Name: Nils Hoglander
Team: Rogle BK (SHL)
Position: Left Wing
Stats: 50 games played, 7 goals, 7 assists, 14 points, 22 PIMs, -8 plus/minus rating
NHL Central Scouting ranking: 11th (European Skaters)
Comparable NHL player: Brendan Gallagher
Size and strength are lauded as special abilities in their own right. But why is it that speed and skill can’t contribute to physicality too? That was my thought after watching the 6-foot 19-year-old St. Louis Blue — Robert Thomas — outsmart and outwork the burly 6-foot-2, 230-pound veteran Roman Polak in the corners of the 2018-19 playoffs.