Flames take Adam Ollas Mattsson 175th Overall

The second defender taken by the Flames in the 2014 entry draft is large Swedish defender Adam Ollas Mattsson in the 6th round. The 17-year old stands 6’4″ and weighs in at 214 pounds, so he’s already NHL-sized (which seems to have become a theme for the Flames day-2 activities in Philadelphia). He is described by most scouts as a smart, defensive minded-defender, although the major knock against him seems to be his skating. He doesn’t appear to have any offense to his game either.

Mattsson bounced around Sweden’s Junior SuperElit league and the Allsvenskan (tier below the SEL). He also played internationally for Sweden’s U-18 team. As mentioned, he doesn’t do much offensively so his numbers from all of those leagues aren’t anything to write home about, but defenders like this aren’t guys you can judge with counting numbers. 

In terms of scouting, he’s a guy that showed up throughout the rankings depending on what list you looked at – anywhere from the 3rd round to the 7th. He was actually the 15th ranked European skater by Central Scouting, which implies he’s pretty good value at 175. That said, he’ll likely have to improve his skating in order to be a useful player in the show.