Being a big young player has many positives. Scouts around the world love big players, especially when they’re shutdown defensemen. When they’re young and have natural first round talent, it makes them fall in love with the player.
Lian Bichsel, born on May 18th, 2004 in Wolfil, Switzerland, is this year’s standout defensive defenseman. The 6’5, 225 pound Swiss-born player has solidified his stance in the first round thanks to his tremendous defensive skill, physicality, and his slight yet noticeable offensive touch. Having the second largest wingspan in the 2022 draft class, he’s proven to me that he is worthy of a high draft pick, and he’s become one of my favorite players to follow in the past year.
Appearing in 29 SHL games this season with Leksands IF, Bichsel has made a reputation for himself as the fearless and towering defenseman who shows no mercy to enemies. Attempting to destroy anyone that comes in his path, he’s recorded 1 goal and 3 points this season while having 16 PIMs.
Despite his offensive touch, he comes off as a defense-first player to anyone who’s watched him play. This makes his NHL potential so much more interesting knowing that he has all the right tools to become a dominant two-way defenseman, it just all comes down to how he utilizes these tools.
In today’s scouting report, we’ll take a deep dive into what makes Lian Bichsel such an interesting and entertaining player to watch, and why his future opponents should be terrified of sharing the same ice as the 6’5 giant.
Physicality
The very first thing anyone will notice with Lian Bichsel is that he’s extremely physical. With the amount of hits he throws and the amount of box-outs he has, it’s pretty obvious that Lian likes to use his size. When you’ve been gifted with the ability to stand at 6’5 and weigh almost 230 pounds at only 18 years-old, you’ve got to be able to use it to an advantage. Bichsel has realized that using his size, he’ll be able to play five times more physically than anyone else, and that’s what makes him stand out when he’s on the ice.
His physicality is his key to defense. He’ll noticeably always be in the right spots on the back end and whenever he needs to, he’ll plant himself in one spot to play great coverage. But whenever he has the opportunity to take a hit, he’ll use it. His size and grit lets him make opponents mess up for turnovers and get knocked off the puck so much more easily. Using that size, Bichsel likes to pressure players causing them to make a panic decision leading to a mistake. In the NHL on smaller ice, that’ll be even more impressive knowing that the attacker will have less room to work with, making Bichsel seem even bigger.
In the clip above, Bichsel is stuck defending a three on three entry. Bichsel spots that the attacker is stuck in a vulnerable position, which gives him the green light to crash right into the player. Now, at the NHL level this may be an issue knowing that the speed of the game is much faster and it could cause an odd man rush. Either way, Bichsel chooses to crash himself into the attacker and uses his stick to take away passing lanes for the offensive player.
As he gets a hold on the player, he pushes him towards the boards causing the player to lose track of the puck. Then a basic board battle occurs, and Bichsel uses his strength and aggressiveness to kick the puck away. Being able to catch up to a player with that much room and pressure him off the puck in such a hurry takes a lot of skill and strength, and Bichsel exemplifies that skill precisely.
In the video you are about to visualize, Bichsel recovers himself in the defensive zone using his physicality.
Leksands wins the faceoff in the defensive zone and it falls back onto Lian’s stick. He does happen to choke up the puck (one of his working areas), and the offensive player attempts to retrieve the puck. Bichsel decides to have none of that, and he crashes the attacker straight into the board showing no mercy.
Holding the player cleanly against the boards, it lets his teammate pick up the puck from the board battle so freely because Bichsel got the guy stapled to the wall. From there, they’re off. Seeing an 18 year-old kid do this against experienced men is mesmerizing. It’s proof that he’s a gifted defensive defenseman, and that one day, with growth, he’ll be doing this to opponents in the NHL.
One last video of his physicality favoring his defensive play:
There was a bit of a miscommunication between Lian Bichsel and his defensive partner in the offensive zone (awareness is one of his working blocks), and it causes an enemy player to get a break into the offensive zone. Bichsel hauls to chase after the player, and miraculously and so impressively, Bichsel gets back right in time. Instead of a basic poke check or shifting his posture, Bichsel uses his size to make a hit and ever so easily push the player right to the ground. Bichsel takes advantage of the player stumbling, and grabs the puck away to gain possession.
Another physical aspect to Lian Bichsel is that he loves to hit. In fact, that’s probably what makes him such a fan favorite in Leksand.
In this game against Rögle BK, Bichsel threw a massive hit which, admittedly, got me really excited. As the defenseman dumps the puck in behind the net, Bichsel makes the brave choice to pick the puck up and attempt to make some sort of play from there. Like we saw earlier, Bichsel lost touch of the puck and he had to turn back. Suddenly, he found himself in a position where an attacker was attempting to retrieve the puck. Bichsel decides that he won’t make a play, and will get rid of any extra pressure he could have on him. To do that, he went with the thing he does best: hitting players. The attacker falls, but the puck is turned over and Rögle has an offensive setup. It was a bit of a mistake to leave the puck, but the physicality was there. All Lian needed to do was smarten up, and thankfully to the 32 wonderful coaching staffs in the NHL, he’ll likely improve on these blips.
This hit above seriously impresses me because of how Bichsel calculated the play in such a short amount of time under tremendous pressure.
Skating to defend a possible 2 on 1, Bichsel gets back in time to cause the player in front to make a pass back because of how well Bichsel used his stick. Once the puck finds the other player, Bichsel quickly draws back and lowers the boom. The player flings the puck away out of fear while Bichsel throws the thunderous hit. First it was the defensive stick work to disrupt any scoring chance, then it was the hit to completely destroy any play that could’ve been made. That’s the perfect way of playing scary, defensive, physical hockey.
Bichsel loves to throw his weight around, and a majority of the time, it benefits him in many dangerous defensive situations. The fact that he can simply use his body to cause any opponent panic is a huge plus especially in situations where the other team has an easy scoring chance.
Puck Control while stick handling
Lian Bichsel has had his cough-ups in the defensive zone and you’ll occasionally see him make a bit of a misinterpretation whenever he’s handling the puck on his stick. He’s really quick to make up for it using a hit or regaining possession, though.
But even if he does have his mistakes, Bichsel is super confident when he’s got control in the offensive zone. Mostly noticeable on the powerplay or a larger ice area, Bichsel is always excited to make some sort of creative play using his underrated hands. For a big defensive defenseman, Lian loves to make a nifty play or some sort of deke. A huge plus about this is how it surprises the defender and how rarely he messes up. Not always does it end up with a scoring opportunity, but it usually creates some sort of play.
No goal was scored on this play, but Bichsel showed off his creative thinking and quick hands in this 3 on 3 overtime period. Rushing into the offensive zone with extra speed, he attempts to push himself into an opening. He cuts back falling a little behind letting him get open to receive a pass. Kind of like a bigger Quinn Hughes, Bichsel opens up very slightly and looks around. After seeing a defender coming in close on him, he goes for the agile deke and gets around from any pressure. After the puck starts bobbing and he loses an in-close scoring chance, he retreats the puck and cuts back up to where the defenseman usually stands. From there, he makes a pass and a new play is created.
In the video above, Bichsel once again portrays his beautiful stick handling as well as his shot. Picking up the puck on his off-side, he moves a little to the left causing the defender to move away from the boards. Once the defender bites, he pulls off a gorgeous toe drag, which follows to an open space. Bichsel fires the puck right past the goalie, and he puts his team up by 3. Going back to his little move to the left, you may have missed how smart of a play that really was. Bichsel opens up a bit to the left so the defender moves as well, and once he finds enough space along the boards, he dangerously cuts in. It was a really smart offensive play, which proves that he does have an offensive mindset. Maybe there is some potential in that end of the ice.
Bomb of a shot
As expected for a big boy, Bichsel has a hard and somewhat of an accurate shot. His power makes it a rocket which feels unstoppable, and his head is always up which lets him shoot exactly where he wants it to go. There’s only one slight issue: he doesn’t shoot nearly as much as he should.
I think it’s safe to say that we can expect more than one goal when Bichsel plays in the SHL next year. (He only had one goal this year). That was a bit surprising considering he was given a few good looks in the O zone, and how great of a shooter he was. Here’s the evidence to that case:
Here, Bichsel gets a gift on the powerplay. Getting the original pass, he skates towards the boards and sends it to the quarterback. He skates into open space, gets the pass, and fires it on net. Head is up the entire time, he spots his corner, and roofs it top shelf. That right there is an NHL-like shot. It has the aim, the speed, and the proper positioning. From start to finish, Bichsel pulls off the play beautifully.
Once again on the powerplay, Bichsel is the guy who’s on the back end. He finds the pass, sends it across, waits for it to come to him, and goes for the one-timer. Admittedly, he did look a tad bit awkward when he swung, but the power and aim was perfect enough for his teammate to tip the puck. Having a defenseman with that type of power when he shoots is a huge plus because it always finds a way to get to the net.
He loves to hang around the top of the circles in the O zone, which makes me think he’s always looking to pull off a shot. Occasionally it does cost him whenever there’s a quick turnover, but the way I see it, is that Lian’s always taking initiative to stay in a scoring position waiting for a pass.
Lian Bichsel’s shot is just another reason as to why he does in fact have some offensive potential. To me, it won’t be a surprise when he scores a couple of bombs on the powerplay in the NHL one day.
Things Lian can work on
As amazing of a defensive player Bichsel is, he does have a few holes in his game which can, and likely will, be patched up.
The first objective that’s stopping Lian from becoming an elite player is his skating. We’ve watched him skate with so much speed rushing through all three zones of the ice and we can all admit that the speed and quickness is there. That isn’t his issue with his skating. The actual problem is his technique. When he skates backwards or when he joins the rush, he’s noticeably standing way too high. Bending his knees should be something he should work on. It’s a really basic aspect, but it’s an important one too.
Every big player looks a little bit awkward when he skates because they’re not as naturally active with their feet. It’s totally normal. But to transition into the NHL, Bichsel truly needs to work on his edges and how his skating looks. To me, it always feels like he’s about to tip over because of how strangely he skates. Given, he’s a super smooth skater and he doesn’t look wobbly, but he does need to be a little bit more active with his feet and his technique does need improvement.
Another issue is his awareness. Far too many times we see Lian make some sort of mistake where he’s stuck hauling ass to make up for his screw-up. It could be an instance where he loses sight of the puck, or he doesn’t notice an opponent get into the dirty areas. I’ve noticed how often he’s stuck defending the front of the net and a player creeps up to the net and nets an easy puck. It isn’t fun to watch players quietly outsmart a giant like Bichsel.
He does show solid signs of defensive awareness including his stick work. In the clip above Bichsel pokes away the puck from an attacker, and later goes into the offensive zone to set up his teammate for a scoring chance; a great shift all around. This is proof that he is more than capable of playing a solid and a capable defensive game, it’s just that his awareness needs a lot of improvement. It’s a tough thing to fix, but it can be adjusted by looking around actively and reading defensive plays a little bit more. Basic hockey homework, in a way.
Lian Bichsel is one of the scariest players in the 2022 draft class and that’s because of how powerful and physical he is, and how hard of a shot he has. Playing against him must be terrifying for opponents, especially considering how confident he is. And as we know, confidence is a huge booster which makes anyone feel like the king or queen of the world. His closure-of-gaps and versatility in the defensive zone makes it hard to overlook him.
Bichsel’s elite defensive play along with his possible offensive upside is a huge plus to him, but his skating and his awareness makes it a big question mark. A lot of that will make him drop, but in my rankings, I’ve got him decently high. He’s got that “diamond in the rough” potential, which makes me believe he’ll go in the first round. As people say, “he got that dawg in him”. He has raw talent and he is a terrifying player to play against, and when he does make that push for the NHL, his physicality and defensive ability will put him over the edge.
Photo Credit: Steven Ellis, The Hockey News
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