Nicklas Jensen Channels Forsberg with Sweet Shootout Deke

It’s trade deadline week, so much of the chatter will inevitably turn to the decrepit state of Vancouver’s prospect pool. If only Mike Gillis drafted moar Vancouvers Giants, am I right?

Well how about this Nicklas Jensen shootout goal from Wednesday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Barons? Yep, he pulled off the classic Forsberg ‘cross body backhander shootout deke and man, is it a thing of beauty.

Read on past the jump.

Through nine AHL games Nicklas Jensen has only scored twice so far, and he hasn’t scored in nearly five games. Overall he’s got three points in nine games so he’s not exactly setting the world on fire. Obviously it’s early yet but that’s disappointing production for a prospect who was extremely impressive in a tougher professional league in Sweden earlier this season, and is really Vancouver’s only top-end offensive prospect in the pipeline.

On the other hand, he wasn’t going to keep shooting at a 33% clip at the AHL level (the way he did in his six regular season games with the Chicago Wolves a year ago). Still, he’s only taken 14 shots on goal, so it’s not just the percentages working aginst him through nine games and he’s going to have to up that shot rate if he hopes to start lighting the lamp more regularly. 

Jensen’s difficult re-adjustment to the North American game in Chicago this past month isn’t cause for concern or anything, not when he’s skilled enough to pull off moves like that one. But I figured I might as well spill a bit of digital ink on his overall performance to try and trick you into thinking that I’m not just mailing in a post (though of course I am).