The NHL hasn't even completed round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and already, the outlook for the 6 Canadian hockey teams is rapidly changing.
Edmonton is in the midst of a youth revival, Vancouver fired the man who brought (arguably) the best goaltender in the league right now, Ottawa has become a Goliath in decline, Montreal has secretly become the new Northeast powerhouse, Calgary is starting to show signs of promise that could get them back to the Cup finals like in 03/04, and Toronto...well, Toronto I guess is kind of the exception to that statement.
But, not for nothing, they did relieve embattled GM John Ferguson Jr. of his post, which can very easily be construed as a step in the right direction, and accumulated some draft picks (2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds to be exact from the deals for Hal Gill, Chad Kilger and Wade Belak respectively). And, on top of that, they hold the 7th overall pick in a respectable draft year, that, based on preliminary rankings, could line them up for either gritty Kelowna defenseman Luke Schenn, or Boston U point per game centre Colin Wilson, or creatively skilled Kitchener Rangers centre Mikkel Boedker.
Although the Leafs lost out in the Steven Stamkos sweepstakes, it appears that fate has put them front and center for what is, in this writers opinion, a far more lucrative sweepstakes.
This would be the Fabian Brunnstrom sweepstakes.
But who is this Fabian Brunnstrom you might ask, why is that name familiar? How is he more important than highly touted CHL grad Stamkos?
Brunnstrom can best be decribed as a 'late bloomer' who's pre-blossoming stock value was so low, he wasn't even drafted, falling victim to the classic wait-and-see approach taken by NHL GM's in regards to European prospects.
So what makes him so special?
Well, aside from the fact he has raw talent comparable to Peter Forsberg and Mats Sundin at his age (23), Brunnstrom has established himself as one of the fastest and smartest players in the Swedish Elite League with Farjestad after a phenomenal season in Sweden's First Division earned him a contract with a big club.
At 6 foot 1 inch, 195 pounds, he is not the biggest guy on the ice, but he is far from the smallest. His skill and stature have drawn comparisons to Evgeni Malkin from international critics, and he has earned himself the title of 'The best player not in the NHL right now'.
So his numbers must be phenomenal right?
Wrong.
He completed the 2007/2008 season with 9 goals and 28 assists through 54 games, and 16 PIM's.
So why the buzz?
The Brunnstrom oversight can be attributed to what I like to call "The CHL effect". This occurs when scouts and GM's only get excited over inflated numbers from CHL players. Crosby's last 2 years in Rimouski saw him net 135 (54g,81a) and 168 (66g, 102a) points, promising Anaheim youngster Corey Perrey had 113 and 130 points respectively in his last 2 seasons of junior with the London Knights and is only now starting to blossom into a premier top 6 forward in the NHL.
In comparison to these phenomenal numbers, let's look at another players numbers from the Russian Elite League, through 4 years with his hometown Moscow, he accumulated only 69 points (36g,33a) through 151 games. In fact, his highest scoring totals happened in his last 2 years, where he scored 13 goals each year.
That player was Alexander Ovechkin.
Evgeni Malkin managed a point a game in his last season with Magnitogorsk Mettalurg, but his previous 2 seasons saw him best himself at 12 goals.
Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuks statistics were so unimpressive that they were picked 7th and 6th round respectively by the Detroit Red Wings, Daniel Alfredsson was chosen 133rd overall by the Ottawa Senators in 1994, Dominik Hasek was a 10th round pick by Chicago in the 1983 draft, and he wasn't even given a chance to play regularly in the NHL until Buffalo traded Stephane Beauregard and a 4th round pick for him in 1992.
How much buzz was there around Brunnstrom this past year? Enough that 20 NHL teams contacted his agent JP Barry to express their interest in his services. In fact, there is so much interest that Brunnstrom himself has the luxury of choosing his team, and has told his agent, the teams he would most prefer to play for are Vancouver, Detroit and Toronto.
Not bad for a kid who wasn't drafted.
But where does fate come into play for the Leafs in this?
Well, prior to his bewildering firing by Canucks ownership last week, Dave Nonis was "deep in negotiation with Brunnstrom and Barry", and indications were that an unofficial announcement could have been made to inform the other 19 teams not to bother asking about him within the next few weeks.
Now, as the man who was instrumental in forging this deal no longer is employed with the Canucks, this casts an even bigger shadow over the stability of the Vancouver organization now that rumours of Luongo's unhappiness with the Canucks are circulating, and the future of Markus Naslund with the organization is in question. The Brunnstrom camp find themselves standing on the dancefloor without a partner, and rest assured, they came to waltz.
This leaves the other two front runners, Detroit and Toronto.
But why is Toronto the front runner when Detroit is a playoff contender with Cup wins that have occurred in Brunnstrom's lifetime?
Playing time.
Between the Wings and the Leafs, both teams have very strong Swedish presence, which was the factor he used in naming his top 3. However, Detroit has proven scorers Datsyuk and Zetterberg, solid second liners Samuellsson and Holmstrom and budding prospects Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula. Right there, those are an easy top 6 players, and that's not even factoring in the inevitable summer free agent acquisitions or burgeoning Daniel Cleary.
Realistically, there's no place for him to go, and if he's travelling halfway across the world to play in the NHL, he's not coming to be a 4th liner.
Enter Toronto, an offense starved team that will be looking to rebuild this summer with a new GM and a new look. Toronto has Mats Sundin, who after one of his strongest seasons last year appears to be fully able to play at least one more year for the blue and white. Add to that youngster Alex Steen, whose father Thomas is one of the most respected players in Swedish hockey, as well as Staffan Kronwall making up the Swedish contingent, and Jiri Tlusty, Kyle Wellwood, Matt Stajan and Simon Gamache (who is still under contract despite signing with SC Bern for the remainder of the 07/08) offering a bright future outlook. In addition, proven performers and assumed building blocks Vesa Toskala and Tomas Kaberle, show that the Leafs have nowhere to go but up.
They can offer him ice time and exposure to the NHL, and in return, he can offer spectacular talent, a 21 year old's youth but with some acquired maturity, and most importantly, the willingness to sign for a 3 year entry level contract that would see him receive just under $2M a season.
Realistically, if the Leafs don't waste their no. 7 pick to pick up an over the hill player, the pain of their loss in the Stamkos Sweepstakes could be dulled by acquiring 2 NHL ready first round calibre young prospects with only one first round pick.
This summer could see many major roster and front office shakeups, including whispers of Brian Burke waiting for the end of the Ducks' season to formally begin talks to take the GM job, trading/buying out Bryan McCabe and Darcy Tucker, the departure of Andrew Raycroft, and with any luck, a serious bid on impending UFA Brian Rolston.
More exciting than all of them however, would be seeing Brunnstrom's name on the back of a Maple Leafs sweater.
On the Bleacher Report, I'm Andrew Castaneda.
With files from TSN.ca, hockeydb.com, The Hockey News, CBC.ca, NHL.com, WikiPedia.
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5 months ago
Great Article! Can someone explain to me the European side of the "CHL effect?" I realize that numbers are abnormally high in the CHL, specifically in the offense-oriented QMJHL, but why/how are numbers so much lower in Europe?
It just doesn't seem to follow with the notion that European players are often thought to be the more "purely talented" players (a matter for another discussion) relative to Canadians and Americans and also with the idea that European hockey is more offense-oriented than North American hockey.
from 5 months ago
Brandon,
European Elite leagues are not 'junior leagues', they are super leagues which do not have age restrictions on their players, meaning that Ovechkin and Malkin were playing with 30 year olds as 17 year olds.
The European leagues actually place a very high premium on defensive play, contrary to popular belief, and maturity and hockey sense are prevalent themes along the blue line. Also there are a quite a few ex-NHL'ers whose experience facing top calibre NHL forwards would be invaluable in facing raw, unpolished snipers. Even current star NHL players who played in the Swedish, Russian, Finnish and Swiss leagues during the 2004/2005 season failed to put up impressive numbers.
Canadian major-junior hockey is highly skilled yes, but it is restricted to players under a certain age, meaning that you can't guarantee every roster is filled with 12 forwards, 6 defencemen and 2 goaltenders of NHL quality who fit that age criteria, so the CHL has players who are only there because they adhere to league age and residential eligibility guidelines. These guys are the reason why superstars can routinely score over 50 goals, they can take advantage of inexperience, immaturity, lack of skill and lapses in judgment to score big goals.
European players do not get to face 'plugs'. Any player in the Super League is there free of age/residential restrictions and the teams pay handsomely for their service.
Between two 18 year old phenoms, one trying to dangle a 30 year old man who has played against Hull, Yzerman, Sakic etc. and one trying to dangle a 16 year old kid from suburban Toronto who's on the team as a 'filler' player, the one playing against the men will have much lower numbers, but will have an advantage in learning how to deal with professional calibre players from a young age.
Set him loose in the NHL, which places more and more of a premium on younger talent, and he can take advantage of all of those little opportunities and mistakes he never got to see back home.
5 months ago
Brunnstrom is 23, not 21, so the players you used as stat comparisons are poor examples. Those players (Crosby, Perry, Zetterberg, etc.) were all well under 20 years old when they were posting the stats you mention. Brunnstrom scored 9 goals as a 23 year old - not special by any means. And whoever thinks Forsberg and Sundin are comparables is out to lunch. He is widely considered by scouts to be a probable future second-line forward, hardly worthy of the comparisons you mentioned. Twenty teams are after him because he is basically a free first-round draft pick, but most watching him in Sweden say he is not NHL ready yet so don't get too excited about him making a difference in an NHL lineup next year. Remember he is going to cost any team around 2 million per year, so if he busts, good luck.
5 months ago
There was no comparison made directly to Crosby or Perry, they were used as examples of inflated CHL statistics, Ovechkin and Malkin were used to juxtapose a high level of talent and seemingly unimpressive numbers posted in Euro elite league play, and Zetterberg and Datsyuk were used as examples of talent that flew under the radar. Age had zero consideration in the parallels drawn.
Brunnstrom has drawn praise for his skill on the puck, his speed and his use of his size to protect the puck in the attacking zone, as did Sundin and Forsberg at that age (and still today), his 'raw talent' refers to his potential in regards to his skill, which should not be confused with 'natural ability'.
As for your assertion that 'twenty teams are after him because he is basically a free first-round pick' was exactly the point I conveyed in saying that, should the Leafs not trade away the 7th overall selection, they would be receiving 2 top calibre prospects for the price of one pick.
As for your claim that he is unworthy of the comparisons I have reiterated (the Forsberg and Sundin comparisons were taken from commentary on TSN during Game 3 of the Habs/Bruins series), I will respectfully disagree. He plays his style and cannot be faulted if it is similar to 2 of the greatest Swedish players to put on skates, in fact I would argue most Swedish players his age would go out of their way to emulate those two and he just happens to be able to pull it off. I think that the 20 NHL general managers willing to stake the paltry sum of $2M a season to see if they can grow their very own dark horse superstar all but negate your claims, but thanks for reading.
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