VHL Prospect Showcase: Alagsantere Grønvold

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[Okay, I was originally writing a scouting report. I've decided to try out a different format, inspired by the Locked on NHL Prospects podcast. When I was done, the thing was 2,063 words long. So I thought hell no, this is now a media spot for 4 weeks. The scouting report guidelines say it's supposed to review VHLM/VHLE career anyway.]

 

FD: Hello, and welcome back to our podcast. My name is Frederick Drouin, and in today’s episode of the VHL Prospect Showcase, we're bringing you an absolute menace of a player eligible to join the VHLM as a waiver pickup. I'm here with Daniel Moore of the VHL Central Scouting, and the spotlight is on Alag…sa…Alagsantere Gr…Grøn…Grønvold, excuse me, my Greenlandic is a bit rusty. So Dan, give me a quick rundown on Grønvold, where he plays, his size, his handedness, all the good stuff.

 

DM: Absolutely. Grønvold is a mobile, violent left-shot defenseman from the Greenland Youth Academy, a programme that has produced quite a few exciting players. He's already listed as a 6’4 202 lbs young man and still growing, so we're talking about a player who could potentially grow into a 6’5 220+ lbs frame if he puts in some time in a weight room, a great size for a VHL defender. Also, a fact some people may find interesting is that he's the adopted son of Wann Kerr. Though they don't share many similarities in their game, it's hard to look for similarities between a 5’9 centre and a 6’4 defenseman.

 

FD: Yeah, I have to admit I wasn't aware of the relationship between the two. Anyway, as usual, let's start by looking at the tools Grønvold brings in isolation. First, his puck skills: what can you tell us about his puck handling, passing, and shooting, and how would you rate them on a 1–10 scale?

 

DM: Puck skills, in general, are the weakest part of his skillset. His puck handling has really been inconsistent in the tape I've watched, 5/10 as an average at most. He’s grown 5 inches over the last 2 years; it looks like he's still getting used to his taller body and longer stick, and you often see him handling the puck way too far from his body rather than in his hip pocket like high-end puck handlers do. As for his passing, he doesn't really do much. His passing game is pretty much limited to D-to-D passes and give-and-goes along the boards; he doesn't really explore any other passing options at all, so I have to give his passing a 3. His shot is a better asset than his pass. It's a really violent shot with lots of power that's hard for the goaltenders to handle, but it lacks the accuracy to test the goalies regularly or the quick release to fool the opponents. It's really about the old-time slap shots with Grønvold. So overall, he's not a great shooter, but since I've said it's a better asset than his pass is, I'd give it a 4.

 

FD: So I can imagine that if his name is called as early as anticipated, it's not because of his puck skills. How about his skating?

 

DM: Now that's a bona fide strength; he's probably the best skater in the draft class. I'd go as far as to give it a 9.5. He's not just a great skater for his size; he's a better skater than many dynamic forwards who are 4 or 5 inches shorter than he is. Really, the best word to describe his skating is smooth. He can pivot and change direction absolutely seamlessly; he can keep up with you while skating forwards or backwards; and I don't think there's a player in this draft class who can close gaps or create separation as efficiently as Grønvold can. He's got a powerful stride with a perfect knee bend and great balance, and he's surprisingly elusive and hard to contain. Really, the only reason I don't give his skating a 10 is because I don't want to award it too often, and I gave it to Gavilrovs's physicality a couple of years ago. It's really the foundation of his game.

 

FD: Wow, you don't often see a big defender whom you've described as “violent” being this dynamic. Speaking of violence, I suspect we've kept the best part for the end of the first segment. Tell me more about Grønvold's physicality.

 

DM: For sure. He's a very physical player and a big, strong guy, but I think his game is more centred around his skating and his smarts than around his physicality. Still a solid 8 in my opinion. He's very happy to run you into the boards, lay a devastating hip check to send you flying, or destroy you with an open ice hit, but he tends to be too reckless and emotional at times. He was actually the most penalised player in the Greenland Youth Academy last season. But there are teams looking for a gutsy player like this. He will drop the gloves when necessary, and he affects how the opposing forwards play the game in his presence. You could see this in the Youth Academy; the opponents tend to enter the zone, not on Grønvold's side, because they knew it would be hell to get through him.

 

FD: Alright, that wraps up the first segment of our show. We're going to talk about the more intricate stuff, his habits, and his projection in the second part, after the word from our sponsors.

 

FD: Alright, we're back to today's VHL Prospect Showcase, with Frederick Drouin and Daniel Moore talking about Alagsantere Grønvold, a tough guy from Greenland, who is VHLM draft eligible for the upcoming season. In the first part, we talked about his tools in isolation. Now we're going to look at how the tools interact with each other and at the habits and smarts in Grønvold's game. Let's start with his defensive zone play, Dan.

 

DM: For sure. As you'd expect from a player of his profile, he's an extraordinary defender. He reads opponents’ plays exceptionally well—dare I say the best among his peers? He can anticipate the opponents’ moves and really leverage his explosiveness and physicality to pressure the cycle game. He just won't let you settle and establish any sustained pressure. He's also more than willing to pin you in the corner and will strip you off the puck more often than not. He also uses his big frame to clear the slot and block shots. The only gripe on him is that he sometimes defends with too much intensity and will overskate the lane or chase the hit, but he's such a great skater that it usually doesn't come back to bite him.

 

FD: A great in-zone defender, I hear. How about his rush defense? I can imagine that with his skating, it has to be his strength, right?

 

DM: His biggest strength, absolutely. Really the bread and butter of his game. He can match the pace with even the best skaters. He will get in your face, push you to the outside, and destroy you if you try to cut to the middle. When skating backwards with the opponent, he's often sort of crouched, which hides his range really well and allows him to just explode in a hit. And even if he misses you with his hit, he will pivot, catch you in a few strides, and lift your stick from behind. Again, he meshes together his skating and his physicality extremely well here. He's a premier rush defender.

 

FD: Rush offence is an increasingly important part of the game. Grønvold being a high-end rush defender is great for his draft stock, I can imagine. But what about going the other way, Dan? How strong is his transition game?

 

DM: He's a fairly decent puck mover; I guess it's because he rightfully trusts his puck-carrying abilities more than he trusts his passing. Thanks to his speed and puck tracking, he's often the first one to get to the loose puck. He then takes it on himself to skate the puck all the way into the offensive zone, where he will slow the pace a bit so his teammates can catch up. He's effective at getting the puck into the zone, but he can't really create an advantage because he tends to just hover at the blue line and shoot or drop the puck to an advancing teammate rather than attack the zone himself. In the neutral zone, he sometimes panics when he's pressured, which can lead to some puck handling mistakes. But with just straight skating, his puck control is okay. Still, you'd ideally prefer someone else carrying the puck. Without the puck, Grønvold is typically the first guy back, ready to act if his teammates turn the puck over. He could definitely get more involved here.

 

FD: So he's a good-but-not-great puck carrier and really a non-factor as a trailer. I guess that's expected from a guy whom you're really portraying as more of a defensive specialist. How about his offensive zone play? Does he tend to get more involved once his team is settled in the zone?

 

DM: Not really, no. He prefers to hold the line and help maintain possession by stopping breakout attempts. You can see he's not confident in his creativity when he has the puck on his stick. When there's no option to pass along the blue line or along the board, he will just shoot the puck onto the net without much thought, just to get rid of it. As I've said before, his shot has some power behind it, but its timing and placement are really not great. If he worked on his shot selection a bit more, he could be a fairly decent triggerman. But as of now, there's really not much offensive upside in Grønvold. He may score a goal every now and then, but most of his offensive production will likely be assists on tips and rebounds.

 

FD: He is truly a defensive force more than anything else. Speaking of offensive production, what do you think is probably the most typical stat line we could see Grønvold record in VHL in his prime?

 

DM: Not much in terms of offence; I think anything between 8 and 15 goals and 30 to 50 assists. It is really hard to imagine Grønvold as a point-per-game defender. But, like, 300 hits and 250 blocked shots are definitely not out of the picture with him. Probably with around 150 penalty minutes.

 

FD: He's quite a tough guy, I see. Let's end today's episode with some stylistic comparisons and his projections, Dan.

 

DM: Sure. Looking at Grønvold, I see lots of similarities with Brian Payne. Now it's just a stylistic comparison; I wouldn't say Grønvold is Hall of Fame material. I think Grønvold is a better skater than Payne was at his age, and the mechanics show he'll be even better with time. On the other hand, I don't think he will get close to Payne’s level of offensive play. As for Grønvold's talent level, there's an upside to being the No. 1 defenseman, absolutely. Though with the style of his game, no. 2 is a more realistic projection. He's also a really safe pick, in my opinion. Even if his development goes apocalyptically wrong, he's still an 8-year VHLer. There are just too many really translatable traits in his game. He's definitely going to make the Wylde Trophy race even more interesting in the upcoming decade.

 

FD: I can see more teams getting really invested in this type of player now with the newest rule changes, which have made the point totals throughout the league go through the roof. And Grønvold's adoptive father won the scoring title! It's maybe too early to ask, considering he has yet to play a single VHLM game, but where do you think Grønvold will get picked on his VHL draft day, a year from now?

 

DM: I believe there's a world where Grønvold is a top 3 pick based on his work ethic and talent level alone. But the one-dimensional nature of his game is bound to scare off some GMs. Still, I think he's going in the first half of the first round; 4-8 looks like the probable range. 

 

FD: The defensive game must really be on a different level when you're ranking someone with no offensive upside this high. Alright, that wraps it up for today's show. Thank you, Dan, for joining me, and thank you all for listening to the VHL Prospect Showcase. Have a great day. See you all tomorrow, when we'll be looking at…

 

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