| Felix Nilsson | Rogle BK | SHL | L | C | 6’0″ | 179 | Stockholm, SWE | 2005 | 2022-2023: B |
Neutral Zone NHL’s Ian Moran, March 25, 2023: Why an NHL draft pick? He has smooth feet and a skating base that will allow him to be more explosive as he gains weight and strength. He might not be a wizard with the puck but he understands puck placement and how to keep the puck in an area where the defender can’t get to it without reaching and starting to lean. He plays with deception and I like how he can look in one direction until the defender or defenders move their stick and then fire a bullet through the passing lane he just created. Although slight he is not afraid of net front traffic and confidently heads to the crease looking for loose pucks. During the 2021/22 season he bounced around U18 and U20 hockey and won 37% of his 50/50 puck battles while this year splitting time between U20 and the SHL he has won 53% of his 50/50s. He is a center who can play either wing. Why not an NHL draft pic? He is still quite slight and can be knocked off the puck or even knocked down. As a skill guy he has taken more penalties than he’s drawn. I love that he has scored 14 of his 23 goals from within feet of the crease, but he will need to add considerable strength to be doing that in the National League. He averaged a little over 12 minutes per-game at the Hlinka-Gretzky with about 1:45 of that coming on the power play and he finished the tournament with only one primary assist versus Switzerland that came during a 5on5 broken play line rush.
U18: 5 Nation Tournament, November 8-14, 2022: Felix is a 6 foot 175 pound left center who can play the wing as well. His skating is very good, nice lateral movement and decent speed. He however seems to get knocked either off the puck or knocked down a lot and can obviously benefit from additional leg power. In his end he makes very good timely breakout passes, and has wide speed that is dangerous if he gets a wide step on a defender. He also has quickness and used good 3 step bursts and hustle to steal a lot of pucks down low on the fore check. He has very good puck composure and a patient panic point which allowed him to play point on the power play and use his poise to move and disperse pucks to the right guys. On one particular play Felix was able to shoot, but hustled to follow his shot to the net, skate past defenders and stuff home his own rebound. (Scout: Marlin Muylaert)
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images