Jump to content
The Official Site of the Vancouver Canucks
Canucks Community

Gustav Forsling | D


Grape

Recommended Posts

He still looks young so there is room to grow. Hoping he will be on the WJC team for Sweden this year, so we can see him on the small ice.

Ya that would be good.

July 2nd is import draft, might see him here next year, like Cedar

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ya that would be good.

July 2nd is import draft, might see him here next year, like Cedar

if he isn't taken by someone in the import draft he can technically sign with the comets, though i doubt that would happen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

if he isn't taken by someone in the import draft he can technically sign with the comets, though i doubt that would happen.

Didn't know that.

Think canucks ask Portland to take him, or another club with other canucks youth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Didn't know that.

Think canucks ask Portland to take him, or another club with other canucks youth.

Import draft happened this morning and he wasnt taken. Portland had no open spots with Cederholm and Bjorkstrand there.

Doesn't mean anything as far as his value, just that he wants to stay in sweden to develop which is perfectly fine

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
PROSPECT PROFILE: #16 GUSTAV FORSLING

...

Generally described as "toolsy" (including by our friend Corey Pronman), Forsling is a good skater with a plus left-handed shot. He's regarded as steady defensively and is widely praised for his willingness to play grittier hockey than one might expect from a 5-foot-11, 175 pound blue-liner.

"He's well rounded," junior Hockeysvirege.se blogger Jacob Nystrom, who covers Swedish junior hockey told us. "He's got a good first pass, moves around easily, has some grit to him - he's not that big but he's not afraid going into tough challenges."

While there's a lot to like about Forsling's game and the gamble the Canucks made when they selected him, he was around in the fifth round for a reason. The most notable of those reasons is Forsling's size (or lack thereof), but it's also worth pointing out that he hasn't been all that productive for the Linkoping Juniors.

Forsling was 5th among U18 skaters in the 'SuperElit' during his draft eligible season, which is fine, but the issue here is that the majority of the Swedish-born defenders in the NHL were playing with men during their first draft eligible season.

Of the 28 Swedish-born defenders who played at least a game in the NHL last season, 25 played in Sweden during their first draft eligible campaign (Johnny Oduya (CHL), Doug Murray (IJHL), and Christian Folin (NCAA) are the exceptions). Of those 25 defenders, 15 at least debuted at the senior level during their U18 season. Of the 10 players who didn't crack a senior team roster as an 18-year-old, only six were NHL regulars during the 2013-14 campaign (among those six defenders is Canucks blue-liner Alex Edler, and also: Carl Gunnarsson, Anton Stralman, Jonathan Ericsson, Matthias Ekholm and Nicklas Grossman).

...

While Forsling outscored the defensive-defenseman types at the J20 level, his production lags well behind the likes of Hampus Lindholm and Patrik Nemeth - players who are obviously a cut above in terms of prospect quality.

Anyway, it's probably a bit much to describe Forsling's relative lack of production as a red flag, but it's certainly uninspiring especially given the 18-year-old's profile. Though it's pretty tough to crack the NHL as a 5-foot-11 defender if you're not going to be producing some offense, there's some reason to believe that perhaps the counting stats undervalue Forsling's offensive tool kit.

According to Nystrom, Forsling wasn't exactly a mainstay on the power-play with Linkoping's junior squad last season.

"He has a great shot, but he hasn't used it that much in the junior leagues in Sweden," said Nystrom. "Perhaps it's because he hasn't had the same role on his team as he did on the national team [in terms of power-play time]."

A left-handed shooting defender, Forsling has a cannon shot and made minced meat out of opposing penalty-kill units when he got an opportunity on the point at five-on-four for the Tre Kronor at the U18's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...