2019 NHL Entry Draft Prospect Profile: Nils Hoglander

Photo: Bildbyrån/Avdo Bilkanovic 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. Where strength is a static ability that’s useful in limited ways, physicality is an…