Oscar Lindberg is 4th overall in points in the SEL so far after 13 games played. 6 goals, 7 assists and 13 points (1,00 PPG). He is also 7th overall (counting players with over 100 taken draws) in Faceoff % at 56,7%. And 11th (tied) overall in+/-.
Jesper Fast and Lindberg are also tied for 2nd in league goalscoring with 6 goals a piece, although Fast officially has yet to be credited with one of the goals as the game is still incomplete (will be counted when game is finished at a later date).
Not bad, not bad at all...
Calle Andersson and ThomasSpelling have another year (at least) of development before they can become regulars in the SEL imo...
Well here is an open question posed to followers of Swedish hockey (especially Ola, whose informative, even if generally negative assessments are always good to read)--why is Fasth considered to be such a better offensive prospect than Lindberg.
Keep in mind that I know very little about either prospect outside of what I have read here on hf and the occasional highlight clip so I'm asking out of genuine curiosity.
Maybe we should revisit that idea considering how he is playing now?
But to compare Lindbergs offensive game with Fasth's, I would use an analogy comparing Marc Staal's offensive game to MDZ's maybe. IE Staal can make great plays, but he is definitely not a "natural" 6th sense type of off wiz. And usually, only THE best offensive players in the SEL can produce in the NHL. It's important to remember that Fasth isn't either an offensive wiz. He is definitely not either in say the Zucc mold. But he is more of an offensive minded high energy winger. I could see Fasth becoming like a Filpulla/Straka-mix type of player. Lindberg is harder to pinn down. I doubt there is a better place for him to be in the world right now. He seems to be coming along by each game. It's hard to speculate on where that will end. To put it like this, from a league where only Crosby, AO and Malkin can take it to the next step and become stars, Oscar Lindberg is playing like E Staal and Fasth as Stamkos...
I am a little cautious, but cosidering his stats, expectations on someone like Lindberg could go rampard. Many have seen him in like rookie camp, and knows that he isn't elite in that sense. But others could get the wrong impression. I don't necessary think Lindberg is much better than someone like Johan Harju who had a similar break out for Luleå and then failed to have a impact for Tampa.
I really liked the Skjei pick. To me it's kind of like the Kreider pick all over again--the Rangers went for a guy with really good size who is just a great skater in just about every way.
Having McDonagh, Staal, Skjei, Del Zotto, McIlrath...Our defense is going to continue to be impressive. As Henrik gets older, they'll help relieve pressure.
The way he used his speed on the rush to set up the entire play was nice as well.
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The way he used his speed on the rush to set up the entire play was nice as well.
yea. he seems to have a good slap shot and actually gets it on net...Rangers PP can use that...i also noticed that he wears number 2...anyone knows if Leetch was his favorite player growing up?? if he turned out to be half as good as Leetch was, the Rangers got something special here... lets hope they dont rush him..i bet he will make the NHL by 2015-2016 season. i doubt he leaves school early but you never know..defenseman take longer to develop. look what happened with Del Zotto, he has had his ups and downs..be patient
yea. he seems to have a good slap shot and actually gets it on net...Rangers PP can use that...i also noticed that he wears number 2...anyone knows if Leetch was his favorite player growing up?? if he turned out to be half as good as Leetch was, the Rangers got something special here... lets hope they dont rush him..i bet he will make the NHL by 2015-2016 season. i doubt he leaves school early but you never know..defenseman take longer to develop. look what happened with Del Zotto, he has had his ups and downs..be patient
Looking at his picture on his Hockey's Future page, he's wearing a hat that had the number 16 on it. Number 16 was taken on Minnesota by Condon.
Maybe Avery was his favorite hockey player?
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I watched some of the Gopher game last night, and I liked what I saw of Skjei. He had really good poise with the puck, there was one time where he got the puck at the blue line and made a couple moves to get around 1 or 2 defenders. Looks good for a freshman, best of luck to him.
yea. he seems to have a good slap shot and actually gets it on net...Rangers PP can use that...i also noticed that he wears number 2...anyone knows if Leetch was his favorite player growing up?? if he turned out to be half as good as Leetch was, the Rangers got something special here... lets hope they dont rush him..i bet he will make the NHL by 2015-2016 season. i doubt he leaves school early but you never know..defenseman take longer to develop. look what happened with Del Zotto, he has had his ups and downs..be patient
Yup, noticed the #2....that and the retarded marching dance the fans were doing. lol Anyway, guess he can worry about changing it in a year or two.
Some notes on Fogarty from the Ice Breaker tourney:
Pros:
- Great hands in tight. Especially along the boards where he's very hard to handle.
- Good vision. Made a few very nice feeds and could have easily notched two assists in the Maine game if his teammates had finished.
- Solid forechecking. His line spent a lot of time in the offensive end against Maine.
- Pick pocketing. Very good at lifting the stick and creating separation from the opposing player. Broke up a few plays on the backcheck and got it going the other way in an instant.
Cons:
- Too much dangle. Less so in the UNO game, but against Maine he had a few chances to get shots off, but opted to try a dangle or force a pass. Needs to work on that.
- Not great in the neutral zone, or away from the puck. Once the play gets away from him, he tends to look a little disinterested. However, it's too be expected for a kid at this stage of development.
- Top end speed needs some work. He has a very powerful first step, but his top-end is average.
Overall, I was impressed with him this early on against some solid teams. Don't think he'll be crushing the stat sheet this year, but he should continue to round out his game.
Just a couple notes as I get caught up in the thread:
Lindberg has always had this offensive talent in him. He looked very good in the WJC's a couple of years ago but he much more in the JT Miller mold than Chris Kreider. He is a 2-way player. It is that very reason many people had him slated for the 4th line in the future. However, he is not a black hole offensively. He has good awareness and he has offensive skills. Playing in the SEL as a teenager and not putting up a ton of points shouldn't have turned people off to him. It's a professional league and he was able to win a role as a 2-way player. He concentrated on that.
For people who knew about Skjei before and after the draft his learning curve to NCAA hockey was not expected to be very large. His size, skating and strength are MAJOR strengths of his and allow for him to make-up for any mistakes he makes in the same way McDonagh does. Just an amazing pick in the later 1st round.
I think the reason people slot Lindberg as a fourth liner is because the other three spots seem to be taken with Richards, Stepan, and Boyle. No way Torts starts taking away ice time from Boyle unless Lindberg lights it up in preseason next year. A lot can change of course.
He's going to get his ice time even if he is only playing fourth line with PKing and important Defensive zone draws. I know he could always start in the AHL but he'll be 22 a few weeks into the season so there's a very good shot he's ready for 8-11 minutes a night.
Skeji seems like a great pick. The real thing I'm curious about especially after what Leslie said is how high did Gordie/Gorton really rank him? I know the Rangers were very high on Vasilevsky.
