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2020 NHL Draft: Interview with Patrik Bexell

by Chad DeDominicis - 0

It appears as though the NHL is determined to have the 2020 NHL Draft take place in June, prior to the conclusion of the 2019-20 season. There are a lot of complexities with going that route and they’ve received push back from general managers around the league. However, they continue to move forward and Elliotte Friedman shared some of the memo that was sent to all the teams about this proposal.

Therefore, I’ve decided to shift the focus to the draft this week on the site. I have a handful of interviews lined up and we’ll start things off by talking about some prospects out of Sweden. I had a conversation with Patrik Bexell from Habs Eyes for the Prize, which is SB Nation’s, Montreal Canadiens blog. Patrik lives in Sweden and is the correspondent for that site on what goes on in European hockey.

We’ll touch on one Buffalo Sabres prospect at the beginning and then shift our focus to three Swedes that are projected to go in the first round this year.

Chad DeDominicis: Before we get into the draft prospects, I want to ask you about one Sabres prospect in Marcus Davidsson. We’ve talked about him before and this was supposed to be a new opportunity this season with Vaxjo, but things didn’t work out for him. What do you think happened?

Patrik Bexell: This season I think it wasn’t the season that Vaxjo wanted either. They fell through somehow the signings they made in the offseason and even the signings they made during the season didn’t pan out. It was the first time that Vaxjo really didn’t perform since they got promoted to the SHL almost 10 years ago now. Normally they’re a strong possession team but this time was like 50.4% or something similar in Corsi. They’re still positive but it’s not a lot and it’s not by a wide margin.

Davidsson was about you know a couple of percentiles lower than that and he played I think in a way you compare him to [Victor] Olofsson and when he entered Frolunda. You know you gave him that first year, it takes time to acclimate into a new team, to new set up, to a new city, everything is different you know and I think that was part of the problem. It wouldn’t surprise me if he and Vaxjo bounce back quite hard.

If the team starts struggling obviously the coach will go back to their own favorite players or the experienced players.

CD: The interesting part to me is what they do with Davidsson now. He still doesn’t have a contract and they only have one more year of his rights since he was picked in 2017. Do you think they’ll bring him over to North America this season?

PB: I think they will leave him. First and foremost he has a valid contract with Vaxjo so he can’t leave. He’s a second-round pick, I would normally say you can force but you can’t force either. You can make a deal with him and the Swedish club obviously to annul the contract in some ways but only if it’s a first-rounder you can break the player away.

The team, NHL team, in this case, can’t break the European contract because you have to acknowledge European contracts as part of the NHL and EU agreement that Switzerland just signed as well so it’s becoming stronger.

You just talk to him [Davidsson] and say we want you to come over next year and this is the last year in Sweden and make it a splash. Take it and build it from there and make sure he knows he’s valued in the Buffalo organization.

CD: Alright, let’s shift to draft prospects. The first guy I’m going to ask you about may be one of the top shooters in the draft in Alexander Holtz. However, he had an up and down year with Djurgarden. What do you see in him?

PB: I’m a little bit harsh on his skating. You look at it, he got a chance to really play on the first line and the first power play unit. This is what I like with Coach [Robert] Ohlsson, he put him there to succeed and you have to give him that chance to succeed. You can’t start him on the fourth line if you’re a goal scorer and use him as a checker or something like that and learn to play the game or whatever.

I like what Coach Ohlsson did, I don’t think he’s a first-line player in the SHL normally but you back him up with a very experienced center making sure that he doesn’t have to take that kind of responsibility in the defensive zone in order to build from that and let him mature as a player and get used to the tempo.

The consistency hasn’t really been there but when he’s on target, he’s really on target. Don’t forget as well that Djurgarden played in the Champions Hockey League, so there’ve been a lot of games combined for a young player. He was part of the Swedish all junior team as well so he’s playing on a few different levels so there will be fatigue coming in especially going back and playing against men.

I also think he has had the easiest route over the three top 15 Swedish guys in this year’s draft. He obviously deserves it but his route to the draft has been easier compared to [Noel] Gunler or compared to [Lucas] Raymond.

CD: I saw in that interview you did that you mentioned to Ohlsson that Holtz may need a strong center to drive his game. 

PB: Yeah, that’s a question I asked and Ohlsson says that he is inconsistent but it seems like Ohlsson trusts his hockey sense and he will become that winger that will be defensively responsible as well.

Knowing coach Ohlsson from Frolunda, knowing him from Djurgarden and having made that kind of interview that I did partly with this time but also partly with Coaches Challenge, I have the utmost respect for him and I think that if he says he’s going to become that player, I don’t see it not happening.

CD: Let’s talk about Lucas Raymond. It’s funny because you mentioned him to me as a guy to watch two years ago during another draft conversation we had. I like the player a lot, the kid has a ton of skill, but again the numbers weren’t great. Again, you expect that from a young kid playing against men. What do you see in him?

PB: I forgot by whom but someone did a comparison with expected NHL numbers with him and Tim Stutzle and Raymond has actually the same kind of numbers in expected NHL points down the line, which is remarkable I think. It also shows the DEL isn’t to that level where it’s supposed to be just yet. I have an interview coming out with Tim Stutzle’s coach and he sort of acknowledges that as well.

If you look at Raymond I think he needs another year in the SHL but he hasn’t gotten those kinds of minutes that Holtz got. On the other hand, when he’s got in minutes he has shown that he can deliver. When he was on the first power play unit in Frolunda he scored twice in a row in the same game. Then obviously you put Joel Lundqvist in there again and then it’s sort of done.

He benefited a lot from those minutes that he got. He showed when he got back down to the under-20 tournament in Sweden, it was obnoxious he was just like a force and I think you know you can’t really forget about that.

You compare him to Lafreniere, you compare him to Byfield and Stutzle; they have a lot easier leagues. Raymond and Holtz if they played in the OHL or DEL they’d tear up those leagues completely. You can’t expect a 17-year-old to come in and dominate. I mean put it in perspective, someone that came in as a 17-year-old and dominated was Rasmus Dahlin and he went first overall.

I think I think that Raymond will fall. I think that Holtz might go first, before him which I think is wrong but I also think that the team that ends up with Raymond outside the top five is gonna have the steal of the draft.

CD: The last prospect out of Sweden is one I’m interested in hearing your opinion on. I don’t know a lot about Noel Gunler, so I’ll lean on you here to tell me about him.

PB: Fantastic guy, there are a lot of rumors around his attitude and stuff like that in North America. It seems like there is one person that holds a grudge in some way or another here in Sweden that has spread those rumors. I’ve asked around when last night when you asked me to do this. It seems like of course, you know you coming in playing as a 15, 16-year-old with the under-20’s you gotta be obnoxious. If that was a North American player you would say he’s got character, he’s got a winning mentality, you know he’s focused.

Here, he comes like all he’s European so you know he’s maybe not that good. If it’s that easy to play against older guys and you’re dominating, of course, you’re gonna be lacks at times, of course, you’re gonna have an attitude problem. I have spoken to people with deep knowledge of Luleå, deep knowledge of their dressing room and I know the Luleå coach, which is one of the toughest coaches in Sweden, and they wouldn’t tolerate any lacks attitude or disrespect. They said it hasn’t happened when he’s been brought up to the SHL.

He’s got a wicked shot just like Holtz. I think his skating is sort of at a similar level but Holtz has a little bit better overall stats but not by much. When you look at skating, when you look at physicality, Gunler, has a little bit better technique than Holtz, when it comes to dekes and stuff like that too.

This reputation that he’s gotten is gonna cost him probably but it’s also gonna be a steal for another team in the draft. I really think so because when I read different rankings in US and Canada this is what they put out, his attitude is the problem but really we don’t hear about that in Sweden. I don’t take it for granted he’s impressed in SHL as well. He’s struggling with the same kind of problem that Raymond and Holtz are. The consistency isn’t really there yet. That’s something to build on but these are 17-year-olds playing against seasoned pros.

CD: I think I know the answer, but I have to ask. In what order do you rank these three?

PB: I have a Raymond first, I have Holtz second and Gunler third. It’s a lot closer than many think. If the playoffs, because all three would have played in the playoffs, if that would have happened we’d have a better idea probably. I think that Raymond really has shown when it comes, he scored the winner for Sweden in the under-18s last year. He has that nose for the net that hasn’t really been shown just yet.

Also and I’m sorry to say this because Lulea and Djurgarden are really great clubs but Frolunda has shown that they can deliver NHL players consistently and I think that counts a little bit more in Raymond’s favor.

CD: The last question, I’m curious from a Montreal Canadiens perspective, how you feel about the NHL potentially moving forward with this draft in June? The Canadiens have 14 picks and you’d think they’d like to possibly trade some of those for players, but wouldn’t be able to now.

PB: I actually don’t think that they would trade any draft picks. You want to store up on those lottery picks in a way, like we say lottery picks and we mean the top ten. When you say lottery picks here, I think you know like after number 20 in the draft, it’s more or less the same percentile.

So, if you store up if you get like what 13 more lottery tickets you’re gonna be able to find more players. You’re gonna be able to take that chance. I think the second round is the value around, to be honest. The unfortunate thing for the Montreal Canadiens is it won’t be at Bell Centre. Hearing and getting up there 14 times to say this is a new Canadien’s guy.

Of course, they would be able to move up to make a move if there is a player they really really want.

Thank you to Patrik for taking some time to chat with me. You can find the link to his Twitter and podcast below.

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