NHL Draft War Room: Andreas Englund

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by Eldon MacDonald (edited by @ChrisRalphTHW)

Andreas Englund

THW’s NHL Draft War Room Rankings – Jun-14: #46

THW’s NHL Draft Rankings – The Next Ones Edition (aka Chris’s List): #71 (March 2014)

Andreas Englund
Andreas Englund (Photo: Johan Sahlén/Flickr)
  • Hashtag: #TheGill-MurrayConcoction
  • Team: #5, Djurgården, Allsvenskan
  • Position: Defense
  • Shoots: Left
  • Height: 6’3
  • Weight: 189 lb.
  • Born: Sweden, 21-Jan-96
  • Twitter: None found

[Your quintessential free draft resource:

2014 NHL Draft Guide: The Next Ones]

Stats

Other Rankings

  • 189 – NHL Combined – Final, Apr-14

Worth Retweeting

From the War Room

Eldon MacDonald, THW:  A few words on Andreas Englund:

  • The Gill-Murray Concoction, Andreas Englund– Who is Andreas England? Well, take a Hal (Harold) Gill; sprinkle him with the ability to skate and make a very nice first pass; then add a little bit of Douglas Murray lack of tenderness and you pretty much got it – a solid NHL size stay at home defenseman with some bite – no dangles, very little puck rushing even though he is a powerful skater, just the D.
  • Leadership – Andreas is a mature defender for his age (mentally and physically) and a leader by nature. He plays a North American style of game and has a very high compete level – just ask opposition forwards who try to hover around his crease. He was also the Assistant Captain for Team Sweden at the 2014 U18 WJC in Finland where he was one of the Tournament’s best defensemen, leading the defensive core of the team with a +6 (one behind Jack Dougherty of Team USA and Roger Karrer of Team Switzerland who were co-leaders for the Tournament at +7).
  • Djurgården contract extension – His Swedish professional club, Djurgården, is very happy with Andreas’ play and recently rewarded him with a two year contract extension. Last yearDjurgården played in the second tier Swedish professional league (the Allsvenskan); next year Djurgården will be playing in the top Swedish professional hockey league (the SHL).
  • Rankings: I am a big fan of both Hal (Harold Gill) and Douglas Murray. Both are players with severe limitations, skating, passing, shooting – just the basic fundamental core hockey skills. However, both have made long-term NHL careers by maximizing their strengths: Gill with his positioning, reach and stick management; Murray with his bone-jarring physicality. So imagine my surprise and my delight when I find a prospect who not only incorporates a lot of the strengths of two of my favourite players but at least partly addresses their weaknesses – skating and a decent first pass. So I and a few others have Andreas mid-second (me at 46) while NHL Central Scouting has him 7th round. If he turns out as I think he could, he could be something special and worthy of an even higher ranking than I have him now.

Quotable

  • Quote 1: USAToday.com– Kyle Woodlief, “Big baggage smasher on the blue line has been playing nasty all year, and recent Five Nations was more of the same.”
  • Quote 2: HockeySverige.se– Andreas Englund, “Yes, it’s something (the simple game) that I’m working on all the time. To play simply and get off a good first pass.” – with assistance from Google translate
  • Quote 3: HockeySverige.se – Djurgården Sports Director, Challe Berglund (on the extension of Andreas’ contract for two more seasons), “Andreas is big, strong and agile on his skates and makes the difficult look easy, someone that not everyone can handle.” – with assistance from Google translate
  • Quote 4: Islanders.NHL.com– Trent Klatt, Islanders Player |Development, “Left-handed shooting defenseman who plays a more North American style of game than you normally see from the Swedes. Hockey sense, desire and passion are fantastic with this guy. He does little things, plays the body and almost has that unsung hero type of game to him.”
  • Quote 5: HockeyBuzz.com – Adam French, “It’s pretty weird that it’s now two years running a defensive defenseman (Haydn Fleury) wins the Best Defenseman award (for the U18 WJC), something the NHL might want to keep in mind when they vote on the Norris. I think one could argue that any of Jack Dougherty (USA), Roger Karrer (Switzerland) or Andreas Englund (Sweden) were fairly close.”

Video

  • Video 1: DIFHockeySE – A day in the life of Andreas Englund – In Swedish, excellent, you don’t have to speak Swedish to love this video. And gals, trust me, you will love this video.