Joakim Bruden - Scouting Report

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Joakim Bruden

6'8" 250lbs

Drafted VHLM: 1st round (10 OA) Ottawa

Sweden

 

Summary

Joakim is a physical monster. Standing at over 2 meters tall and weighing in at 250lbs without any equipment he naturally takes up a lot of the net. Joakim is the starting goaltender for the Ottawa Lynx and backstopped them to a 3rd place regular season finish this season. Hailing from a small town in Sweden Joakim has a long history with high end competition playing in their top Jr. league as an underage player for a few seasons before making the transition to the VHLM.

 

Pros

• Un-humanly Size - easily his top pro, Joakim's sheer bulk blocks a lot of shot attempts just by being so large. He is able to gain exceptions for equipment size as well due to his size, making his reliance on lateral agility less important than smaller stature netminders
• Reaction Time - Among the best out of goalies scouted in the last decade, Joakim possesses a very quick glove hand. Combine that with a larger than standard trapper due to his goliath sized hands he is very solid on pucks snot around his frame

 

Cons

• Speed - His lateral speed is his greatest weakness. Teams in the VHLM have this scouting page on him and know that to beat him you need to make him move laterally.
• Zone Celaring Passes - He does not have a good strong pass, but regardless he tries to set up breakout passes quite a bit. This feature could flip to a great pro eventually and with work, but for now this is a glaring issue because it leads to turnovers and good scoring chances against

Miscelanious

• He is very quiet in the Locker Room, and does not talk to the reporters very much. This isn't too odd for goalies, but it may come off as cold personality. Don't worry, once he is comfortable in a place he warms up quite a bit and is even a bit of a practical joker.

Final Thoughts

Bruden has the raw talent and skill capacity to be an elite grade A prospect. He has talent to be a 1st round VHL draft pick, but central scouting consensus places him as the 2nd overall goaltender out of this draft class. Due to this and depending on when Wolski is drafted, Bruden may very well turn out to be a steal in the 3rd or 4th round. He is an excellent pick, and whichever team drafts him will be very happy with their investment. The only question is when he goes.