This is the 2025-26 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →
Elmer Soderblom
Detroit Red Wings Left Wing
6-8 and 252 pounds, 26 games, and the largest forward in the league after Adam Klapka.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 | DET | 21 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 30 | 16.7 | 12:04 |
| 2024-25 | DET | 26 | 4 | 7 | 11 | +2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 38 | 10.5 | 13:22 |
| 2025-26 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 47 | 9 | 10 | 19 | +2 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 68 | 13.2 | 12:47 |
This Season So Far
The 2025-26 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.
Last Season
4 goals and 7 assists in 26 games for 11 points, plus-2, on 13:22 a night.
49.1 per cent at five-on-five, the 42nd percentile, over 328 minutes — a better share than most of the forwards ahead of him. 38 shots in 26 games with 47 per cent from inside 20 feet.
The Finesse Game
Considerably better than a man of this size should have. The hands work in tight, the release from the net front is quick, and he can make a short pass under pressure — 7 assists in 26 games is a real rate.
The volume is low and the offence is entirely close-range. Nothing about him will produce a goal from distance.
The Physical Game
6-8 and 252, one of the two largest forwards in the league, and he is immovable at the net front. He wins pucks below the goal line by weight and changes what a defenceman is willing to do in his own corner.
6 penalty minutes in 26 games is remarkable. The skating is the limitation — he cannot keep pace with a fast transition, and that is why the ice time has come in bursts.
The Intangibles
A sixth-round pick, three seasons split between two continents, and a genuine NHL role that has never quite stuck.
The projection is a third-line net-front forward. On a club that finished 26th in creating chances, a man who is unmovable in the paint and has hands is worth more patience than he has been given.
The numbers underneath
On the ice
Five-on-five, 2024-25 · 328 minutes
- Expected goals
- 49.1%
- 42nd pct
- Shot attempts
- 48.3%
- 35th pct
share of the chances while he was out there
share of the attempts while he was out there
Goals while he was on the ice: 15 for, 10 against. Expected: 14.2 and 14.7.
The eye and the numbers
HindsightThe two rank him within 6 points of one another. It was written for a back edition, with the seasons that followed already known. Neither the agreement nor the gap says anything about the eye, and this report is excluded from the club-level comparison for the same reason.
Both bars are percentiles among the 357 skaters in this edition with a report and enough ice time. The report bar ranks the mean of the grades above — 70 on their own scale — against every other report's mean. The numbers bar ranks his share of expected goals. A gap is a disagreement about where he belongs, not two scales talking past each other.
Usual linemates
2024-25 · 328 minutes at five-on-five
- Dylan Larkin28%
Share of his five-on-five ice time spent alongside each player, measured from shift charts. Special teams are excluded: a power-play unit is not a line.
Why the numbers land there
Five-on-five, 2024-25
- The club
- DET took 48.2% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 49.1% — 0.9 above the club he did it on.
- The role
- 328 minutes at five-on-five — 7th percentile in ice time.
With and without
| Teammate | Together | Him apart | Mate apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Rasmussen | 46.7% | 50.9% | 46.3% |
| Moritz Seider | 49.4% | 48.9% | 48.8% |
| Ben Chiarot | 45.2% | 51.0% | 45.0% |
46.7% together, 50.9% for him apart and 46.3% for Rasmussen apart. He was better away from Rasmussen, who was no worse away from him — the pairing cost him more than it cost Rasmussen.
Expected-goal share while both were on the ice, and for each man in the minutes he played without the other. Apart is the pair subtracted from his own totals. It does not settle who was carrying whom — apart from each other, both were still playing with somebody — but it does say whether the share travelled when the pairing broke up.
Where he shoots from
goal on goal missed
66 unblocked shots in 2024-25, 4 of them goals. His median goal came from 16 feet. 47% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 14% from beyond forty.