E-Mac's 2011 NHL Entry Draft Top 120: William Karlsson #102

By Eldon MacDonald

102. William Karlsson - “Mr. Believable” - C - Sweden

Vitals: Size - 6’0”, 163 lb.; Shoots left; Born 8-Jan-93 - Märsta, Sweden
Team: Västerås U20, Sweden U20
2010-11 Stats: 38-20-3-54-45 + U18: 6-2-3-5-6-(+8)

Rankings:
46 - Cory Pronman's Top 100
49 - Christopher Ralph's Top 210
HM - Bob MacKenzie's June Poll of Scouts (HM’s = 61 to 85)
65 - ISS per TSN
82 -
102 - E-Mac's 2011 NHL Entry Draft Top 120
129 - NHL Central Scouting's Final Rankings (21st European skater)
Swedish hockey prospect blogger, Anders Östberg, has him fourth to seventh round @ http://sport.msn.se/hockey/news/11698908/infor-draften-anders-ostbergs-slutgiltiga-topp-50-ranking Hit Google translate on your Google toolbar if you want the English translation.
Draft result:
53 - Anaheim Ducks

William Karlsson is a really, really good all-round center that can do most things really well. After watching him at the U18, I had four thoughts:
1. There may be much more to come from this physically under developed guy (6’0 165 lb.) who doesn’t wow you at first glance but starts to grow on you as you see him do all the little things right.
2. It is difficult to assess at this point what his role will be on this side at this point. He has good but not elite offense and he has good overall skills and does not mind the in your face stuff. So is he a 2nd line center with good defense or a 3rd line center with good offense?
3. He is a little bit like a Calle Jarnkrok 2.0 with not as much upside and a little less skills.
4. When all the big name forwards on the Swedish U18 team went south after the Norway game including Zibanejad, Rask, Nermark, Boyce-Rotevall, William Karlsson (4 points) and his home club linemate Gustav Bjorkland (7 points) and the 2012 Filip Forsberg (4 points) were the only Swedish players with more than 2 points in the other 5 games.

So, there you have it - under developed all-round center with high energy who does the little things right and doesn’t quit on you when the going gets tough. There is a place for William Karlsson on my team and there should be on yours too and I could see him going as high as the third round although the fourth is more likely.

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