Player Information
Age: 18 (Feb 9th, 2005)
Nationality: Swedish
Position: Defence
Height : 6’1” / 186cm
Weight: 81 kg: 179 lbs
Shoots: Right
Introduction
Willander has flown up many draft rankings this year due to his huge gain in offensive production and impressive campaigns with Sweden U18. Willander owns an impressive ability in every zone and is one of the most dominant two-way players in this draft. When watching Willander you see how clever he is as a hockey player with his hockey IQ way above what his age would suggest. From his IQ, stems some of Willander’s best qualities his confidence, manipulation and shiftiness all coming from his thinking. Given Willander’s recent burst into the limelight the ranking for him have been all over the place with TSN’s Craig Button ranking Willander the highest that I have seen with 8th overall. Whilst I am a big fan of Willander’s game I think he goes somewhere in that 15-20 range on draft day but could see him going earlier if a team really likes him and it would be easy to see why.
Skating ability
Normally, when I lay out my player profiles I don’t start with skating yet for Willander I will. His smooth skating is the foundation to his success in every zone, Willander flies around the ice and can activate very well when receiving a pass as he can turn north and accelerate in an instant.
Willander also appears to have ‘gears’ to his game which I have only seen in elite players in this draft. He can skate effectively to avoid a forechecker then explode whilst in motion to blast past the forechecker.
Willander leans on his edges really well and owns great agility which means he can escape pressure very well, regroup offensively and to get past players and achieve zone entry.
In this clip, we see Willander sell multiple decoys and fakes with his feet alone leading to a breakout from behind his own net with his skating alone.
The way Willander skates and at the speed he can get to can make him a nightmare for forecheckers and defenders as shown by the sheer amount of penalties Willander can draw from simply evading pressure.
Defensive prowess
Personally, I like my defenseman to be reliable in their own zone before I see their offensive upside or transitional game. A flashy offensive game needs to be backed up by a more solid defensive game as two-way dominance is key to the modern game. Willander has no problems in this regard.
Willander’s defensive game is excellent he plays a hard-nosed physical game with a great stick game and when adding his foot speed you see a well-rounded defenceman who can defend rushes, clear the net and engage and win puck battles well.
Firstly, when looking at how Willander defends rushes he uses his skating and quick feet to be able to stay with almost any attacker. In the clip below we see Willander (#5 yellow) do a textbook defence of the rush as he perfectly keeps a solid gap between him as Juraj Pekarcik (#19 white) although his stick work can look a touch frenzied in this play, but he successfully stripped the puck from the forward they lays a beautiful hit on the boards.
This is a trademark of Willander’s defensive game, use of a disruptive stick quickly followed a body contact adds layers to his defensive game. The clips below of how Willander typically goes about his board battles and how well he uses both stick and body.
Willander understands high-danger plays and anticipates them very well which is a testament to his mature hockey mind. This results in him Willander clearing the net effectively and tying up players.
One thing that I notice about Willander’s defensive game is how composed he can be when being challenged in situations not familiar to him. Some defenders struggle when not being attacked in a convectional 2-on-2 or a simple rush but not Willander he thrives when being challenged and had a tenacious side to his game that comes out in defensive situations.
When breaking out of his own zone Willander has a impressive selection of tools to help switching between defence and offense. His composure and quick-thinking pair perfectly with his technical attributes
Offensive production
Willander has taken massive strides in terms of his offensive production and toolset and this all stems from his hockey mind and confidence. When at the offensive blueline we see how active Willander is and how well he can read a play especially on the powerplay. The Video below shows Willander on the powerplay against Canada in the recent U18 World Championships when watching this clip I want you to focus on how pivotal Willander (Sweden #5) is every movement Sweden make and how Canada react to every pass and movement Willander makes. There is so much to digest in this clip and show much that Willander does well in terms of movement, passing, regrouping, skating, patience and his ability to move defenders on a powerplay. I urge you to watch this clip a few times and each time you will find a new element of Willander’s game to enjoy.
In terms of Willander’s shot he has improved his technique massively over the past season or two which makes him a threat from the blueline. Willander can transfer his weight really well to gain good leverage and power behind his shots. Using his excellent composure and patience to pinch down and gain a few extra feet towards net to gain the slight edge in power and accuracy in his shot.
Willander’s wrist shot is certainly better than his slapshot with his ability to pick up the puck and get it on net quickly. When he has time and space to get off his one-timer it can be quite effective however I find he can sometimes make it look awkward and hinder his overall shot as shown below.
Willander’s passing game is excellent, his accuracy is really nice and the weighting on his passes is often perfect which can help in both creating offence and exiting defensive situations. Sometimes we can see Willander panic when passing in the offensive zone when pinching in deep like in the clip below.
His offensive game on the whole is strong. His shot can sometimes look awkward when shooting on the fly but when he sets up in the zone, he is a productive offensive player. When not shooting he can be a great playmaking point man and when pairing his skating game too you see an proactive point-man who moves all across the ice taking up free positions to receive pucks and make plays. Considering his recent burst in offensive production it is a thought that he could be a ‘flash in the pan’ although when I watch Willander he has all the tools to carry on this success and be an effective two-way defencemen with great offensive upside.
Rankings
Before I dive into where Willander ranks in this draft I want to alert you to an incredible tool for any scout or anyone interested in the draft. For the data rankings in this section I am using https://hockeypipeline.com who compile every scouts rankings and produce an incredible tool for us scouts, please check them out!
As we can see Willander has grown exponentially this season with him going from a third round talent to a first. We can see the results of his international tournaments performances heavily influence the graph as Willander was one of the standout performers for team Sweden in this season’s World Juniors.
Some scouts have Willander very high like Craig Button who had him 8th in his most recent rankings and Recruit’s own Tait Borst having him 9th with Tait stating Willander can become a ‘dynamic two-way defenseman with exceptional offensive capabilities.’ Which is most certainly true. Some scouts also have concerns over his offensive contributions as a top 10 pick defencemen needs to contribute offensively to be worth such a high pick. Overall, I think Willander will be a top 20 pick in this draft he has a playstyle that many teams will fall in love with and its clear to see why some scouts value him so high. His silky skating paired with his frame and defensive tendencies make him such a good two-way defenceman and with his offensive coming on game by game I think Willander will be an NHL name quite soon with a long career ahead of the talented Swede.
I have Willander ranked at 17 which as it stands makes him a Detroit Red Wing.
Conclusion
Tom Willander has a great skillset and the ability to play a 200ft game with his effortless skating. His offensive game has grown so much this season and now Willander can quarterback a powerplay with a well-rounded toolkit, great vision and anticipation. Defensively, is where he does his best work, he is tenacious, can make decisions in a second and knows how to use his frame. He limits opponents to the outside, knows how to shut down the net front and loves to chase opponents into the corners. I love Willander’s playstyle, tools and his IQ. I have covered some of the top Defence prospects in this draft class (check out my player profiles on David Reinbacher and Axel Sandin-Pellikka) and I think Willander blends Reinbacher’s and Sandin-Pellikka’s styles so well and if Willander had been given chance at the top level he would be a top ten pick in this draft.
Copyright: All images/logos/resources property of their respective owners.