Detroit Red Wings prospect Simon Edvinsson brings highly touted qualities that 6-foot-6 defensemen don't often have.
Simon Edvinsson was caught off guard when his AHL coaches informed him the Detroit Red Wings were calling him up after a game in Cleveland on March 16.
He didn’t think a recall from the Grand Rapids Griffins was on the horizon.
“At first, I got goosebumps,” Edvinsson said in early April. “But then, I got kind of nervous.”
Given how well Edvinsson was playing at the time, the promotion hardly surprised Brian Lashoff, the Griffins’ captain.
“He was starting to get more comfortable,” Lashoff said. “There were a lot of games where I thought he was too good for the AHL. When a player like that gets to that point in the American Hockey League, you know they’re ready for the next step. And I told him that.”
Edvinsson, the No. 6 pick in the 2021 draft, was playing his best hockey of the season at the perfect time. After punting on their playoff aspirations just before the trade deadline, Detroit shifted from making the playoffs to developing its young core. Edvinsson, who The Hockey News ranked second in this year’s Future Watch issue, looks poised to become a big part of it.
Throughout his nine-game NHL stint — where the Red Wings’ top prospect recorded two goals and averaged 17:04 of ice time per night — Edvinsson provided the Detroit faithful with some optimism.
“You can see why we took him so high,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “You can see all the excitement about him. A skill set and some toughness in a 6-foot-6 package — those don’t grow on trees.”
Edvinsson possesses all the tools to become an all-situations top-pairing defenseman. He’s the type that can neutralize opponents’ top players and develop a pedigree that causes teams to stay clear of his half of the ice while also driving play offensively.
“His long arms and stick help him take time and space away quicker because he covers such a wide radius, kinda like (Zdeno Chara) did,” said Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot. “Guys would say how Chara was so hard to get around because he’s like nine feet wide and seven feet tall.”
What’s unique about Edvinsson, though, is that he has top-notch skating ability to pair with his towering figure.
“His edgework is already elite at a young age,” Lashoff pointed out. “He’s able to break free from checks and use his feet as a weapon in the defensive zone.”
As a rookie, Edvinsson evolved into one of the AHL’s best shutdown defensemen this season. While logging a team-high 21:52 minutes a night, Edvinsson and the Griffins held opponents to 2.27 expected goals against (xGA) per 60 minutes when he was on the ice at even strength, which ranks in the 92nd percentile among AHL defensemen from the past three seasons — according to InStat.
“He carried the mail for us on the defensive side of things,” Lashoff said.
Offensively, Edvinsson has lots to offer, recording 27 points in 52 AHL games this year.
One AHL coach, whose team faced Edvinsson several times this year, said the young Swede’s offensive repertoire stems from pure skill and his instincts.
“Great offensive players make something out of nothing, and he has that gift from the back end,” the coach said via text.
While some scouts are critical of what many describe as a “lack of intensity” in Edvinsson’s game, Lashoff doesn’t see it that way. Instead, the 32-year-old veteran who retired last week said what many perceive as ‘nonchalant’ is actually the result of one of Edvinsson’s most unheralded traits.
“He’s got an elite calmness to him,” Lashoff said.
He can create offense in various ways, largely thanks to his poise with the puck, be it by joining the rush or dishing it off to forwards in transition.
Edvinsson also has a strong ability to maintain possession.
“It’s hard to get the puck off him,” Lashoff said. “He can wait guys out with his edgework and reach. It’s hard for players to contain him.”
“A skill set and some toughness in a 6-foot-6 package — those don’t grow on trees.” - Derek Lalonde
But Edvinsson didn’t earn this call-up due to his raw skill alone. His game evolved throughout the year, and he learned to manage his game much better as the year progressed.
For a minute-munching defenseman like Edvinsson, learning how to manage their output is essential. They can’t go end-to-end every shift. The way Chiarot put it, they sometimes have to complete the 10-yard pass instead of the 60-yard bomb.
“Young players have a tendency to try things that aren’t necessarily going to translate to the NHL,” Chiarot said. “Maybe the Connor McDavids and Patrick Kanes can make them work. But I’d say for 90 percent of the league, it’s just about making the right play time after time after time.
“For a defenseman like Simon, the simpler he keeps his game and just makes those right plays time after time again, that’s managing the game.”
As one would expect, consistency is the main demon Edinvsson must conquer.
An example of a well-managed game came on April 2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, when Edvinsson played a team-high 22:25 minutes and fared well when matched up against some of the NHL’s best.
But on April 8 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Edvinsson made the type of mistakes that Lalonde noted young defensemen are prone to make.
“The first goal against, we hadn’t given up a chance, he turns it over and compounds the mistake by attacking the rush. All the sudden, it’s a 2-on-1 on top of us, and ends up in the back of our net a few seconds later,” Lalonde told reporters after the game.
Granted, this is the time to make those mistakes.
“He will be part of the Detroit Red Wings for a long time, and it’s just up to us to make him as comfortable as possible, especially for next year – so he can have a really impactful year,” Red Wings defenseman Mortiz Seider said.
It’s ultimately the benefit of this whole development opportunity, anyway.
“Now, going into the off-season, I know what to expect for next season and what I need to work on,” Edvinsson said.