Recently, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler was on the Lowdown with Lowetide (TSN1260) talking about the upcoming World Juniors in Edmonton, but he also took the time to talk about a few of the Edmonton Oilers’ prospects like Tyler Benson, Carter Savoie, Dylan Holloway, and Phillip Broberg.
On Dylan Holloway
Dylan’s a special player in that he’s a bit of a throwback. He’s not like a lot of these other kids. Canada has brought a roster of talent that is built primarily around skill. We all know that Canada has typically built around roles at this tournament. In this year’s, they went a little bit of the other direction. I think it’s the right direction to go and ‘Let’s just go with the best players available and let’s figure out the rest later”. Holloway kind of fits into that group at the low end of the skill totem pole, if you will.
He’s always going to be one of those players who just fits. He can penalty kill, he’s arguably the fastest player on the team, him and Alex Newhook will play on the same line, I would argue that they are the two fastest players on the team along with maybe Peyton Krebs. So they’re going to play with a lot of speed on that line. He’s more physical than the other forwards and he just brings them something a little bit more different.
He’s going to be able to play that sort of North/South game on the wing and he’s going to finish all of his checks and be pesky. He’s got the skills to finish his plays and get open for his linemates and ultimately score goals as a shooter too.
He’s a modern pro player and often times I don’t think that those modern pro players are great fits for this tournament because they become such a track meet and sometimes they lack that sort of finesse junior skill that these kids have that really pops but Holloway just makes a ton of sense for me.
I think Dylan’s going to be a big big part of this team.
BLH’s Thoughts: I’m very excited about this player. I see him as a sort of Charlie Coyle-type in that he truly can play the game any way you want him to and he’s able to play across the board on forward. He’s such a versatile player and that is going to come in extremely handy for the Oilers in about three years when he’s ready to make the jump to the Oilers from the Condors.
The way I see it, he’ll only get two years at Wisconsin, then one in Bakersfield, and by year three, he’ll be playing on Edmonton’s third line. Could he be part of the new “Kid Line” with someone like Carter Savoie and Raphael Lavoie?
On Phillip Broberg
He’s going to play a HUGE role for that defense (Sweden’s) this year. He’s one of those kids who fits into that top-four when you look at their defence. Heading into the tournament this year you expected Victor Soderstrom, Phillip Broberg, Tobias Bjornfot, and Albert Johansson to be the four and that’s how it’s shaped up more or less.
Victor Soderstrom will I suspect will be “the no.1 guy”, but if you’re looking for a no.2 guy between Broberg and Bjornfot, I think that Broberg has got a really good chance to play 20, 25 minutes-a-night, to be on both special teams units; likely the 2nd PP but maybe the top PK and then his skating and physicality, his athleticism and his ability to play a transition game should really benefit them (Sweden).
I’ve never been super fond of Broberg’s game in the offensive zone. I think there’s a little bit of sloppyness to it. In terms of that track meet I previously talked about, he’s perfectly built for that. He’ll be a big transition defender for them.
It wouldn’t surprise me if he had a big tournament and he’s one of those four or five defenders that’s in the conversation for the 2D spot on the tournament all-star team.
BLH’s Thoughts: I’ve heard some lofty comparisons for Broberg in the past (Hedman), but to me, he looks like he’s developing into a player Oilers fans know well, Jeft Petry.
Phillip is big, rangy, can skate, is powerful, has an offensive element to his game, plays solid effective defence, and passes the puck very well. I’d be willing to be that if there was no pandemic this year, he’d be in Edmonton by now forcing one of the vets out, especially with Klefbom being hurt.
On Carter Savoie
He’s a player who attracted a lot of attention for good and bad throughout his draft year and a lot of it was, frankly, warranted. A lot of the sort of disappoinments with him, he was the kind of player who would drift in and out of games, he cheats up ice, he floats, he is a perimeter player in many cases when he doesn’t have the puck, and there are shifts when he goes out there and he’s having a negative impact on the defensive zone play of his team.
But then, in a split second in terms of raw talent and the ability to crack open a game, you could count on one hand the sort of players who could make those dashes like he can. I wouldn’t say he’s a terribly athletic kid, that’s another thing that was a knock on him. He’s always carried a bit more weight that most strenght and conditioning coaches would like out of a player who’s an elite athlete, but he can shoot the puck as well as anyone in that draft (2020) and his hands are up there. It was all kind of there for him. He was one of those kids, on skill, was just too talented to pass on once you were, say, out of the 2nd round.
BLH’s Thoughts: Remember Mike Comrie? Carter Savoie might be a better version of him.
Full disclosure, I was put off by the reports of his less-than-savory character. But as Lowetide and Wheeler talked about, when you base your judgment of a player solely on his faults, it can come back to bite you in the ass and in spades when it comes to players who are so talented at goal-scoring. Sure, he might take the odd shift off, but as we’re seeing, he has a Brett Hull-like ability to put the puck in the net.
Now, I’m not saying Carter Savoie is going to be a 500-goal scorer in the NHL, I’m just using the comparison to illustrate how good Savoie is at finding the twine with his shots. Also, nobody ever got far complaining about the Golden Brett’s two-way game.
So, and this applies to myself as well, maybe it would be more prudent to give players like Savoie or Noel Gunler and I’m suspecting Fabian Lysell in this year’s draft, as I’ve already heard whispers about him, a bit more leash and really focus on the things they do best.
On Tyler Benson
Benson is an interesting prospect because he was such a name growing up in the minor hockey circuit early on in his WHL career and he’s kind of gone the opposite direction of a player such as Savoie where he had all of the skill in the world and then the skill never took that next step and he had to remold his game.
He’s never going to be a high-end goal-scorer by any means, but I think if he can give you 10-15 goals and 25 assists and be a 40pt player at the NHL level, he still has some of the other tools now that he’s developed over the last couple of years to be able to round out that game and be a useful even strength player.
He’s just a player who’s, and it’s a cliche, but he’s become one of those “good at everything” players” who’s great at a small number of things.
He’s a fun player to watch. I really enjoy watching him, I think he’s smart and intelligent and kind of sneaky/crafty when he’s on the ice. He’s got really good playmaking instincts, but he’s not going to be the player that we probably thought he was going to be growing up many in the Western Canada hockey circle that he was going to be.
Now, the clock is ticking and can he make the jump from very good AHLer to decent NHLer?
BLH’s Thoughts: This is a pivotal season for Benson, in my opinion. In the two years prior to this one, his skating was the issue. Now, I haven’t watched his games in Europe, so I can’t comment on whether his boots have improved, but if they haven’t; I just cannot see how he makes it to the NHL when the league is transitioning to roster construction where three skill lines are the onus.
It’s true, he’s a very VERY smart hockey player, and in some cases that intelligence on the ice can supersede a player’s lack in other areas. We saw glimpses during his showcase in 2020 for the Oilers, but with the way Ken Holland has built his roster this year adding Ennis, Kahun, and keeping Nygard for another year, it doesn’t bode well for young Benson.
I hope you enjoyed the read, if so, please give us a follow on the socials!
- Youtube: Beer League Heroes Channel
- Twitter: @beerleagueheroe
- Instagram: @beerleagueheroes
- Facebook: Beer League Heroes
