Is playing against men as a teenager in one of Europe’s top leagues an indicator of future success in and of itself?
In theory, the mere fact that a 17 year old (or 16 year old for that matter) playing a full-time role against men in one of the world's toughest leagues should be a hint that they might be a pretty darn good player. The Swedish club system means that a player can move up from the junior league club in the SuperElit, to Allsvenskan (
SHL2), to the elite league (
SHL), assuming they have the ability to beat out their older, more experienced competition for the job.
You'll notice that I've included all U18 seasons in the list above, which includes multiple entries for Oliver Kylington and Rasmus Andersson, both of who are unique and notable cases. Last year, Kylington became the first 16 year old defensemanen to play a full season in the SHL since Calle Johansen, who later went on to play over 1,100 NHL games. Andersson, who is currently lighting it up at a point-per-game pace for the OHL's Barrie Colts, is the highest scoring U17 defensemen in Allsvenskan history. Other notables are Jens Looke, who had a strong world junior tournament on a veteran Swedish team, and Dmytro Timashov, who despite his slight 5'9 frame, is obliterating the QMJHL, scoring 66 points in his first 46 games.
Summary
Next to Canada and the US, Sweden is the third largest source of players to the NHL. However, unlike North America, junior age players in Europe have an opportunity to play professionally against men in some of the best professional men's leagues in the world. That is, if they can cut it. Like all other professional leagues, coaches are generally rational and evaluators of talent whose livelihoods are dependent on them building a winning team. As a result, the mere fact that a player has been considered good enough to help his team in the SHL or SHL2 is a strong indicator of potential future NHL success.
This draft in particular looks to have some very intriguing Swedish options, in
Rasmus Andersson,
Jens Looke, Dymtro Timashov, and Sebastian Aho, all of whom appear to be flying under the radar. In
Oliver Kylington, we're looking at a player that has achieved what no other Swedish defenseman has achieved in the last 20 years - playing a full SHL season at the age of 16. He is clearly one of the very best defensemen available in this draft, and despite his #12 ranking from ISS, he's likely to be selected very early in the 1st round.