Alfons Freij : In-Depth Scouting Report

Alfons Freij is a left-handed defenseman, from Sweden, 6’1 and 196 lbs (to the eye, I would say that these measurements are somewhat generous). He will have enjoyed success wherever he has spent this season; he amazed me with his offensive prowess in J20, but it was really by distinguishing himself on the international scene that I was able to cement my appreciation of him. In the past, I got caught red-handed with Swedes playing junior in their home Country; Oskar Olausson (to be fair, he had been very impressive in the SHL), Alexander Suzdalev and Noah Dower-Nilsson. What was happening with these players (mainly Suzdalev and Dower-Nilsson) is that they looked to be a big step above the competition, but when they got to a higher level (I mean International Events with their age group) they were not able to reproduce the same high-level of play, with the exception of a few good plays against weak teams, such as Switzerland. I was afraid of getting carried away and then inevitably experiencing disappointment with Freij, but that’s where he managed to stand out from the examples mentioned above: he was excellent in International tournaments. He was the number one defender for his country and collected 31 pts in 28 games if we combine all the tournaments in which he participated.

Freij is at first glance a defenseman with good skating. He has good speed even if he pushes too much to the sides during his strides.

His multi-directional mobility is absolutely beautiful, his crossovers while he is moving backwards are something to behold.

I also like how he uses his pivots proactively when defending counterattacks. Rather than waiting for the forward to create a path along the boards, and risking being beaten by the outside, Freij begins his pivots relatively early to prevent this from happening. I would also like to point out that Freij is excellent at managing the optimal distance from the puck carrier. In addition, his work with his stick is incessant and really bothers his opponent.

The J20 isn’t the best context to evaluate the prospects’ defensive play, but at the U-18 I got to see Freij defend opponents’ rushes at full speed and it was breathtaking how much he seemed in control of the situation.

Offensively, his mobility is observed at the blue line while we often have the impression that he is dancing while handling the puck. His mobility and footwork are at a higher level, but what makes him so effective is how he makes his opponents bite with his postural feints.

Freij is one of the best examples of demonstrating how to manipulate opponents with head and shoulder feints. What I love about him is how much he exaggerates the movement and is 100% committed to his lure.

Also recovering the puck in the corners, he excels at deceiving his opponents with postural feints.

The Vaxjo defenseman demonstrates very good composure as he is particularly comfortable escaping pressure.

But his greatest quality remains the extent to which he can attract this pressure on himself to free up space for his partner in defense before allowing him to make a breakout while not having to deal with an opponent in his pursuit. Freij is what I call a ‘Facilitator’ in defense. The lack of panic in the face of the threat of being hit impresses me. He’s a ‘Gamer’.

Defensively, I’m a big fan of his approach to confrontations. From the outset, he does not concede any space to the puck carrier, he engages the body as soon as possible. Thereafter, he works tirelessly with his one hand on his stick to sweep the puck, and with his free arm, he intentionally pushes his opponent away. This reminds me a lot of Theo Lindstein last year. He has a certain aggressiveness in his game.

Although this comparison was intended as a compliment to Freij, I could not maintain it since the latter shows much more promise offensively. The heart of his offense is definitely his puck-moving game. He is one of the best puck distributors in this draft on the blue line. What’s amazing about Freij is that we’re not just talking about effective puck movement to move the defensive box, but also about fantastic passes that lead directly to a scoring chance.

Something a little unusual in Freij’s case is that he still regularly uses saucer passes, something you don’t see very often from defensemen. His execution is flawless while the puck always falls flat on the blade of his intended pass.

This pass in particular impressed me a lot when put under pressure by two opponents at the blue line, Freij quickly saw a teammate at the top of the slot. Not only spotting the player, but pulling off a highly technical play under pressure deserves praise. I also find that the top of the slot is not used enough as a passing target among young defenders, when I see a prospect being able to get the puck to this location, he gains points in my evaluation.

This sequence helped demonstrate the speed at which Freij’s offensive intellect operates, and this is also evident in the dynamism he exudes offensively as he constantly looks to exploit sequences in ‘Give N Go’.

The biggest limitation in Freij’s arsenal is his shooting. His shot is relatively very weak and what bothers me the most is that he often uses high shots where he tries to beat the goalkeepers in a clean way. I would like to see him be more aware of this weakness and use his shot, not with the intention of scoring, but rather to create rebounds for his teammates.

I would also add that although his footwork allows him to open the play, he is not the best at finding the shooting lanes.

In conclusion, I consider myself a Freij fan. His future is not the most certain, but I see a scenario where he becomes a top 4 defenseman. It has already been announced that he will be loaned to an Allsvenskan team next year, in the Swedish 2nd division. It will then be possible to evaluate him against professionals, something we have not been able to do this season. I like how he defends and I think he has some bite to his game, something that has gone unnoticed this year. When I mentioned that the comparison (defensively) with Theo Lindstein could not hold, because Freij can execute things offensively that the first-round pick of the St. Louis Blues cannot do, well, that has one name: Gustav Forsling. Multi-directional mobility, the ‘In Your Face’ style of defense even if we don’t talk about big physical play, the qualities of puck-mover. Forsling has been IMHO the most underrated player in the NHL for at least 2 years and people are starting to open their eyes to him. Of course, Freij has a long way to go before reaching such a level, but stylistically he is very similar to him.

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