Tim Erixon had a relatively good tournament. He was expected to be a leader in the team and he did that on ice by logging propably highest ice time total on the team. Defensively he was one of the better players in the tournament and made few mistakes and that's what was expected from third year pro player who also had two previous WJC's under his belt. With experience that Erixon had and reminder that he was drafted as someone with offensive potential he was expected to do a little bit more on the other side of the rink. He played his best games in first four games and was very good in those but in last two, the medal round games, he couldn't maintain nor raise that level. In result he was on ice for 5 of 6 last ES goals Sweden allowed which is significant since they lost to Russia by one goal and to USA by two goals.
Updated scouting report:
(This is only based on WJC and his play last season since I haven't seen him this season in SEL)
Skating:
Not much to be said here. Skating mechanics and speed are good. He can make smooth strides on every four ways and can carry the puck over neutral zone leaving backcheckers behind. In uptempo game, which WJC mostly is, he can be caught off balance and his first couple of strides may be sloppy but he can recover quickly. He could use his skating more on defensive zone instead of relying on his reach and stickwork because skating is his obvious strength. NHL players will be more skilled who crash the net harder than WJC and SEL players so he needs to learn to keep his feet moving all the time and maintain right position between goalie and opponent player.
Defensive zone play:
Overall this is very good for such a young and still developing player but there's question marks how his game will adjust to AHL/NHL hockey. The most important thing, defensive awareness, is very good; he understands the game well and is often ahead of opponent he is guarding in terms of reading the play and reacting to it. Stickwork is good and that's the way he usually breaks up plays, often deflecting puck in netting. Gap control in rushes, whether odd man rushes or 1 on 1 situations, is good and he is rarely beat. In D-zone he is sometimes guilty giving too much space and trusting goalie to make a save rather than closing gap quickly and blocking a shot. This happens often shorthanded. Problem is he is used to defend man (each player defends own player in D-zone) rather than playing position and he does that very well but when he and his D-partner are forced to switch positions he could be out of right position, not much but a little bit which is often enough to cause troubles.
Such as Regehr is nearly perfect playing 1 on 1 (and he often picks up one man to defend on whole time they spend in own zone like Erixon) but struggles when he has to switch player to defend. While shorthanded it becomes problem for both because shorthanded is all about playing correct position and not to take one man out until the puck is in danger area in front of the net. To sum it up he plays 1 on 1 well but has to develop better chemistry with D-partner when playing positional defence.
Physicality:
He has size and gets stronger every year but right now he is more of a positionally sound d-man who relies on skating and stickwork rather than physicality and hitting. He can make an odd hit when the time is right and it won't get caught him off position. It's just not characteristic for him. He is not as soft as Bouwmeester but the similarities are there which is not a bad thing to say knowing how good Bouwmeester is. When he comes over AHL/NHL he could absorb the physical mentality of the game and become more confident with his strength level to change his play to more physical style but I wouldn't count on it because it doesn't look like to be natural for him. It would make him more versatile in AHL/NHL coaches eyes if he could pick up physical game or at least be more aggressive closing the gap and using the stick.
Offensive game:
- Puck skills: Good but nothing spectacular. He rarely mishandles the puck and is never liability with it. Doesn't control the puck as well in top speed and isn't able to make moves or good passes.
- Passing/joining the rush: One area that is getting more and more important in modern hockey is giving a first pass out of d-zone. That's something Erixon really struggles in. In tournament he was paired with Nemeth and this pairing had most troubles giving easy or quick first passes. They played a lot behind Sweden's top line and that line had huge troubles starting attacks because they couldn't get pucks quickly. Actually that first line and Erixon-Nemeth pairing weren't together on ice on ES goal for in whole tournament (expect Norway game).
Erixon doesn't quite have bright vision to see passing options with little time and space to make an outlet pass but rather he can bang it off glass and out of zone or make a risk-free extra move that buys time for opponent to settle in neutral zone. Risk-free is the word to highlight here and that's propably the best word to describe his play with the puck. Puck moving d-men need to have courage to succeed, especially on ES situations. Creating offence from back end is a lot about having courage to make a move/deke in d- or n-zone before passing or joining the rush and go deep in o-zone. Erixon definitely has puck skills and skating to do both but lack of courage, confidence, creativity or vision or combination of those prevents him to do so. Erixon did join rushes several times during the tournament but most of those times when he had the puck he ran out of room and flipped the puck into corner. 9/10 times the opponent got there first so those rushes were pretty much useless. I'm not sure what's the reasoning him giving up the puck so easily, none other D-man did that as much as Erixon and it can't be something that his coach wants.
He has good numbers in SEL so I wonder if his offensive skills display better on low-tempo game and bigger ice surface. But we all want him to become succesful NHL D-man so he needs to learn how to make plays in fewer time and space and join the rushes like players with his skating ability should do.
- Shot: Shot has become his best offensive weapon in a year. Last year he didn't show much that would suggest he has a great shot but with improved confidence-level he has been using this weapon a lot. This year in SEL he has scored a few slap shot goals from the point which is propably equal the whole Flames team has combined this season. Velocity is good and accuracy too only once he has time to settle the shot but when he doesn't have enough time and space the shot could hit shin pads or go wide. He was the triggerman on Sweden's top PP unit and had most shots on team with 23 which shows good number of his shots got through. I think he is on SEL team's top PP unit as well. With more experience he learns to read the play better whether to shoot or continue cycle.
- Mental game:
Ah, my favourite part. Last season I was worried about his confidence-level because it was very low. Now it was encouraging to see it had increased a lot but still I think it is an issue because he lacks courage to make high reward moves because they include risk to lose the puck. Of course it could continue increasing and hopefully it does because lack of confidence reduces potential exponentially. Erixon definitely has the tools but confidence is the box that collects the tools and makes it a toolbox. Lack of confidence right now leaves few tools, namely from the offensive area of game, outside and he can't use them.
The other thing on mental side was character. I think it is very important because hockey is a fast-paced and on ice a lot is done by natural ability because there is not time to think. Smartness is natural ability and Erixon has it but character, like I determined it in Ortio post, is willingness and ability to win, raise the game to higher level when it matters the most. Erixon couldn't do that in last two games but I don't judge him on such short sample size. I don't think it's much of a weakness for Erixon but having confidence or being physical player (mean streak) is often natural and it's always tougher road when you have to build confidence or strength level and not have it naturally.
__________________
|
