Monday, the Blackhawks traded local fan favorite, Ryan Hartman, to the Nashville Predators in exchange for two draft picks and a Swedish center named Victor Ejdsell. To most fans, Victor Ejdsell (ed-SELL) is just a fictitious name that might be as real as Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker, or Clark Kent.
One thing I can safely assure you is that Victor Ejdsell is a real person and, by all accounts, a nice potential prospect for the Chicago Blackhawks. Beyond that, no one will truly know what the Blackhawks have until he comes to North America for prospect camp, in July.
Some facts are known, though, about Victor Ejdsell:
- Ejdsell is 22 years old, and listed at 6’5″ / 215lbs
- He is signed to a two-year entry level deal, with an annual cap hit of $833,750
- He is left handed and plays center/left wing
- He currently plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) for HV71
- With just under two weeks left in his regular season, Ejdsell is ranked 22nd overall with 30 points (17G,13A) in 44 games.
- The Blackhawks tried to sign Ejdsell as a free agent last summer, but he chose to sign in Nashville instead.
- In his previous year, Ejdsell scored 57 points (25G, 32A) en route to being named the most valuable player, top scorer, and top forward with BIK Karlskoga in the Swedish Allsvenskan league. Allsvenskan is the Swedish equivalent of the AHL.
At first glance, to me, he looks like a younger, faster Artem Anisimov. He is reportedly better at the faceoff dot than Anisimov (who isn’t?). He also shows quick hands, and deceptive speed.
Again, though, nothing you are about to see is against anything greater than ECHL/AHL quality players, so take this with a grain of salt. That said, there is some potential in this kid worth looking forward to.
I was able to gather a few, year old, clips from an article by Bryan Fair at the Preds website, On The Forecheck:
Here is a really nice end-to-end type rush where Ejdsell makes the defender look like fool and cuts to the net:
Ejdsell decides to lock, load and beat the goalie from the top of the circle:
Ejdsell works a 2-on-1 and puts a nice, quick backhand move on the goalie:
Ejdsell draws coverage, then sends a nice backhand saucer pass to a teammate for a goal:
These are two very similar plays, in which Ejdsell makes soft backhand passes to teammates:
Ejdsell take a cross slot one-time pass and buries the goal:
Ejdsell whacks the puck out of mid air, with a nice display of hand/eye coordination:
This is a YouTube highlight reel from last season that I posted on Monday afternoon. Some of the clips above are from this video, but the entire reel is still worth checking out:
Lastly, the Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) Roundtable website recently (January 16th) put together a piece that included an update on Victor Ejdsell: