TAKING IT SLOW

As a top prospect of the Detroit Red Wings, Simon Edvinsson knows there are high hopes for his future. But nobody has higher expectations for his play than he does for himself.

“That’s how it is and that’s how I think it will always be,” said Edvinsson, the sixth overall selection in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. “I love to win, but I hate to lose more. That’s what keeps me going. I want to be better. And I want to help the team win, which is always a good feeling.”

While Edvinsson has the characteristic confidence of a first-round pick, he remains pragmatic in his pursuit of his hockey career, grounded by the guidance of parents who took a keen interest in their two boys born almost exactly two years apart. Simon, who celebrated his 20th birthday on Feb. 5, has a younger brother, Hannes, who turned 18 on Feb. 4.

Discipline was a fixture in the Edvinsson household – no surprise given that the boys’ father, Tobbe, is a police officer and their mother, Åsa, is a personal trainer. There was little chance the boys would stray from the proverbial straight and narrow path set for them growing up in Gothenburg, Sweden.

“Our parents were really strict,” Edvinsson said, “[Because] my dad is a police officer, he believed that to be a good person, you need to live by strict rules when you are young. I was never drinking or getting into trouble or things like that, but he had rules.

“Of course, he was supportive and stuff, but if I said I was going to do something, he expected me to do it. At home, we had a good relationship – we had fun with each other – but he was also hard. We went for extra training a lot and did a lot of practicing. With my mom, too, she made sure we followed through with things because she was a personal trainer.”

Edvinsson said he didn’t want to disappoint either of his parents, which meant he needed to concentrate on some things more than others. School went okay, but he would have rather been skating at the local ice rink or kicking a ball on any soccer field in his hometown.

“I was decent in school, but I was not good,” Edvinsson admits. “For me, it was a lot of hockey. When I got older and got called up to the pro team in Sweden, my parents began to feel like they could step back and let me focus on hockey and a little less on school. It was hard for them at first, but now they understand.”

Edvinsson started skating at age 4, taking to hockey like a polar bear takes to ice. “I started playing one year earlier than everybody else because I liked it so much,” he said. “I’ve always played with older guys, and I think it’s helped me become a more mature player faster.”

He still remembers the day when he first thought being a hockey player would be cool. He was five years old and he was watching two of his favorite players, Nicklas Lidstrom and Peter Forsberg, in action on Swedish television.

“The first NHL game I remember watching was between Detroit and Colorado, and it was like, ‘Wow,’ watching Lidstrom and Forsberg go against each other,” he recalled. “I heard the experts say this was the matchup. As a young kid in front of the TV, it was really fun to watch. I think watching that game helped make my decision later to become a hockey player, since I played soccer growing up as well.”

Indeed, Edvinsson’s size and lanky speed made him a capable defensive midfielder on the soccer field. “I was pretty good at soccer – I could handle the ball, make good passes and play good defense,” he recalled. “It was a hard decision to make, but I played my last soccer game at 15 because hockey had always been a little bit ahead of soccer for me.”

Edvinsson had taken a major step toward his future a couple of years earlier when he started playing for the Hovås hockey club in the U16 division at age 13, which meant he was playing against guys who were a full two or three years older.

“It was a new environment and a little bit harder,” he said of his first opportunity playing for the club near Kungsbacka, a municipality 30 kilometers south of Gothenburg. “When you have new teammates, new coaches, and you don’t know anyone, I think it’s hard the first time you do that. But it was a fun year because I made a lot of friends that I still have now.”

By 14, when Edvinsson was already appearing in J18 games, he was recognized as one of the top defensive prospects in Sweden. His skating and stick-handling skills were already becoming elite; his well-timed physicality and terrific technical abilities made him one of the top blueline prospects in all of Europe.

“When you’re young, you try different positions,” he said. “I think my last game as a forward was maybe when I was 14 or 15. It was always back and forth, but it was always a little more defense than offense,” said Edvinsson, who started playing for the famed Frolunda hockey club in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) during his draft year.

Edvinsson is a highly touted defender with a smooth skating stride, unusual for someone with a 6-foot-6 frame.

When the Red Wings made Edvinsson the first Swede selected in the first round of the 2021 NHL Draft, he couldn’t have been happier.

“Of course, I had really good talks with Detroit before, but when the pick came in, it was like, ‘Wow!’ because Detroit has such a strong history in Sweden. You feel like you’re part of something bigger than just hockey. Michigan, Detroit, the fan club – everything around it is so big. It’s called Hockeytown for a reason.”

With Frolunda, Edvinsson was already playing with three Red Wings prospects: Lucas Raymond and Theodor Niederbach (both 2020 draftees), along with current Griffins forward Elmer Soderblom (2019 draft). “It was great that it was Detroit because we talked about the team so much,” he said.

Another Edvinsson teammate in Frolunda was former Red Wings forward Jan Mursak, a key member of the Griffins’ 2013 Calder Cupwinning team and whose 11 postseason goals were second only to the 16 scored by playoff MVP Tomas Tatar. “A good guy and a good player,” Edvinsson says of Mursak, 35, now in his third season with Frolunda.

Edvinsson believes Frolunda provides the ideal environment for a young player like himself to develop his skills. He spent all of last season with the big club, recording 19 points in 44 games. “To be a first-year pro there is great,” he said. “It was a perfect year for me. I learned a lot of stuff. I played with Christian Folin, who has played over here [244 NHL games with Minnesota, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Montreal]. He was a big help.”

Folin provided some essential perspective. “When you’re young, you want to do everything and he was like, ‘Calm down. You’re young. Take it one step at a time. You don’t have to stress,’” Edvinsson recalled. “We joked that he was like my dad in Frolunda. He had a great impact on the direction of my hockey career.”

Looking ahead, Folin advised Edvinsson that he needed to prepare himself to be able to play a different kind of hockey when he came to North America. It was similar to the advice that he received from Calle Johansson, another first-round pick from Kungsbacka (#14 overall by Buffalo in 1985) who played in 1,109 games during his 17-year career.

Johansson is a family friend, actually caring for the family’s dog, Ellie, since both boys are away playing hockey and their parents are at work.

“We talked a little about hockey and a lot about his story, but he said what everyone here has been saying – you need to be more physical. The game is coming faster so you need to have thoughts before you have the puck. Of course, you need to take the game at your pace. You need to feel like things are going the right way. I think he had some good input.”

Edvinsson has also gotten feedback from former Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall as well as Lidstrom, the Hockey Hall of Famer. Getting the chance to chat with his boyhood idol has been a humbling experience. “When he talks, you just need to listen,” he said. “He sees things from a different perspective. You try to understand because he has so much hockey IQ, but when he speaks, he makes everything sound so simple.”

And, as Edvinsson can now attest, while hockey is a relatively simple game, it becomes increasingly more difficult to excel the higher you go.

He admits that his first Red Wings training camp and first exhibition season were eyeopening, to say the least.

“Everything happens so fast that you can get caught up in it,” he said. “I think I was underprepared because when I got over here, I didn’t feel like I was mentally ready for what was coming – how big it all really is. But it was a a good experience for me because I took more positive from it than negative. For me, it’s like, ‘Let’s just see what work you need to do and how much you need to be ready when the season starts.’ It just felt like everything happened so fast.”

From the beginning, Edvinsson paid particular attention to Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider, the reigning NHL rookie of the year who led all Detroit blueliners in scoring with 50 points in 82 games last season.

“He wants to do everything right and he wants to be better every day. He doesn’t want to do anything wrong,” Edvinsson said. “Everything seems so smooth when he plays. I don’t know how to explain it. Lidstrom was the same way. He just played so simple all the time. That’s something you need to learn. You want to make plays, but you need to find the right time. When you play simple, the game goes so much easier.”

He would be the first to admit that being sent to Grand Rapids was the best thing for his development. While some fans opine on social media that Edvinsson belongs in Detroit, Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman prefers his young prospects play in all situations for Grand Rapids rather than struggle in Detroit in a more limited role.

Edvinsson’s response to the naysayers to the so-called Yzerplan? “I think he knows what he’s doing.”

Spending the season with the Griffins is proving to be the ideal situation for Edvinsson, who admittedly has made his share of mistakes during his first year in North America.

“It’s hockey we play and it’s a game built on mistakes,” he said. “Especially for me, being here is the best thing that could happen right now. Confidence comes with experience, playing in different situations. Of course, mistakes are everywhere. But I’m starting to see everything – how the game is going on the smaller ice – and I’m starting to feel like I felt when I was playing in Sweden. Now I just go out and play and have fun.”

On paper, Edvinsson appeared to enjoy almost a perfect start to this season, scoring at a point-per-game pace for the first three weeks of the season. But he knew better.

Following eight points in his first nine games, Edvinsson had only five points over the next 20 games after missing three games due to illness. Even so, he was playing noticeably better.

“Sure, I had eight points in the first eight games, but I might have let in 10 goals back,” he said. “I’m a defenseman – I don’t want to let in goals. I want to be a good defensive player first and then get the points after. That’s how it starts and my plus-minus has been way better since.”

Edvinsson doesn’t want to be in a position where he requires reminders about how he should play.

“When you realize things yourself, it’s always better,’ he said. “I don’t want to need someone to tell me that I should do something. That’s the way it should be with everything: how you practice, how you train off-ice. When you realize that you have to put in extra work, you start to be a better hockey player.”

Edvinsson chuckles at his training camp memory of Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin imploring him to be tougher in the one-onone battles that occur during a game. As the AHL season progresses, Edvinsson has begun to increasingly use his 6-foot-6 frame to his advantage.

“I didn’t realize how much easier the game can be when you’re playing harder,” he said. “Now I feel like I should call him and thank him, or at least send him a text and say thank you for being honest. It’s almost comical. I started to realize how much more aggressive you need to be in a hockey game to play better.”

Nobody’s perfect and Edvinsson will likely continue to make his share of mistakes, but he’s not afraid to learn from them. It’s all part of the development process.

“Everybody says you’re only 20, everything will eventually come to you,” Edvinsson said. “I feel like if I think that way, I won’t be developing as fast as I can. I won’t be the best I can be as soon as possible. But that’s who I am. I want to play big minutes. If I’m only good on the offense, I’m not going to play big minutes in those games where the team is only up or down one goal. I want to be able to play in all situations.”

Edvinsson said he realized that he was starting to feel more comfortable when he started to dream in English. “That was weird. It was like, ‘Where am I?’”

It’s all a matter of adjusting to new challenges. He knows that it’s important to enjoy the journey as much as the destination. If he can’t have Swedish tacos, he will do his best to enjoy American tacos all the same.

“You have to find your own place. You need to find yourself in everything,” he said. “It’s so different here. What do you do with your free time? What do you like to eat? How do you find a place for a simple lunch?

“When I started to figure everything out, everything became so smooth. So just take it slow. It’s like the best thing you could say to any guy who comes over. Trust yourself and take it slow.”

East Grand Rapids native Luke Glendening is excited about a potential playoff run with the Dallas Stars, bringing back memories of his Calder Cup journey with the Griffins a decade ago.