2024 Swedish prospects

[Yozhik v tumane]

Here’s a thread from someone who doesn’t closely follow the draft or prospects unless they emerge from my team. This subforum is really saturated with threads and I looked a bit for a similar one: apologies in case I missed it.

Basically, I was looking at Eliteprospects’ ranking of the top 32 prospects for this year’s draft, and it struck me that there are zero Swedes expected to go in the first round (as of today), and only one Swedish league player in Hockeyallsvenskan’s Brandsegg-Nygård which raised a few questions for me.

I answered the first one myself: when’s the last time no Swede was picked in the first round? Answer is 2010, when Ludvig Rensfeldt was the first one selected at #35. Rensfeldt never played in the NHL, but there were still a bunch of future NHLers out of Sweden going in the later rounds, including John Klingberg and Jesper Fast.

The other questions I have are directed to the community. Obviously, a lot can happen in the months leading to the draft. I remember when Nils Lundkvist debuted for Luleå, displayed an incredible amount of maturity and calmness for his age, and was kept on the men’s team for the remainder of the season. He rocketed from virtual obscurity into becoming a late first round pick that spring. Are there some Swedish prospects that you think have been slept on and who might go in the first round?

Also:
Is this a particularly weak year for Swedish prospects? Do you reckon there’s still decent depth of tantalizing prospects, despite a lack of standouts?

And if this year’s unusually weak, is 2025 looking more promising for Sweden? I’m personally excited to see Jakob Ihs Wozniak and Lowe Härenstam showing promise early on, as a Luleå fan.

 

[theslatcher]

2024 is looking really weak, yes.

For possible first rounders there's pretty much only Leo Sahlin Wellenius, Alfons Freij, Lucas Pettersson, Linus Eriksson, Melvin Fernström, & Simon Zether.

The defensemen I feel should be first rounders, forwards there's a good chance they all slip to the second, or late in the first. Depthwise you can add in Vuollet, Berglund, & Sterner. And Zetterberg I guess but he's just too tiny without elite skating. You can argue for some more, but, eh.

2025 meanwhile is looking strong.

Frondell, & Ihs Wozniak lead J20 in PPG for U18's, Ekberg after a weak start is now 6th. Stenberg keeps improving at a rapid pace. Then there's Klingsell, Nilson, Gästrin, Eklund to name a few more promising forward names.

Sjöström, Boumedienne, Annborn on D, Lindgren's also looking promising.

At goalie there's obviously Härenstam, following him Sörqvist has played really well for Luleå's J20 team, and Forsberg.

 

[Ebbert]

Add Noel Fransen D. for 2024 too.

 

[theslatcher]

Add Noel Fransen D. for 2024 too.

I blame him being a 2005. Almost forgot Zether & Vuollet because of that, too, haha.

 

[hockeyprospects9]

Who gets picked first, Sahlin Wallenius or Freij?

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

What happened to Herman Traff?

 

[erikhamren]

I wonder if weaker age groups like the 06's will come more often for us now on. I think so and maybe its good in the long run, because maybe then our shitty hockey federation will change on things? GÄSTKRÖNIKA: Vem är svensk hockeys chefsideolog?

Read this swedish fans.

 

[Ebbert]

Who gets picked first, Sahlin Wallenius or Freij?

I think as for right now Freij but both will get picked in the first round imo. I also think, one forward between Zether, Fernstrom or Pettersson will sneak in the first round too.

 

[Frk It]

Seems like the late birthdate kids are being overlooked for some reason.

Zether, Fransen, Gidlof could be better than they are getting credit for?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Last year the Swedes rose a lot late in the draft year. I think that could happen again. They will have 2 or 3 first rounders.

 

[austin63867]

Lucas Pettersson has really risen for me the past few months to where I think he could be my Top Swede if not Fernstrom or Freij. Sahlin Wallenius and Traff have fallen for me and Vuollet is about the same.

Marcus Gidlöf is an interesting goalie prospect to me, potential to be a Top 5 Goalie thanks to his vision and size (6'6), although he has had some consistency questions. Clara went near the end of Round 2 last year and it wouldnt surprise me if Gidlöf ends up near the same place. Eric Olsson was talked about as a top Goalie name but hasn't played since October for some reason.

 

[Sliptip]

I wonder if weaker age groups like the 06's will come more often for us now on. I think so and maybe its good in the long run, because maybe then our shitty hockey federation will change on things? GÄSTKRÖNIKA: Vem är svensk hockeys chefsideolog?

Read this swedish fans.

Good article, disagree with some points, but agree with the overall message.
Might write a larger post on this on the Sweden forum, but recent development has not been promising. While Sweden don't have some of the luxuries Canada and the US have due to smaller player base, i I don't think the federation have been doing a very good job of optimizing our talent output.

I have been ragging hard on the 06 group, and they are relatively very weak compared to the surrounding groups. We also have to keep in mind that the 04/05 groups deserve all the credit in the world, because they have and are doing great. But when I look at the two younger age groups(07 and 08) I find some of the talent very impressive, compared to their peers and also the older age groups, and they score all the points in the world. But even with these top guys, its so hard to see them competing with the likes of e.g. US at the world junior stage and then beyond. Just the fact that so many of our younger top prospect are mediocre skaters is worrisome to me, and that is just one factor.

The senior vs junior aspect of swedish hockey is really polarizing for me. On one hand, the experience is in some way an advantage, and I do like that a top prospect like Carlsson etc can play on that level, and its clear what that has done for his game. Problem is, most players, even most elite prospects, are not Leo Carlsson.
Additionally, on the other hand, it feels like the quality of j20 especially gets hurt by trying to force these guys up as quick as possible to play 2 minutes a game at a SHL game, instead of trying to improve the junior level. Just like it's pretty cringeworthy how early some players/parents/teams are trying to force the transition from u16 to j18 to j20. Now, what solutions or rules should be implemented to adjust all this? Make it j21? Incentivise the u20 players who won't become proffesionals to stay their whole eligibility? Hard to say what actually would be the best way.


One idea I have proposed to people and believe pretty hard in is investing more into a "regional-national-program". Since we are divided into 4 regions, instead of just having one camp each to determine the u16 national team in november, have a big camp with one team with the best players from every region, and then do various skill tests and exercises, and then finish with them playing each other. Then have continual feedback to those players on what they need to improve in various assets. Do this once a year from u16 to u19 at least(lets say january and july, for example) and always change players if someone else improves over them. Also, have clear memos and videos that get spread out to the players and organisations everywhere of exactly want to you want to see, and what is necessary to qualify for these camps. Makes it as fair and clear as possible for players that want to that next level.

This makes it easy to control where the federation wants the development to be focused, makes overseeing improvement and continually giving feedback easy, quality control is simple, and you are putting together and developing a larger group of players than just sending 20 kids to play another "tournament" in czechia. These tournaments are imo so overrated other than getting used to playing for the flag(which is reasonable, in moderation), and with the time between these events, its not like the playing together part really makes sense anyway(we're not the USNTDP). For me at least, the events you want to win are the WHC-17(maybe) and then u18s and world juinors are the big ones. Everything else is just development anyways.

Is this going to cost a pretty penny or two or a thousand? Absolutely, but something has to give for improvement, and right now the federation seems to be way to uninvolved in the development of their own players, based on all the talks i have had with people involved in swedish hockey

 

[Sliptip]

2025 meanwhile is looking strong.

Frondell, & Ihs Wozniak lead J20 in PPG for U18's, Ekberg after a weak start is now 6th. Stenberg keeps improving at a rapid pace. Then there's Klingsell, Nilson, Gästrin, Eklund to name a few more promising forward names.

Small correction, but Stenberg will be in the 2026 draft. Agree, though, I don't know why I had such a blindspot for him being a late birthday, growing(literally) and developing at the rate he is now. At this point I think he could reach the same level as his older brother, which I would never have expected before this season.

 

[snizzbone]

Every region has weaker crops every now and then, Sahlin Wallenius and Freij are the obvious ones that stick out as potential first rounders with a couple other guys on the fringe. Guys like Frondell and Ekberg in the 07 group will help make up for the lack of dynamic 06 talent though.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

I've been watching some of the Hlinka games and some of the WJAC games (primarily to better get a feel for LSW and Freij) and it's striking how weak defensively this Sweden cohort seems compared to the last couple groups. LSW and Freij are interesting, although I'm not yet sold that either will approach the level that Willander, ASP, and Lindstein hit by u18s, but the remainder of the defensive group looked super shaky. I'm not convinced that other than 2 I mentioned there is anyone (among the defensemen) who merits selection in first 4-5 rounds. To folks who see them more often- is this fair?

 

[theslatcher]

I've been watching some of the Hlinka games and some of the WJAC games (primarily to better get a feel for LSW and Freij) and it's striking how weak defensively this Sweden cohort seems compared to the last couple groups. LSW and Freij are interesting, although I'm not yet sold that either will approach the level that Willander, ASP, and Lindstein hit by u18s, but the remainder of the defensive group looked super shaky. I'm not convinced that other than 2 I mentioned there is anyone (among the defensemen) who merits selection in first 4-5 rounds. To folks who see them more often- is this fair?

The WJAC isn't the best barometer, the team still played better than the 05s did (weird, eh?). And Hlinka is still August hockey and all that entails.

Also means you haven't seen Fransén because he's a late 05.

But yeah there's no real depth after those 3. Olsson hasn't really developed in a good way, sadly.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

I don’t know about that article. Looking for a reason to have a go at something he doesn’t like about Swedish talent development, that he thinks he sees in North American talent development, with very little evidence to go by besides a statement that the Swedish hockey federation aims at being best in the world?

Perhaps an unfair assessment. I don’t know that a Sweden NTDP would be the best way to go, I don’t see why the elite teams wouldn’t be able to hold the torch of talent development and the author isn’t explaining it too well in the article. There’s really not much telling us Swedish hockey isn’t doing well, including a very respectable loss in the WJCs.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

The WJAC isn't the best barometer, the team still played better than the 05s did (weird, eh?). And Hlinka is still August hockey and all that entails.

Also means you haven't seen Fransén because he's a late 05.

But yeah there's no real depth after those 3. Olsson hasn't really developed in a good way, sadly.

thanks. i certainly didn't come here to rag on swedes (i generally love the way y'all play and have been one of biggest advocates of both willander and lindstein), just trying to understand more about this year's class.

i agree that you gotta take hlinka with grain of salt since it's so early in season. still, it's the start of draft season and nice chance to see some intriguing players together. i don't really expect that much from them so early in calendar other than to get initial sense of guys and to have something of a baseline to compare as they improve throughout season.

i honestly don't know much about wjac other than swedish d seemed like real mess. which surprised me bc after watching last few wjc and u18, that is the opposite of what i expect to see from sweden. so thank you again for your color.

 

[ZEBROA]

I only watch WJC to see wich players might be good later in the real WC or Olympic. It just occured to me that most watch to see wich players will be good in NHL. For me that goes hand in hand offcourse. But the end goal for me aint NHL.
Sad to hrear the 2024 prospect sucks.

 

[Siludin]

Curious about Gidlof. I have a feeling the Canucks use their 3rd rounder on him (if he's still around). They need to start working on a guy who can start pushing Demko in 5~ years, preferably on an inexpensive contract because Demko will be into his next deal by then and likely at a higher AAV.
Silovs and Tolopilo are no guarantee, and they need someone pushing them too - preferably with a bit more pedigree on their resume to promote some impetus to perform.
Ian Clark likes big guys and doesn't mind a project; he's had a lot of success in Van with Markstrom & Demko.

 

[Garl]

Ok, so 2006 group I think is I think quite underrated at the moment. It is deep both at D and as F.

2006 is lacking the absolute top talent like Holtz/Raymond/Eklund from 2002 for example. But it is actually a deeper group than any other 2000s group except 2005 so far.