Montreal Canadiens Make Unique Choices Late In NHL Draft
138: Goaltender, Frederik Nissen Dichow
You could look at every mock draft ever created and you will not find the name of goaltender Frederik Nissan Dichow. He was simply not on anyone’s radar. I guess that can happen when you are a teenaged goaltender playing in the second division in Denmark.
What we do know about the 18 year old is he is enormous. The netminder covers a lot of the goal at 6’5″ and 190 pounds. He also catches with his right hand much like former Canadiens goaltenders Jose Theodore and Mathieu Garon.
Dichow was in Denmark’s second division last year which doesn’t get a lot of ink in the hockey world. He did play well in the second division of the World Under-18 tournament, helping Denmark to a third place finish. He posted a 2.37 goals against average and a .922 save percentage in five games at the event.
The native of Vojens is moving to Sweden next season to play for the Malmo Redhawks in the top Junior league in the country. He will certainly find tougher competition in Sweden than he ever did in Denmark, so it will be a real test to see if he is a legit prospect for the National Hockey League.
If he turns out to be legit, then the pick is a steal for the Habs. The pick was originally acquired from the Los Angeles Kings with Nate Thompson for the Habs fourth round pick in this draft. So, if Dichow turns out to be a dud, it’s not like it was a premiere asset that was used to acquire him.
Why not roll the dice on a huge goaltender who is moving to a more prominent hockey nation and has a chance to greatly improve his value next season? It’s certainly not a bad pick, just a very interesting one that came out of left field.