Odelius also has good puck skills which help him to elude forecheckers before moving the puck up ice. However, he doesn’t possess the best skating speed and mostly relies on passing in transition, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. He constantly executes high-IQ plays and is solid without the puck as well. Even though he might lose his mark in the defensive zone from time to time, he defends the rush well, closing the gap nicely.

Odelius is a steadying, calculating two-way defenceman who plays a head-on-a-swivel game built upon snuffing plays out defensively and advancing play back the other direction. He’s not a dynamic on-puck carrier or creator in the offensive zone, but he’s prolific at moving the puck from A to B either with precision first passes or comfortable north-south carrying. He’s also got a strong, strong athletic foundation and a balanced skating posture (he’s one of the better backwards skaters in the draft for me) that allows him to manage the rush, quickly move from accepting a pass into sending one while on the heels of his skates, and leverage his strong frame to its fullest in engagements. He doesn’t project as a top-end player but his game’s impressive control and efficiency could well make him an everyday NHL defenceman.

A smooth-skating two-way defenseman, Odelius put up strong numbers in Sweden’s U20 league and got limited action in the top pro level. The tools are there for Odelius to be a higher-end defenseman in this class, but I have some concerns about his overall offensive upside and hockey sense. His reads and anticipation only looked OK to me in live viewings this year, but I think there’s a foundation of skills that show NHL upside.