While much of the Senators world is buzzing because Daniel Alfredsson skated for the first time since undergoing back surgery, an under-the-radar article written about David Rundblad by Jonas Falhman has slowly been making the rounds on the Interwebs.
Although the article is written in Swedish, its contents have been loosely translated for The 6th Sens readers by @steffeG. (Do yourself a favour and follow him on Twitter.) According to him, the 2011 Hockey’s Future Prospect of the Year makes two ‘meaty’ revelations.
On the question marks surrounding his defensive aptitude:
“It seems I’m going to have to live with them (defence critiques) my whole career. I’ll never be a good defensive defenceman. It will just be like that. I’m gonna try the more advanced passes and complicated solutions. I’ll have to compensate by being a really good offensive player.”
Uh-oh. Something tells me that is not going to fly well with the cynical more scraps & bodycheckin’ crowd that reserves Jason Spezza’esque levels of scrutiny for the team’s creative offensive players. I can already hear the insufferable bastards now, “Great, our best prospect sounds like he’s the next Marc-Andre Bergeron!”
On the prospect of playing in the AHL:
“Not afraid, but I know a lot of the players have to take that route before they get to the NHL. It’s part of the development process. Of course I’d like to be in the NHL right away, but I trust Ottawa to make the right decision for me.”
To add some context to Rundblad’s willingness to play in the AHL if need be, steffeG wanted to reiterate that “with so many players in recent years playing in SEL rather than the AHL, the general Swedish hockey fan doesn’t understand the point of playing in the AHL over the Swedish Elite League (SEL). I’m glad to see David understands it’s not all about the quality of competition but also the changes in style.”
Agreed. And if Rundblad struggles in camp or the preseason, the Senators could afford him the opportunity to play more minutes and develop in the AHL to start the season. Of course the added benefit to this is that would also allow them to avoid the headache of having to create a roster spot for him and risk trading a serviceable veteran like Sergei Gonchar and Filip Kuba while their respective values are low.
Alfie Speaks About His First Skate
From the Senators website…
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