Player Information
Team: Vålerenga
Date of Birth: December 29th 2005
Height: 188cm / 6’2”
Weight: 89kg / 196 lbs
Position: LD
Handedness: Left
Introduction
Stian Solberg is a name that has been thrown around a fair amount this season and for good reason. The kid hits like a truck. He owns a big frame and a lot of muscle and loves to use it and that’s how he started to be on everyone’s radar. His draft has rose significantly with his performance in the recent World Juniors, although Norway would eventually get relegated in a gutting 5-4 overtime loss against the Germans. Solberg averaged 25 minutes a night including 3 minutes a night on both the powerplay and penalty kill and contributed 2 points in 5 games. The 2023/24 season is Solberg’s third in the top Norwegian league (Eliteserien) and is already his most productive with 3 goals and 7 assists in 25 games this season. Although, he is known for his physicality, there is so much more to Solberg’s game which I will break down below.
Skating
For the role Solberg plays, the big defensive defense man, he owns a very well-rounded skating game. It features very solid straight line speed, impressively quick feet which helps him change direction and fluid hips. He is also shows impressive leg strength to be able to stay on his feet when he makes hits.
I don’t have many clips to highlight his skating, other than two almost identical left wing entries, but his skating is the foundation to everything he does offence, defense, transition and hitting. Everything. When looking at the all the clips below watch how Solberg skates. It is super impressive for a player of his size.
Defensive play
Stian Solberg is one of the only ‘defensive defense man’ who is touted to go in the first round of this draft and it’s clear to see why. He owns an incredible tool-set, is an impressive hitter and possesses high-end IQ.
The first thing you notice when watching forwards trying to get past Solberg is how sharp is rush defense is. The gap control, the back skating, the active stick and the physicality, it’s almost perfect.
In the clip below, we see the puck go out to the right wing and Solberg react quickly. Stian does really well in opening up his hips and moves his feet quickly to close the ground on the winger. As soon as Solberg is in range he uses his stick to disrupt the play and lays a hit which completely stops the transition and leads to a transition of his own. This stick entry to contact is something I preach to all my defenders and Stian Solberg is one of the best at it in this draft. He hides his stick range perfectly, stick checks hard when he gets into his range and able to lay a punishing hit. Stick entry contact hugely helps his rush defense and he does it so well.
Below is another great example of Solberg’s rush defense but this time in the open ice. Below we see Swiss defender Timo Bünzli receive the puck in the neutral zone and attacks Solberg with great speed. Bünzli tries to pull a move but Solberg checks him hard and stops the play dead. the impressive part of the play here is how well he deals with speed and the checking power to dislodge a 6’2 defender who weighs 94 kg.
Another example of Solberg’s rush defense but in this one you can see a trademark of Stian’s game. When defending the rush, he gets low down and bends his knees, by doing this he extends his stick range, able to change direction and can explode upwards to deliver a hit. We see him doing this below which forces the American forward around the outside and allowing the defender to retrieve the loose puck.
When I watch defensive prospects I notice most 18 year old defense men have a decent rush defense game but they struggle when the opponents set up in the offensive zone. Not Solberg.
In the zone, Solberg understands high danger areas and knows how to shut these down, especially shutting down the net front presence. In the clip below, we see Solberg read the puck direction very well and ties up the forward (Gavin Hayes) perfectly. Stian takes away the stick from the Hayes and is able to box him out with his body alone.
In the clip below, we see the Czechs are set up in the Norwegian zone and doing a good job in cycling the play around. Solberg firstly gets good contact on the stick check and forces Zilicky to take a poor shot. Now I’ve seen some criticism for Solberg in how he reacts after the rebound, he slowly glides back to the net front and looks disinterested in the play. However, I don’t think this is the case for Solberg. He understands how plays develops and knows when danger is present and is simply waiting the Czechs to move the puck around. We see Solberg close the gap to the winger before the puck is played and makes a great desperation play.
Although, in the clip above you see a negative aspect of his game. He loves to start offence. Which inherently isn’t a bad trait but in the clip below he leaves the zone early and the puck gets turned over leading to a 2 on 1 and ultimately a goal against.
Of course, we can’t mention Solberg without the unfortunate turnover in the relegation game against Germany. Obviously, it is a horrific turnover which leads a goal against but i want to highlight #5 Gabriel Koch. He switches off from the play originally and misses the pass to him, simply doesn’t back check and is nowhere to be seen when the goal goes in. Obviously there is some blame to be put on Solberg but in my opinion Koch is more to blame on this one.
Overall, it is clear that Solberg has a defensive tool-set, his IQ is outstanding and his big frame you already have a competent defender. But the best part of Stian Solberg’s defensive game is how unrelenting his effort and his dogged resistance in the defensive zone is impressive. Although, he is capable of a defensive mistake for me these a few and far between and not a worry I have in Solberg’s game. Of course his physicality is a huge part of his defensive game but that deserves a whole new section on its own.
Physicality
When you hear the name Stian Solberg the first thing you think of is physicality. Solberg uses his great foot speed to close the gap quickly between the attacker and is often able to lower the boom on the forwards. An underrated part of his game is how clean he hits and plays. Throughout 31 games this year he has only totaled 10 penalty minutes which is amazing when you see how hard he hits. I’ve together some of his best hit below.
As you can see Solberg is an absolute wrecking ball. He is able to stop players dead in the tracks and still stays on his feet to continue the play. His hit selection is also superb, he doesn’t leave his team down a player to chase a hit, he only does so if it’s safe to. The most impressive part of Solberg’s hitting game is how technical his hits are and it’s not because he is simply bigger than all the opposition. He times his hits perfectly, gets low down and explodes upwards and can stay on his feet. This hitting style is completely translatable into the NHL and if he gets bigger and stronger, we can only imagine what a menace he can be.
Offensive upside
I’ve spoken lots about how Solberg is known as a big defensive defense man who lays hits and venomously defends his own zone. But not many have seen his offensive upside. Now you wouldn’t be drafting Solberg all for his offensive impact but it is certainly good enough.
His offensive tools are extremely underrated. His shot has a really good snap to it and is quite accurate . His slap-shot could use some work I think he needs some confidence in it, he would much rather wrist shot than wind up a slap-shot. His offensive IQ is honestly above average. He knows when to pinch, how to get space in the OZ and how to use the point in 5v5 situations.
The clip below honestly surprised me when I first saw it and I had to double check that it was Stian Solberg. We see him receive the puck on the point freeze the forward and pull a nice move around him to get to the faceoff circles and release a hard shot for the goal. Incredible for a heavy hitting defense-man.
Another clip where I had to re-watch it and make sure I was looking at the right Stian Solberg. Here we see him pinch down the right wing and put a lovely tight angle shot in the top of the net. I think most forwards would struggle to even get this on net but Solberg makes it look easy in the play.
This clip highlights his IQ ,he recognizes the cycle with the forward and drives down the boards then eventually to the net and plays the net front guy and gets the easy tap in for the goal.
One thing that most don’t know about Solberg is that he is capable of scoring wonder goals. I’ve shown off a few already but the one below deserves a special. This is a 17 year old Stian Solberg who is yet to register a professional goal. Then he goes coast-to-coast with a tight angle snipe for his first professional goal. The confidence of the young Norwegian is phenomenal.
I mentioned early how Solberg loves to drive offense and you see that in his transitional game. He was the driving force of the Norwegian offence. He would receive the puck and instantly turn north and look to get the puck up the ice. He can adapt on the fly to how fore-checkers approach and can be very composed in his own zone and is comfortable handling the puck in his own zone. He has a nice assist in the clip below where he dumps the puck in for his teammate to beat the icing.
Rankings
Solberg hasn’t received much love from the public rankings. According to Hockey pipeline he has been ranked three times this season, most recently by Grant McCagg who had him as a late third round pick at #90. We at Recruit Scouting like him a whole lot more. In our mid-season rankings we have Stian Solberg at #21. In our opinion, Solberg is a unicorn of a player in the modern draft. You simply don’t see players who play with this physicality, skating and defensive prowess at his level and at his age. His play-style is perfectly projectable in the NHL and we can see him playing in a top 6 shutdown role for a very longtime in the NHL. It’s safe to say we like him.
Conclusion
Overall, I love Stian Solberg. He brings a old school style, heavy hitting defensive game which you simply don’t see in draft eligible players these days. He stops players dead in their tracks on rush defense and is capable of exploding to close the gap on rushes. Whilst defending the zone he forces guys out to the perimeter almost every-time, able to throw hits against the boards and when defending the net front he does not give up. Offensively, he plays a simple yet effective game spearheaded by his agile skating, accurate wrist shot and setting up in positions where his teammates can find him. He is reliable, fun and will provide extreme value for whoever drafts him in June.