| Noel Nordh | Brynas IF J20 | J20 Nationell | L | RW | 6’2″ | 194 | Soderhamn, SWE | 2005 | 2022-2023: B |
Neutral Zone NHL’s Ian Moran, March 23, 2023: Why an NHL draft pick? Nordh is a big strong winger with the size and mindset to be power forward in North America. Of his 21 goals during the 2022/23 season 16 have come from within 10′ of the crease. He has scored 15 goals while playing 5on5 with 8 of those coming from the top of the crease and another 4 coming from inside of the house. When he’s the F1 he does not follow the defenseman’s pass and it certainly seems like the other team knows it. He finishes his checks and then moves his feet to beat his man to the open ice. He is not a dangler, but he has the puck possession skills, body awareness and strength to extend possession by holding off opponents while keeping his eyes up looking to make a 5′ pass. Coming in at 6’2″ and 195lbs he has a chance to be a beast below the goal line or around the net and he has shown a quick stick on rebounds and loose pucks. Why not an NHL draft pick? Over the past two seasons he has won a combined 41% of his 50/50 puck battles. I know he’s big young and still growing into himself, but he’s big and young and has primarily been playing U20 hockey in the J20. Despite averaging 2:51 of power play time per game he has only scored 4 power play goals. We’ve noted that his skating posture has room for improvements, but will he develop the foot speed to be an impactful winger in the NHL? He’s 6’2″ and 195. Is he an early developer and physically is this what the NHL team will be getting? Yes he can extend puck possession below the face-off dots in the offensive zone, but once his feet get moving he has a tendency to throw the puck into space hoping a teammate is near by.
U18: 5 Nation Tournament, November 8-14, 2022: From game one to the end of this tournament Noel played a heavy lifting power forward style of game playing as a left shot right winger. In this role he was counted on to do a lot of the first man in forechecking playing on the top line with Stenberg and Forsfjall. Noel embraces this role and gets in hard to finish hits as often as he can, a bit of a throw back to today’s forwards who seem reluctant to hit. On the forecheck he gets in fast, focused on hitting and creates a lot of rushed passes by his opponents and battles for loose pucks. He is very good in his corner battles, seldom outmuscles or outhustled. He can win loose pucks low in corners and can spring from a corner, puck on stick, and fool defenders with some stick skill moves. He also protects the puck fairly well in the corners while waiting for support. While I would not call Noel a smooth skater, and there is lots of room for improvement, he will trust his skating enough to try and drive wide on a defender using his size, strength and inside leg and torso to block out defenders and attempt net drives. He is a prototypical power forward with enough skill and work ethic to be a serious NHL draft choice. He doesn’t appear to be offensively talented enough to be a Top 6 pro, but certainly can play a bottom 6 grinding role should his development continue. (Scout Marlin Muylaert)
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images