from The Malik Report,

Red Wings director of European scouting Hakan Andersson spoke with HockeyNews.se’s Simon Eld today, discussing the Red Wings’ trio of prospects taking part in the World Junior Championship (Edvinsson, Niederbach and Wallinder) as well as one more propect making their North American pro debut this season (Elmer Soderblom). Here’s a rough translation of the interview:

Hakan Andersson on Edvinsson and Wallinder: “Phenomenal”

For 30 years, Hakan Andersson has been the director of European scouting for the Detroit Red Wings. During his years with the team, he’s been a key when the team signed players such as Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Niklas Kronwall, Johan Franzen, Tomas Holmstrom, Valtteri Filppula and Gustav Nyquist.

Now, the next batch of Swedes are on their way over to the Michigan-based team. For HockeySverige.se, he gives his thoughts on the WJC tournament, and tells how he sees the Swedish defensive duo’s rocket-like development.

“Their efforts in the WJC have been okay. Simon Edvinsson is 3rd, William Wallinder is 2nd. Both had phenomenal seasons last year. I haven’t gone through in detail, but I can’t imagine that there are better defensive prospects anywhere.

much more