Capitals general manager George McPhee and his scouting staff had planned for a lot of things at this year’s NHL Draft. Having Swedish forward Filip Forsberg sitting there for them at the No. 11 pick wasn’t one of them.
But McPhee and company were more than happy that he was. The 17-year-old was expected to be a top-5 pick, but slipped as other teams focused on available defensemen and other skilled players. So Washington added a top talent to a farm system that has run dry thanks to promotions in recent years.
Sports Illustrated’s mock draft had Forsberg going at No. 4 to the New York Islanders. ESPN had him at No. 2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets. A blended group of projections put together by TSN also had him going No. 2 overall and that network itself rated him the third-best player. Forsberg was the top European skater available, according to NHL.com. McPhee told reporters in Pittsburgh that the scouts at Washington’s table “were unanimous.” Forsberg wasn’t in their plans. Didn’t matter. They had to take him. McPhee tried to throw out other options for them to chew on – hence the back-and-forth discussion caught on television as the Caps were on the clock – but they weren’t biting.
So what are the Caps getting? A 6-foot-2, 180-pounder who has played center and right wing. He played in the Swedish second division for Leksand and had eight goals and nine assists in 43 games last season. He was one of Sweden’s best players at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament last summer, a non-sanctioned IIHF gathering of the top under-18 national teams. He was also the captain of that squad at April’s under-18 IIHF world championships. At the World Juniors tournament – featuring under-20 players – he was Sweden’s youngest player and had one assist in six games.
“It’s the right call because they’re not going to have Alexander Semin back and they need to start loading up offensively again,” TSN analyst Pierre McGuire said during that network’s coverage of the draft on Friday night. “Filip Forsberg…had a tremendous World Junior and his international experience is outstanding.”
And, again, he won’t turn 18 until Aug. 13. That’s not to say he’s ready to come over to North America any time soon. Forsberg’s team didn’t qualify for promotion to the Swedish Elite League and he reportedly remains under contract for one more season with Leksand. At the very least expect another season in the Swedish second division and a starring role at World Juniors as Forsberg tries to build on his memorable performance at the Ivan Hlinka tournament last summer.
“Team Canada coach Steve Spott said it was one of the most dominant performances he’d ever seen at the under-18 level,” TSN reporter Bob McKenzie said on the network after the selection. “That said, he tore Canada apart in the very first game. In the gold-medal game, Scott Laughton of the Oshawa Generals and Slater Koekkoek and Matt Dumba did a tremendous job of shutting Forsberg down.”
So there’s work to do. Even during training camp for the 2013-14 season Forsberg will have just turned 19. Star center Nicklas Backstrom was two months shy of 20 when he showed up at Washington’s 2007 training camp and Marcus Johansson was a month shy of that mark at the opening of camp in 2010. This will take time.
But Forsberg at least has the intangibles in place. At that same Ivan Hlinka tournament gold-medal game, according to McKenzie, Team Canada players Tom Wilson and Kerby Rychel crossed over onto the Swedish side of the ice during warm-ups and “went after” Forsberg. Wilson, not incidentally, is a potential future teammate. He was drafted at No. 16 by the Caps on Friday.
“[Forsberg is] not a player, though, that is easily intimidated. While he didn’t score in that gold-medal game, didn’t make things happen in that gold-medal game, this is an outstanding offensive [player],” McKenzie said. “This is a guy that’s a pure shooter. He’s a big body who can skate and he’s got a great release – a pro shot and a pro release. Overall playmaking not so great, but goal scoring tremendous.”
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