Axel Sandin-Pellikka's Monster Season

With the World Junior Championships wrapped up, I wanted to put together a quick spotlight on Axel Sandin-Pellikka’s monster season.

The 19-year-old defenseman put together an outstanding WJC-20 championship, recording four goals and 10 points as Sweden’s captain. While his team ultimately came up short of a medal, Sandin-Pellikka was named to the Tournament All-Star Team and was recognized as the best defenseman.

I dug into Sandin-Pellikka’s numbers at the tournament a bit more with the help of SportContract. Amongst defenseman who played at least 50 minutes in the tournament, Sandin-Pellikka ranked:

• First in goals, 5v5 puck touches, and 5v5 puck recovery%

• Second in assists and points

• Third in 5v5 primary shot assists

• Top-10 in 5v5 xGF/60, 5v5 xGA/60, 5v5 pass completion %, and 5v5 controlled entry% allowed on entries defended

Essentially, Sandin-Pellikka was everywhere and involved in everything for Team Sweden. This WJC-20 was just another step in his development this year as he’s already on pace to set the new record for most points by a U-20 defenseman in the SHL. Beyond points, I was curious about Sandin-Pellikka’s impact at even strength.With the help of a WAR model built by Daniel Weinberger, I took a closer look at Sandin-Pellikka’s on-ice impact.

Taking all U-20 defenseman over the last seven seasons, Sandin-Pellikka currently ranks 6th in Goals Above Replacement, behind a couple of future teammates. Notably, Sandin-Pellikka has done this in just 25 games and he’s got 22 more games left in his regular season. By Goals Above Replacement per 60 minutes, he’s already 1st amongst U-20 defenseman over the last seven years. Should he keep up this pace of play, he’s likely to shatter the U-20 mark for goals above replacement by defenseman in addition to the points mark. Notably, a significant part of his value relative to others on this list is the value he brings on the power play. That will be one aspect to watch to see how well it translates to the NHL but when you watch him play, it’s hard to imagine those skills not transferring over.

Obviously all of this is incredibly exciting for Wings’ fans who are aching for another dynamic defenseman on this blue line. Sandin-Pellikka can certainly deliver that on the power play right now and if he can continue to round out his game at 5v5, the Wings will likely have another stud on the blueline.