Andreas Sundell Rookie Profile

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Andreas Sundell

#12

 

 

Profile

Name: Andreas

Born: April 1, 1989

Birthplace: Västerås, Sweden

Height: 5' 8"
Weight: 149lbs

Shoots: Left

 

Playing style

Tiny playmaking speedy defenseman who likes to carry the puck.

 

Pros

 

Speed (Skating) - Sundell is priding himself as a good skater, a claim that is backed up by both scouts and others who has followed his career so far. His top speed is impressive but he needs to make it more dynamic, as of now he is often caught skating in lines more that a fluid movement following the game. Although this might be a cause of concern Sundell both claims and has shown improvement in all his skating areas and will surely become a very mobile defenceman, something needed to compensate for his lacking size. If he manages to improve those aspects of his skating, he can quickly turn into one of the top skating defensemen in the league.

 

Playmaking (Passing and Puckhandling) - He handles the puck well and can both skate well with it and thread passes through very narrow slots. He likes to carry the puck over the ice, and even the offensive blueline, himself and thread the puck to a speeding winger on his size with a precise pass. Despite this playing style looking scary and risky he got the skill for that kind of high risk high reward kind of style. Though he is for sure more of a passer than a shooter so his playstyle is more about setting others up by making space of them and/or senting the puck to them high-speed. Flair is his game, with all that carries with it. Expect the assists to rack up quickly!

Cons

Physicality (Strength and Checking) - Sundell is an undersized defender and it shows in his game. While he doesn't shy away from physical areas he doesn't exactly thrive in them. As soon as his skating gets negated and a scramble takes place he struggles to make any dent in the opposing teams' attack. This makes his game without the puck highly questionable as he very easily fall victim to his tiny frame and little suggest that he will improve it much. This limits his usefulness in many situations and makes him mostly suitable for the powerplay or offensive zone starts, preferably with a more defensive dman as a partner in his pairing. 

 

Defensive focus (Defence and Dicipline) - As noted above, Sundell is by no means a defensive player. While his defence gets helped out by his skating a serious question is if it is enough to compensate for what he is lacking. Just as with his physical play, the other parts of his defensive play gets easily over-played by skiller opponents. He got the skill with the stick to compensate for his frame with improvement, but so far he hasn't shown the will to work on it. He also often is caught slacking and on his heels. THis creates high-risk scenarios far more often than should be needed for a player with his skill. A tougher scenery might be the wake-up call needed for him to realize that he can't just play with the puck, he needs to get the puck first.