On the Rise: Simon Edvinsson
A matter of when
With poor-to-middling finishes (27th, 25th, 24th, 18th and 21st) under his five-year stewardship in Detroit, it’s fair to say GM Steve Yzerman’s grace period has run out. He needs to deliver results.
But…where do you even start? The team ranked 22nd in goals scored and 21st in goals against last season. It was deficient in every phase of the game other than the PP (4th). Fortunately, the current roster houses a potential defensive fix. Jumbo-sized blueliner Simon Edvinsson broke out in 2024-25, and there’s reason to believe we’ve only glimpsed the tip of the iceberg.
Here’s how he can backstop the Red Wings for the next decade.
Gap Control
Edvinsson has developed into a rock on the blue line way ahead of schedule. In his first full campaign, the 22-year-old managed to overcome the inherent difficulty of his position, his relative inexperience and heavy usage (~21 minutes per game) thanks in part to his NZ stopping power.
While he remains a work in progress, his raw tools are already beginning to rattle offenses on entry:
There’s an ease about his ability to repel puck-carriers and pass recipients in transition. Wouldn’t you know it, that comfort level coincides with the lanky defender’s increasing comfort level in his 6’6”, 209-pound frame. Having gained a handle on his range and timing, Edvinsson has shed pure containment in order to stand his ground. To challenge forwards.
His reads are crisp as well. He senses when he can step up to undercut stretch passes/flips. When he’s installed in his backskate, he displays a keen understanding of his wingspan, waiting for opponents to reach his domain before launching into action. No chasing. No over-extending.
It feels as though his stick is always in the vicinity. That’s not a simple matter of size. It’s down to proactivity and the strides he’s made in, well, his skating stride.
His top speed has enjoyed quite a nice surge since his debut in 2022-23:
No one will call him a speed demon, but a boost in confidence and above-average pace (54th percentile) in that body could produce a NZ monster sooner rather than later. Little by little, Edvinsson is figuring out how much of a leg up his toolkit affords him. He’s squashing designs with far greater frequency.
His runway = tough sledding.
Hell, sometimes he can sink your offense without intervening. Watch how his mere presence flusters Columbus on the rush:
Despite winger Vladimir Tarasenko (DET 11) moonlighting as a rearguard on this sequence, the numbers suggest a cleaner path on the opposite side. This 3-on-2 essentially boils down to:
A 2-on-2 pitting Ivan Provorov (CLB 9) and Cole Sillinger (CLB 4) vs. Edvinsson and Tarasenko.
A 2-on-1 pitting Provorov and Kent Johnson (CLB 91) vs. Edvinsson.
The right choice is evident, but once Edvinsson flips his hips and squares his shoulders, his length convinces Provorov to move the puck off his central berth and settle for a pass to the near wall with pressure on the horizon (J.T. Compher, DET 37). A 3-on-2 spirals into a 3-on-5 in seconds.
With that said, there’s still ample room for growth. In on-puck scenarios, he’s occasionally too cozy in his backskate:
The next step in Edvinsson’s progress is refining the lateral aspect of his NZ defense (i.e. angling forwards off). Without a backchecker to funnel players into his orbit, he has a habit of drifting outside their frame and either course-correcting or sagging off, which grants them more daylight than you’d like.
Precision is the name of the game in space. Juggling the inside track, the optimal depth and the proper time to engage is trickier than it seems (reminder: hockey is an insanely fast sport), but it’s a skill the 2021 sixth overall pick must learn in order to join the top tier of defenders. This rings especially true when you consider the Red Wings’ otherwise spotty commitment to 200-foot hockey. Edvinsson has to suffocate offenses as early as possible.
Although he can’t skate like the Slavins and Forslings of the world, his size + improving mobility should enable him to nip transition play in the bud:
As he piles up pro reps and builds faith in his arsenal, he’ll almost surely become a capable surfer as well as a backskating roadblock. A defensive pillar who can lure you into a dead end or bring the fight to your front door.
If that’s the case, he’ll starve the opposition of plus touches in space.
In-Zone Defense
Given the smaller surface, Edvinsson’s range is even more apparent in the DZ. He uses his long stick and quicker skating to stack the odds in what would ordinarily constitute 50/50 battles or to ensure that broken offensive plays are broken beyond repair.
Toss-ups…aren’t really a thing when he’s out there. As such, he provides a measure of stability and certainty to the back line.
While he can stick-check you from outer space, the Swede is particularly strong off the puck, intercepting pass after pass and peering into the “backfield” to smother point shots. The 6’6” blueliner demonstrates first-rate anticipation:
If I’ve been harping on Edvinsson’s size, that’s because it’s a cheat code in prime real estate. His reach can seemingly cover the entire slot on its own. Moreover, it can offset miscalculations, allowing him to follow his gut and swiftly recover in the event that it leads him astray. That must be maddening for attackers to deal with.
Look at how many slot passes he swats aside:
Now, look at how he’s swatting them aside. He might shoulder-check once—if that—then he hedges between threats and puck-watches without additional scans. Forwards can reset in his blind spots. For your average defenseman, that’s a terrifying prospect. However, his wingspan is so pronounced that he’s ready to sniff out and disrupt any Grade A setup.
Eluding his stick would require you to elude good ice altogether.
I mean, what is this nonsense?
Off a DZ faceoff loss, Edvinsson and Albert Johansson (DET 20) fail to communicate their assignments while Brett Howden (VGK 21) drives to the crease. Of the three Red Wings surrounding the Golden Knights winger, Edvinsson is actually in the worst position to extinguish the danger.
Guess whose stick makes contact first? This clip illustrates the degree to which his natural tools can bail him out. It’s not hard to envision a future where he’s putting out his teammates’ fires (a Slavin specialty) either.
Edvinsson’s DZ play is further along than his NZ defense, but it has its faults too.
At the moment, check attachment is a slight concern. For all his stick-on-puck heroics, stick-on-stick is an area that could do with some polish:
In rush scenarios, he has no problem guiding players off course. On incoming point shots, when he’s confronted with several split-second choices (front vs. hedge vs. box out), he’s a tad slow to engage opponents. It’s almost like he’s taking an extra beat to assess the lay of the land, and he’s thus a tick late to arrive to his net-front duel.
Striking that balance should come with experience and coaching.
And more muscle mass wouldn’t hurt. A physically stronger Edvinsson is truly scary to think about:
The kid hasn’t filled out his frame by any stretch of the imagination (~15 pounds to go), yet that’s him manhandling 6’4”, 214-pound Lawson Crouse (UTA 67) to win possession for the Red Wings. At 6’6”, ~225 pounds, he’ll be swallowing net-front men for breakfast.
As you’ve probably realized by now, the ceiling is sky high. Like “potential 1D” high. Though I’m not sold on the loftier offensive prognostications, his DZ retrievals and OZ decision-making are also chugging along. Even if he fails to reach his ultimate upside, the 2024-25 version of Edvinsson was a massive upgrade over every Detroit blueliner other than Moritz Seider:
This chart’s vertical axis represents the percentage of Red Wings defenders’ TOI vs. elite competition. The horizontal axis displays their goals-against numbers at 5-on-5. In other words, top left indicates an aptitude for shutdown hockey.
Can’t argue with those results. Edvinsson’s ideal complement, however, is a source of debate in Detroit. A Seider partnership is tempting but would sap the back end’s depth. Edvinsson-Johansson? That duo was passable last year. Perhaps puck-moving countryman Axel Sandin-Pellikka (17th OV in 2023) makes the jump to balance out the blue line.
At any rate, Edvinsson looks like the real deal 103 games into his career. Imagine what he can accomplish ~250 contests in.
“More of the same” isn’t a totally accurate description of the Red Wings’ season.
While it feels as though they’re stuck in no man’s land, Edvinsson’s ascension could solve their defensive issues. That, in turn, can reveal the best path forward and a smoother climb back to playoff relevance.
Not the Provorov clip 😭
Another excellent analysis, Johannson is coming along, too, so the pairing makes sense going forward. Your comment on Yzerman was a little harsh in my view. The first three years don't count as we had no good young players in GR to bring up, and are still playing rent a goalie 5 years in (how does a serious hockey club not have a regular goalie supply line?).