The Popular Pick: Jacob Josefson
Written by CK   
Monday, 22 June 2009 13:45

Each day we'll be counting down to the NHL Draft and highlighting prospects that the Caps Nation wouldn't mind suiting up in red. Today, we take a look at the "popular" pick for the Capitals, Swedish center Jacob Josefson. In mock drafts he's supposed to go as early as 15th, but it is possible that Josefson could fall to the Capitals.

Over at SB Nation, James Mirtle has a "mock draft" featuring their NHL bloggers asking readers to play GM as a collective and select their first round draft pick. Our friends at Japers' Rink have Josefson in the lead for the Capitals 24th pick (if he falls that far), and for good reason. Let's take a moment to examine "the popular pick."

Jacob Josefson - 6'0'' - 187
Stockholm, Sweden

What the scouts are saying:
“He is a very good two-way player. He has a very good responsibility for his defensive duties. He's more a playmaker, a guy who sees the ice really well, creates a lot of scoring chances with his passing skills. He's very good with the stick and very good in traffic because he is an excellent stickhandler. He's a smooth passer with very soft hands." - Director of European Scouting, Goran Stubb.

"Josefson is a highly skilled center. He plays a strong two-way game and is well rounded. He has good hockey sense and his skating ability and technical skills are very good. Nice creativity with the puck, a skilled playmaker and decent goal scorer. Makes smart decisions and plays a mature game. Gets involved in the rough stuff and has willingness to play the body." - MyNHLDraft.com

"A big player who can skate, but he really didn’t get as much ice time as he should have,” Hall said. “Sweden always has a tendency to underplay their best players for some reason, like Nicklas Backstrom when he was at the world juniors.” Josefson plays for Djurgardens in Sweden and is draft eligible in 2009." - The Hockey News.

Why we want him:
Ever since the Capitals second round exit, owner Ted Leonsis has repeatedly claimed that the Penguins' success was in their centers. He's partly right; outside of Backstrom, the Capitals are missing a second line center to pair with Alex Semin. Anton Gustaffson is supposed to be that center, but there's no point in passing up a talent like Josefson if he's availible. The Caps need help on defense and on the scoresheet, and Josefson is the guy to help improve both.

Odds and ends:
"I like to watch Henrik Zetterberg, I think he’s a very good player. I try to watch him and take some stuff from him. He is one of my favorite players"


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Comments (3)Add Comment
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written by hooks orpik, June 23, 2009
I think Ted L is right when you talk strength down the middle being vitally important. Obviously the Penguins had a very well rounded team with several key playoff components clicking (Guerin, Fedotenko, Gonchar, Scuderi, Fleury, etc) but the team's strength is obviously down the middle.

And, for what it's worth:

Pens top 3 centers (Crosby, Malkin, Staal) production on the Caps series: 12 goals, 15 asssists, -1, 6 pp goals, 5 pp assists 2 game winning goals.

Caps top 3 centers (Backstrom, Fedorov, Steckel) production in the series: 6g, 9a, -1, 2ppg, 3ppa, 1 gwg [With Steckel having a huge series]

Naturally, having Ovechkin and Semin skewes things for the Caps wingers, but the differences at center remain.

When you throw in Detroit with Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Draper and Filpulla down the middle you can see where this is going....Other East contenders like Boston (Savard, Krecji and Bergeron) and Philly (Richards, Carter, Giroux) have studs at center too, so it's clear a team needs better than good at center with big and productive guys to be a contender year in and year out.

Just my two cents, CK, nice blog you got here.
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