Alexander Galchenyuk | Player Profile

The Toronto Maple Leafs will have the 5th overall selection in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. Nothing to scoff at by any means, in terms of positioning to pick a high calibre player.

I will be providing a little glance into some of the prospects within the Leafs range. Shuffling occurs at the draft all the time, so this is simply an educated guess of who would be available. For all we know, Brian Burke could be wheeling and dealing his way into 1st overall or out of the first round! 

The first prospect I will have a look at is Alexander Galchenyuk.

Name: Alexander Galchenyuk

Position: Center

Height: 6'0''

Weight: 198 lbs

Age: 18

The Maple Leafs' Director of Amateur Scouting had this to say about the young man, yesterday. A positive comment that bodes well for his chances of being picked by the Leafs.

“He obviously looked he was in pretty good shape,” Morrison said. “You know, he looked like a kid that’s worked hard. He’s built himself up pretty good.”
Source: The Star

Galchenyuk has been a victim of injury. Suffering a horrid knee injury as the season just got under way set him back, almost knocking him out for the entire season. He was able to come back for the Sarnia Stings' playoff run. Putting up 2 goals and 2 assists in 6 games played. An average showing for his known ability, but understandable considering his injury.

Strengths


* Immense skater with the ability to make skating at high speeds look effortless
* NHL quality wrist shot, tremendous release
* Hockey IQ is through the roof, able to read plays before they happen
* Sound defensive game

Weaknesses

* Knee injury is a major concern (could chip away at his speed)
* At times caught trying to do to much on his own

NHL Comparison

Looking at his skill set, there is no better comparison than Marian Hossa. The player his agent, Igor Larionov compared him to. Both players play the same style of  game, just smart and effective hockey with high end offensive potential.



The Leafs would be incredibly lucky to find him available at the number 5 spot. This is the same player who would have been pushing Yakupov for the top spot, if he had remained healthy last season. There is no doubt that he will be an effective player as long as he stays injury free. A worry that many will have.

Jonas Gustavvson?

"The Monster" is what he is called and rightly so since he stands at 6'3''  192 pounds which is great size for a goalie. In this little piece I will be talking about Gustavsson for those that don't know him or want to know more about him. 

This guy is a huge netminder and takes up a lot of space in the crease. Although along with his tremendous size he has extremely quick feet and can get across in a jiffy to rob the opposing player from point blank. Now there are many goalies out there that are talked about and turn out to be duds when it comes to performing in the NHL, but there is something about this guy that makes him stand out from the rest. He has all the tools that an NHL goalie requires and he seems to have fantastic temperament to go along with his superlative netminding talent. 

Gustavsson has played for Farjestad for the past few years and he has dominated the league, there are some people who state that this is the best team in Sweden that we are talking about so obviously his stats will be boosted, but I must tell you it doesn't matter who you have in front of you but unless you are a good goalie you will never post the numbers Gustavsson had.

Here are his record breaking stats from the past few years...

* 1.96 GAA—the first to achieve a GAA under 2.00 since 2006

* Goalie of the year 3 seasons in a row from 2002-03 through 2004-05

* Consecutive shutout record at 240 minutes and 25 seconds

This guy could potentially become a starting goaltender for the team that captures his signature this summer and I am sure all teams have dialled his agent's number to see if he wants to go to their team. According to sources Toronto and Dallas are the frontrunners, but these are all talks. Gustavsson though did hint that he would like to come to Toronto because of it's great history and the fact that Salming had a chat with him about the city. 

This guy could be something special, perhaps not the next Lundqvist but he could be the next Gustavsson.