In the second round the Flyers drafted LHD Emil Andrae from the Sweden HV71 J20 team. He also made the HV71 SHL team late in the season where he averaged 6:21 over 10 games. Emil Andrae is an undersized defensman at 5’8″ and 182 pounds. I Believe if it wasnt for his size Andrae would have been taken in the mid to late first round of the draft. Andrea played 40 games this year scoring 38 points with 11 goals and 27 assiststs he was also a +12 this year while competeting on his teams top defensive pairing.
Areas of Strength
His skating as a blueliner is slightly above average he is well balanced and elusive. He can put moves on to beat forecheckers and his straight line speed good enough to outpace back checkers. His shooting and playmaking ability is the whole reason why the flyers drafted him. Andrae can quaterback the power play with ease. He can seemlessly finds guys right in the slot or on the back door waiting to burry the puck in the back of the net. He can deliver the puck tape to tape on a back hand or forehand pass and opposing teams need to watch out for aggressive break out passes because he can not only make them but they will be tape to tap accross the ice. Andrae wrist and slap shots are both well above average as he has great velocity and release. He also has an abiltiy to rapidly change angles and presents what can be a goalies worst nightmare from any spot on the ice. His play decption is unmatched when it comes to making a slap pass or pump fake, as he can make any goaltender rethink their next move. Andreas defensive game doesnt really fall short either as he is a good one on one defender and can back skate with the best of them. Hes good at laying the body on and keeping his back to the wall. Andrae can be used on both the PK and PP and is as versitle as it gets. If i had to find good comparison to his play style he would probably match up with Kimmo Timonen.
Areas of Improvement
Andrae’s areas to work on are wrapped around his skating as hes not the fastest guy on the ice and his stamina needs a lot of building as he usually seems exhausted after every shift. Unfortantly the only thing that would have made him a top 15 pick is the one thing he cant change and that is his height at 5’8″.
My Prediction
Most likely i feel as though this is a 50/50 pick whether or not he will pan out Andrae is small in height but what he lacks there he makes up for in physicallity and strong hockey IQ. If he gets a chance in the NHL he will eventually become a solid 2nd Pairing defensman who gets time of the PP and PK.
Broad Down 