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Turd Ferguson · 05-17-2020, 10:11 PM

Draft Day Retrospective: Linus Grimstad
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Draft day is an exciting and tumultuous time for many young athletes. This weekend was no different, as the Season 54 SHL draft saw multiple twists and turns both in the buildup and the draft itself. Players rose and fell in ways unexpected to the viewing public, and multiple trades were made in the first two rounds, changing the outlook of the draft significantly. One such player who found himself at the middle of one of these trades was Linus Grimstad, now a Los Angeles Panthers prospect.

Grimstad, a center hailing from Norway, joined the Carolina Kraken as an undrafted free agent early in Season 53. The forward was largely considered by scouts to be a prospect with a very high ceiling but also wasn’t necessarily as developed as some of his counterparts. “I didn’t really have a strong idea of where I was going to go,” Grimstad recalls. “I knew what teams I’d interviewed with, obviously, but it was a bit hard to tell how interested they were or where they’d consider taking me. Plus there were a few teams that I hadn’t spoken with directly, but I knew that my agent had some familiarity with their front office.”

Most mock drafts had the young Norwegian slotted in as a second-round pick, which seemed pretty likely for the most part considering his ability, the other prospects at the center position, and the teams who were picking in that region. But as draft day came along, there began to be some whispers that Grimstad could sneak into the first round - to the player’s surprise. “I remember one of my teammates on Carolina brought that up to me as a possibility on draft day,” he says. “It was unexpected. One team had been in contact with me about the possibility of being a first round pick, so it wasn’t completely out of the blue. But I didn’t really know how concrete that interest was, if they had someone else in mind ahead of me or if they were trading down into the second round and planned to take me there. Up until that day I was mostly expecting to be a mid to early second rounder.” It wouldn’t be the last surprise of the day.

7 o’clock came, the draft began, and he hadn’t heard anything else from a team that day. This wasn’t surprising - most teams have finished their scouting by this point - but it didn’t make things too much clearer as far as the draft went. Like many other prospects in the same region of the draft, Linus Grimstad would have to wait and see where he would end up. It would all depend on who went before him, and what all the teams would do.

As the first round began, things gradually began to take shape. The top 5 was mostly expected, as each of the early picks were players largely considered to be among the elite prospects in the draft class. Linemate Dwight Knight went to Tampa Bay at the fourth overall pick, and Grimstad congratulated Knight as he walked by him in the green room. The only thing that had an effect on Grimtad’s possible stock, meanwhile, was Daniel Laforest beginning to fall - Laforest was by and large considered the top center in the draft and someone also mentioned as a possible first overall pick. It was unlikely that any other center, Grimstad especially, would be going ahead of Laforest. Unlikely, but not impossible.

When the sixth pick came in, things changed. Rather than Baltimore picking, Calgary had made the aggressive move to trade up and select Mats Marner - making him the first center off the board. This was a surprise - both to see Laforest falling unexpectedly, but also to see Marner taken out of the hands of the Chicago Syndicate, who had far and away been the likely candidates to take the young forward. “Marner going at six was a surprise,” Grimstad says. “And that’s not because he’s a bad player, because he isn’t. I think he’s going to be a great player. But my agent and I had talked over the possible draft scenarios. Neither of us had expected Marner to go before Laforest, and both of us were under the impression on draft day that Marner was going to go to Chicago. So not only did that mean teams looking for a center were basically guaranteed to take Laforest ahead of me, but also that those teams would be looking at Patrick Shepherd ahead of me too. I wasn’t exactly concerned about my draft stock because I honestly didn’t care too much about what pick I was taken with. But at this point I was a bit more unsure about where I was ending up.”

Slowly, things began to become more clear. Another Kraken teammate in Vitecek went to Chicago with the seventh overall pick. Laforest’s fall ended at pick number nine, where he was taken by the Edmonton Blizzard. The Platoon traded up to 12, giving themselves back to back picks, and took another center in Patrick Shepherd. Falcons center Taisto Jutila was taken 14th by the Texas Renegades. Surely this meant things were going to proceed as originally expected, and Grimstad was going to be selected in the second round. “I was fully prepared to go in round two. I figured any team that would have considered taking me with a first round pick was either out of the first or had already made their pick. Obviously trading up was a possibility, but I didn’t think any of the teams I had spoken to would move up to take me when the second round wasn’t far away. Tampa Bay seemed like my most likely destination, especially given the connections with Carolina.”

That’s when the trade happened. Edmonton, who had taken Daniel Laforest earlier, was moving down from the 15th overall pick. The team they were trading it to: the Los Angeles Panthers, who were moving up from the bottom half of the second round. Shortly after, the pick was in. Linus Grimstad was heading to Los Angeles.

“The Panthers trading up was another surprise,” Grimstad recollects. “I hadn’t spoken to them, but I knew my agent got along with their management so them taking me wasn’t out of the question. I just hadn’t considered it because they were picking later on in the draft. When they first traded up, I was surprised and thought to myself, ‘hmm, I wonder who they’re trading for’. Then I realized that it could be me. The pick was announced, and my phone started to blow up. It was amazing.”

Grimstad said in the press conference after the draft that he was very excited to be drafted by the Panthers, and that certainly seems accurate. He’ll be joining a Carolina teammate in Jimmy Wagner in the LA prospect pool, and will likely have the opportunity to contribute when he goes up to the SHL as two of the team’s current centers are on the older side. Only time will tell if Los Angeles made the right move in trading up, or if the team was a good fit for Grimstad. Right now, he’s still a member of the Carolina Kraken. “I’m happy that LA took me, and I’m going to be keeping in contact with the management and my future teammates. But primarily my focus is on the Kraken now that I’m getting a full season with the team. I want to win a Four Star Cup before I head up to the SHL. And I think we’re in a good position to do that, too.”

Code:
1270 words, double draft media

Wasty · 05-18-2020, 12:21 AM

Hell yeah! Super excited to have you in LA and I'm excited for your future with us.

Panthers

#40 Niclas Wastlund - W - VANCOUVER WHALERS Whalers

/ MINNESOTA MONARCHS

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