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Edit: Drafted 46th Overall by the Anaheim Ducks.
Sorensen has been a very dynamic winger for the Quebec Remparts the past two seasons, when he’s been on the ice. Unfortunately a series of injuries (and other circumstances) limited Sorensen to just 8 games a year ago, and 46 games this past season. He’s produced when on the ice though with 9 points and 47 points in those seasons respectively. In 2011-12 Sorensen blew out his knee following a dirty hit from Jonathan Lessard and missed almost the entire season. Then this year he has missed games due to a foot injury, a serious illness, and a finger injury (playoffs). Quebec having 3 imports early in the year (and only being allowed to dress 2) also landed Sorensen in a three man rotation with Nikita Kucherov and Mikhail Grigorenko for ice time early in the year, until Kucherov was traded. All of this has added question marks around an extremely talented player.
Sorensen was born in Denmark, to a Danish father and a Swedish mother and so has dual citizenship. He has chosen to play internationally for Sweden with whom he won a Silver Medal at the 2013 World Junior Championships.
Right Wing
Born Oct 23 1994 — Farevejle, Denmark
Height 6’1″ — Weight 176.4 lbs — Shoots Right
It would appear that Sorensen recovered extremely well from the serious knee injury he suffered last season. He continues to be a great skater showing very good speed and acceleration. Sorensen’s most dynamic feature is his agility and edgework. This makes him extremely shifty out on the ice and capable weaving his way around opposing defenders, either with the puck on his stick, or in finding openings. He is also pretty strong on the puck and has good balance, however these are two areas that can and should improve as Sorensen adds more muscle to his frame.
Sorensen has a good number of offensive tools in his tool box. He is a very good stickhandler, protecting the puck from opponents, and being able to get by them and drive the net. He is not afraid of the dirty areas of the ice, battling in the corners or in front of the net. He also has a very good release on his wrist shot. He could however stand to add a little more power to the shot. He will certainly be more effective, both in the corners and in sniping goals, with a little more upper body strength. In terms of being a playmaker, Sorensen has really showed off those skills on the powerplay where he gets the time and space to be really creative with the puck. At even strength he has a tendency to rush his passes a little bit and this has hurt him at times. It is something that may improve with more games played, and staying healthy will be a big key.
Sorensen shows good defensive skills as well. He is a strong two way player who is great at working down low with back pressure on opposing forwards. His high energy back checking puts pressure on opponents to make plays and often leads to turnovers and transition. He also has strong defensive instincts and awareness which allow him to anticipate plays and cut them off before they begin. He’s extremely good at cutting down the passing lanes for opposing defenders, and has been known to do good work on the penalty kill.
Sorensen’s style is reminiscent of Daniel Alfredsson. Now it is important to stress that this is a style comparison, and not one based on ability, or a projection of Sorensen’s career or potential. It is unlikely that Sorensen will match the potential hall of fame worthy career of Alfredsson. In terms of potential, Sorensen could end up a quality second liner with a two way game. However this is a serious boom or bust type of prospect. The questions are two-fold surrounding his long injury history. Firstly, is Sorensen an injury prone player? Is this something that will plague him throughout his career? And secondly, and perhaps most importantly, ho has he been effected development wise by missing nearly a year and a half of his junior career. That’s a lot of missed ice time for an 18 year old, and the effect on Sorensen’s development, and the questions that brings is why I have him at 65 instead of about 20 spots earlier.
Check back tomorrow for another NHL draft feature.
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