Owl's Quick Draft Hits: Lukas Elvenes

Hey y'all,

I've been wanting to write a little more, since I've really been missing it over the last couple weeks, so I'm starting a lil' project. I'm hoping to publish about four quick hits a week until the draft, writing three or four paragraphs focusing primarily on players who are ranked outside the first two rounds but who will probably be drafted by someone this year. In practice, I'm expecting that I'll end up covering players drafted in rounds 3-6, but obviously I have no idea and because of the nature of the draft I might cover some guys who jump into the second. The format is still a WIP, so it might evolve from what I have below, but we'll see how it goes.

#Lukas Elvenes: Rögle J20 (SuperElit)

Lukas is a left-shooting right winger who's one of the younger players in the draft (born less than a month before the 2018 cut-off), with good size (6') and a frame that suggests he has the room to put more muscle on. With 45 points in 41 games, he was third in the SuperElit for points (behind two 19 year olds), and his 1.1PPG is 13th in the league (among players with more than 20 games), and if you restrict that sample size to first time draft eligibles he's third (behind Emil Bemstrom and Rickard Hugg). He's also been a mainstay on Swedish international teams for his age group, and had decent success in those tournaments. He played 12 games against men this year and didn't have any points, but I'm also not sure if he played a large role or if he was just a fourth-line fill in.

Lukas' skillset makes him an excellent offensive winger, with great hands/puck skills, making quick decisions in tight to win board battles and get pucks to the net, while powerful forward skating and slick edgework and crossovers lets him get a step on larger players. His shot is strong for an seventeen year old with an excellent release, and as he builds more muscle that should improve as well. Lukas is also a good passer with great vision, but sometimes falls into bad habits of trying to stickhandle through a player when a pass would be the superior option -- using his teammates better would make him far more of a threat.

Lukas needs to work on the defensive part of his game: he's had issues looking for the stretch passes and missing defensive coverage because of it, though he works hard in both directions, backchecking hard and finishing his checks on the forecheck. He can also get too fancy, making low-percentage plays to try and beat defenders instead of the safer play that keeps possession but might not be as dangerous if it works out, and that's something that you want to try and suppress without killing his creativity, as pro-level NHLers will punish those bad choices.

In terms of NHL upside, I think Elvenes' ceiling looks something like Joonas Donskoi -- a complimentary middle six scoring player who can hit 45 points with good linemates and 30 points with bad ones, while his floor is a top six player in the SHL or AHL. I don't think he's likely to be a checking-type player at the NHL level, but there's definitely a possibility that the defensive side of his game improves with committed coaching and he gets there.

So, that's quick hit #1. In future quick hits, I plan to have previous ones listed here, but there isn't one yet. If you're looking for something else in the write-ups or have requests for future players, feel free to toss them out in the comments.

Happy Monday!