Not enough people are talking about Axel Elofsson...

After years of waiting, I can finally say that the Avalanche have found a hidden gem in their scouting department. Yes, you heard it here. The Avs have finally decided to put together a competent team to scout some kids that are actually showing some good promise for this Colorado Avalanche organization and can contribute some solid depth roles here in the coming. future. One guy has been getting a lot of comparisons ever since he was drafted to Lane Hudson and that's the Swedish version of Lane Hudson as many people like to call him Axel Ellingson. Now this might be the first time some of you have even heard that name and we're going to be taking you through just who this is and a couple of other guys you should keep your eyes on as the Avs finally have a bit of a prospect covered here of some kids that are Those that are at least fun to watch and Probably have a good shot of making the NHL. So welcome in, everybody. Hope you're all doing well here. And a bit of a different change of pace on this video. We're not going to be talking about the Avs. We're going to be talking about some fun prospects here. And let's open it up with where this all started with Byron Bader. Bader, sorry. Said that I haven't updated the model yet, but I was just poking around Axel Ellingson, which was a fourth rounder for the Avs in 2026, and he started off the season with 19 assists in 18 games in Alsvenskan, which is a wildly underrated EuroLeague. If you guys don't know, in that league, you basically got kids playing against men. So it's some serious competition in this league, and Axel Ellingson is thriving so far. He's putting up Lane Hudson D plus one Equivalent pace. normalized by league could be a serious gem for the Avs here and he linked his player card and the actual raw data and this is done by hockey prospecting so they are a credible organization this isn't just some dude on twitter just posting oh well i'm a scout sure here's my model no this is a proven model and it's looking pretty good already he's getting comparisons to lane hudson he's been called the swedish lane hudson multiple times and there are some dazzling fun highlights Let's to go check out for Axel Ellingson, I got distracted by it. This video probably would have come out a bit sooner if I just didn't decide to go watch multiple highlights of him. It is a fun time, and you can see the stats and what they're projecting. They're saying, yeah, I think he's gonna be an NHLer. There's even some potential of him being a star by their standards, and if you look at some of these player comps, there's some things to really like about what Axel Ellison can do. We're going to circle back on Ellison and just what kind of player he is, but let's actually look at this 2026 draft real quick, and you've already got some gems here. I mean, Igor Shilov was the highest pick the Avs took in the second round. We're going to be touching on him as well. Beckett Hamilton, a fan favorite. You've got to know Beckett Hamilton's name at this point. Everyone loves him. He's our favorite, lovable guy. Third round pick by the Colorado Avalanche and Axel Ellison in the fourth round. So you've got some kids already here from this, just this recent draft by the Avs that you like. And we're just going to be talking about 2026 today. There's a couple of prior years. You've got Ilya Nabokov, you got Francesco Dell'Else, you've got some other kids that the Avalanche have also drafted that are looking pretty impressive. But let's focus back in on Ellison. And see what the scouting report had to say about him. His creation skills are excellent. He attacks relentlessly, consistently, joining rushes, and looking to beat his man from the point. He's elusive on his edges, and he has forward-level handling skill, but most importantly, it's his vision and his ability to manipulate coverages that drive his results. And in so many of the highlights I've watched, this guy has fantastic poise, great puck skill, and just good offensive vision. Loves to attack the middle of the ice with his feet. just head fake that he's going to shoot and passes it off to one of his teammates for a gorgeous one-timer. Or if the other team has seen that too much from him, they're saying, oh, he's not going to shoot. He'll just rip a puck in the back of the net. He's got a good shot. And I want to compare this guy to Sam Girard a little bit. I know that might have someone just running out and saying, I'm already going to write this kid off because I don't like Sam Girard, but just hear me out on it. Imagine Sam Girard, who's Actually, 5'11". Sam Girard was not 5'10". He was more like 5'8 on skates. All right. Imagine a guy who's actually, like Sam Girard, great skating ability, has a good shot, which teams actually have to respect, and more consistent and even better offensive vision to make passes. And then you've got Axel Ellison. I really like this kid. He's got just such fantastic skating. I've said that already, but go check out his highlights and you'll see what I mean. He's got some dazzling highlights on there. And he's playing with some good... Swedish kids that you might recognize as well. So I think that there's a lot to love about Axel Ellison. We can just look at his stats right here. And you can see that I just kind of wanted to point something out and why people were saying this is such a steal. And I saw multiple people saying that I'm kind of mad that my team didn't draft him. He played really well in the U-20 Nationals. Thank you. In the Örebro HK U20, that's the only crack I'm ever going to take at that. He was really good in the U20 national team. And yes, in the SHL, he played six games, had no points, but he played a total of six minutes across that entire. Six games. He basically played one minute in the entire of each game, and that was it. A little frustrating sometimes with these European leagues, but then he goes and plays in HockeyAllsvenskan and plays amazing against men. He's got 19 points in 18 games. It's a little surprising he doesn't have any goals yet, considering he has such a good shot. I wouldn't say it's all world. I wouldn't say it's Cale Makar level of wrister, but he's got a threatening shot that teams have to respect, and I've seen it multiple times where players will sell out to block the pass I don't believe he's going to shoot it, and he'll just rip one past the goalie. So he is a credible player. I'm excited to see where the rest of his career goes, and I can't wait to see what he turns into once the Avs get him into North America. Guys are really high on this one. I'm not just gassing up some random Twitter accounts. There are some legitimate noise around Axel Ellison, and keep your eye out for him in these World Junior tournaments that are right around the corner. You're really gonna wanna watch this kid, I guarantee you. Now, another player that I wanna glaze here is Igor Shilov. I said I'd talk about him a little bit later, and I wanted to touch on him again. He was actually just granted the... The captaincy over on his QMJHL team, the Victoriaville Tigers, and it speaks to his character. It speaks to who he is as a person. He's not just the best player on that team, just the best forward who's, eh, whatever. He's not committed to defense all the way, but he's not a selfish player. You can tell by his character, and you can tell by the way he was granted the captaincy, that this isn't a selfish player here. And the report has to say this about him. It feels like Shiloh perceives the game in slow motion. Anticipating poke checks, defensive counters, reacting faster than the opposition. There's a certain grace to the way he rushed the puck or controlled it on the half wall on the power play. So there's a lot to love about Igor Shilov. The speed is all there. You've got the puck control. He's got a good shot. He does everything extremely well. One of the biggest criticisms of him, however, though, is that he can hold on to the puck too long and try and be a one-man hero a little bit, which is why I'm so glad that he is committed to the NCAA next year. I, first of all, love the North American. commitment, especially as a Russian, there's always the concern of when is he going to come over? Is he going to get consistent ice time? But because he's been in North America ever since the four or five season, he's got a long-term North American commitment and it's going to continue further by him playing at Penn State in the NCAA. And I want to see Penn State round him out. I think they're definitely going to make a more of a competent player. So I like that as well, him going into that program. But as you can see this season, he's on pace for over a hundred So he's already tearing it up. He was granted the captaincy just recently, and I think this is a fun, exciting prospect for the Colorado Avalanche with someone with such a high ceiling and such a high floor, in my opinion. Now, let's actually look at yet another fan favorite, and that's Beckett Hamilton. Of course, Beckett Hamilton. We're gonna end talking about this guy here. He is everyone's favorite Swiss Army knife. He does everything extremely well. His compete level is through the roof. He's got a high motor. If you guys didn't get the chance to see him at some of these rookies. He showcased tournaments that the Avs were in. He just looks like the engine out there. He is flying. He's battling for every single puck. And on a bad Red Deer Rebels team, he is the best player on that team. Turns out, hey, you know what? When a guy falls to you because he doesn't put up the best offensive numbers and he's by far the best player on a bad WHL team, maybe take that guy in the draft. And let's actually look at Beckett Hamilton's stats here. He was also made the captain. So the Avalanche invested in a couple players that have already been recognized for their great character and work ethic, and they've been granted the captaincy. I think that's definitely a character win, at least for the Colorado Avalanches scouting department, finding these type of great kids. You can see he's on pace for over 100 points as well, and basically a 50-50 guy, and is currently tearing up the WHL on a horrible Red Deer team. I don't think Beckett Hamilton is going to be a first-line center or a second-line center, but I definitely think he makes out to be a great third-line center, just that do-it-all Swiss Army knife, who JT Compher pretty much used to be. No offense. Just, yeah, Detroit has not been kind to him. You just see so much of what you like with Beckett Hamilton. He does pretty much everything well. It sucks that he's on Red Deer. I think that he's definitely not the type of guy to be the main guy on a team. He belongs much better to be a cog in an engine. We saw this in the Rookie Showcase Tournament. When he was playing next to TJ Hughes and Taylor McCarr, he was awesome. But when he was stripped and those guys took the next day off, he wasn't as good. We know that this guy is not the number one first line center type guy, but just let him be a cog of a machine. Let him be in the bottom six. Let him and two other guys lead a grindy third line. He's going to stand out. He's going to be a fan favorite. I absolutely love Beckett Hamilton. And just kind of circling back to our 2026 draft recap here, the Avalanche have done pretty well in this draft. You've got three players here. No offense to Tobias over there. I just don't know anything about him. But you've got three guys already. And not even a first round pick in the second, third, and fourth round that you love, honestly. And not just like, oh, well, you know what? He could be a fourth liner one day or he could be a bottom pairing defenseman. No, you've got incredible talent. And potential with all of these guys. And the Avs don't have high picks. They're all drafting in the latter rounds. This is what the Avalanche have been starving for for so long. And it looks like they've finally broken through with some of their draft picks. I'm excited to see how these guys do all year long. Don't forget to monitor them as well. And hey, go check out their highlights if the Avs are just not doing well enough and you want to watch something else. But that is going to do it for this video. Thank you all so much for watching. I will see you all in the next one. And bye.