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I'll also chime in as it seems relevant given the source of the disbelief. Nygren won the Top Defenseman award for Swedish players in the SEL (it doesn't mean he was considered better than all non-Swedish D in the league). That's significant. The SEL is like the AHL in quality, probably a bit above it as it involves older players (although it lacks the AHL's pure talent level as the AHL has more players with bigger upside). Obviously, there is an adjustment to be made to the smaller ice surface but the level of play he was playing at in the SEL suggests he has NHL ready talent. Now, Streit was in a similar situation in Switzerland when he came over, and took time to adapt. Emelin was also in a similar situation moving from the KHL to the NHL. Both were a bit older than Nygren when they did it. David Rundblad won this award a couple years back, started the year in the NHL, got demoted and traded for Kyle Turris and hasn't stuck yet in the NHL for Phoenix (probably will this year). It's no guarantee that Nygren is NHL ready, will make the adjustments seemingly, or that the NHL team he is playing for is looking for his type of defenseman on their NHL roster. It seems like Therrien and Bergevin specifically want a physical defender to fill in for Emelin and sought out Murray after playing Tinordi last year in his spot. Similar situations could be influencing Rundblad's arrival in the NHL for all I know (I'm not particularly keen on finding out why Phoenix has kept him down). In that sense, what Nygren has accomplished is ahead of what Tinordi or Beaulieu have so far. He's also at 2-2.5 years older than them. He should be further along, and the fact that they are close to each other shows that the younger two probably have brighter futures. What was being said on EOTP was that Nygren at least filled the need at the NHL level of being a right handed d-man, as the Habs, with Emelin having played the right side last year, were short at that position. Murray plays LD, while Tinordi and Drewskie filled in on RD as they tried to find a fit. Pateryn was the only RD called up during the season, and he was by far the least qualified defender that played for the Habs last year (below even Weber or Kaberle). I agree he won't be on the team to start the year (barring further camp injuries), but that was the case being made there as it related to the Murray signing. He should be considered in a similar situation to Tinordi and Beaulieu in terms of NHL level talent, although there is some concern about him adjusting to the smaller surface, which requires more action defensively than the more timid, conservative defence big ice lends itself to.

lol encyclopedia dlbalricus.

Yeah, save it for Marc Recchi.