensive zone, getting his shots through bodies in front of the net often as a result of his ability to control the puck along the offensive blueline.
It's not a secret that he's great in the offensive zone. Throughout the ranks of Swedish hockey, he's been consistently at the top in offensive numbers from the blueline. In 2007/08, he led the J18 Allsvenskan in assists and points by a defenseman and in 2008/09, he led the J20 SuperElit in goals and points by a defenseman. This carried on to the Allsvenskan last year (where he was third among players his age behind Phoenix's Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Nashville's Mattias Ekholm) and the Elitserien this season (where he was third among players his age behind Ottawa's David Rundblad and Nashville's Mattias Ekholm), performing near the top of his age group offensively.
While Tömmernes has very obvious skills in the offensive side of the game, his defensive game has some issues that need to be looked at and fixed before he even gets a sniff at NHL hockey. While not playing physically is an issue on it's own, it becomes an issue when a player can't play well enough positionally to compensate for it. Some think that maybe his physical play will develop as he gains strength, but this is far from a certainty.
Regardless, as a result of the lack of positional and physical play, some might view Tömmernes as passive or inactive in his defensive game, which is a pretty decent analysis. Often, he'll remain close to his man, but not really do anything to challenge for the puck. Link
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I do find this pick peculiar, despite liking the player and have been following him since Sept. 2 more picks and this guy could have been signed as a free agent the minute the draft was over or could have been signed earlier in the year. But they decided to use a pick on him. Speculating that there was a team after him hard and Gillis thought it was worth a pick to secure his rights into the organization.