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The Swedish defender who is the ultimate man of mystery when it comes to draft picks debuts at #22 on this year's list.
| Victor Johansson | Vitals |
|---|---|
| Age as of July 1 | 18.18 |
| Position | LD |
| Height | 6'1" |
| Weight (lbs) | 147 |
| Shoots | L |
| Draft Year | 2024 |
| Draft Number | 120 |
The Player
Back in July, I wrote this profile on Johansson:
Brian S
...and that's about as much as anyone has written about him to date. It pulled together the very scant scouting reports, profiles and highlight clips that I could find.
The good news is, Sweden's U20 junior league started their pre-season last week and Johansson's team played two games over the weekend. So I finally had the opportunity to see some full games of his, on top of the dev camp scrimmage which only semi-counts to me. So let me do a quick update to the "Getting to Know" profile I wrote on Johansson.
The good – Johansson is a much better skater than I thought he would be, given his weight issues. He is quick and agile, but has a good amount of power to his strides already. That's something that will also only improve as he adds more muscle. His skating forms the basis for his strengths, especially when it comes to carrying the puck. He is a good passer, and combine that with his skating and puck handling and he makes for a pretty adept transition driver.
Here are some good examples of this in action – Johansson is wearing #48 in white in all the clips below.
Victor Johansson (#48 in white) — offense, skating, puck handling and transition highlights
The other benefits to his mobility, passing, and puck handling is his ability to get the puck out of his own end with control. This isn't as strong, and I'd rate it as just good right now. But I can see some promise in this area, if he can take some big strides in his decision making and passing ability.
Victor Johansson (#48 in white) — zone exit highlights
The bad – it's difficult to try and describe Johansson's defense. In both of the two pre-season games, each time in the first period I would describe his defensive positioning and decision making as an utter nightmare. He would be caught out of position a lot, to the point I wanted to scream "what are you doing??" a few times just based on where he was standing, neither confronting the puck carrier, tying up a man in front, or blocking a passing lane. He would look way too passive at times, and he would get walked by opposing puck carriers like he was a barrier of tissue paper streamers. Case in point...
He's spinning the ball on his finger. JUST TAKE IT! TAKE THE BALL!
This isn't just me nitpicking one bad example. He was plainly awful in the first period both games, it was quite disheartening to see. On the other hand, this is a kind of thing I saw from a lot of the defencemen on his team. I don't know if it's a weird systems thing (more the positioning/decision making than the above passivity), or just an example of how bad the defense is in Sweden's U20 junior league. The one excuse you can maybe give him is that he played both games as the top pair right defenseman, despite being a left shot. So if this is something he was not used to doing, it could explain some of his poor positioning and weird decision making.
The other good news is that outside of the first period, in both games, he looked a lot better. The awful mistakes went away, and he was making pretty good plays. I wouldn't say he looked like an elite shutdown defender, but he could have a positive impact at least.
Victor Johansson (#48 in white) — defense highlights
So there is potential, if you want to be optimistic, that with his skating, adding more muscle in the future, and improving his decision making in his own end that he can at least hold his own. Until then, his strengths do seem to lie in being more of a good skating, puck carrying, transition driving guy. So more 'offensive' leaning without necessarily being a point producing 'offensive defenseman'.
The Votes
I definitely get the impression that Johansson is raw, with some interesting flashes but not so much that I think he should be considered someone of real potential. Not yet. So having him at the back of the rankings amongst other long term projects/question marks and extreme long shot prospects makes perfect sense.
Here's how we all voted:
| Voter | Vote |
|---|---|
| Cathy | 25 |
| Brian | 22 |
| Species | 21 |
| Adam | NA |
| Hardev | 20 |
| dhammm | NA |
| Cameron S | 24 |
| Hound Line | 20 |
| brysplace | 24 |
| Catch-67 | 24 |
| Sclodiggity | 17 |
| shinson93 | 18 |
| The Bag | 14 |
| Zone Entry | 20 |
| Weighted Average | 21.5 |
| Highest Vote | 14 |
| Lowest Vote | 25 |
I personally ranked him 22nd. That was before I had a chance to see him in the two pre-season games, but after seeing him more and getting more of a concrete impression of his strengths and weaknesses as a player I still stand by it. He'll have to make some big improvements over this season to get himself out of this category.
The good news is that he should get a lot of opportunity to play and improve. He started on the top pair both games, and got regular time on both the penalty kill and the powerplay – he scored a goal on the powerplay in his second game, playing a traditional spot on the point. But in the first game, it looked like they tried him as a bumper guy right in the middle of everything, a similar role played by defense prospect Oliver Bonk on the London Knights last year. Either way, the powerplay time will help him get more points if that's your thing.
#LeafsForever prospect Victor Johansson played as the 1RD again today, in Leksands U20's second pre-season game. He scored his first goal and point as well, off a one timer from the point that just squeaked through the goalie.
— More like Nikita GREATbyonkin (@brigstew86) August 10, 2024
He's #48 in white. pic.twitter.com/3ajJ8Pc2mA
The Opinions
Here's what the other voters had to say:
dhammm: A player who seemed to be making steps into the J20 Nationell in his draft year and who was on basically nobody's radar is not a prospect I feel I can get excited about besides the mere fact that the team I cheer for drafted him in the 4th round.
Cathy: My first two votes were easy. My number one, and then my number 25. I have seen absolutely nothing from this guy to say he's even a competent SHLer. Less than nothing. But the pick so high of a player not on anyone's radar is just so bizarre, and also hits my biases – that the draft cohort is decided by NHL Central Scouting when players are much younger than 18, and that flawed process is why the undrafted % of NHLers is so high. I have to believe at least a little that there's a player lurking deep in this willowy fellow, as implausible as it is.
Sclodiggity: The rankings get thin here and the potential of youth looms large. That combined with a decent draft position and being a defenseman make it feel more likely that Johansson could turn into something valuable. With that said, I wish I was discussing on-ice results but it's really hard to differentiate new and depth prospects based on the limited info available.
Shinson93: Here I am leaning heavily on this guy coming from a hockey family to make my list. Learning about his father's and brothers' careers suggests he might have a floor that is higher than some of the other prospects. Watching him at development camp playing without fear and hearing him talk in interviews just bumped him up a few more spots (extra “rooting for him” points).
Hardev: Yeah, I agree with Brigs. A lot of these guys so far wouldn’t get ranked most years. New late-round prospects don’t usually get ranked until they do something and take a step. For now, I like that his brothers are Simon and Anton, Minnesota and Detroit prospects I liked when they were draft eligible, and cousins with Alex Wennberg, a forward I generally like! Also his youth club was “Boo HC”, very Halloween-y.
Cameron S: I ranked Johansson because the Leafs definitely see something here if they went off the board on their 2nd draft pick this year. I couldn’t really rank him higher than 24 due to there being basically no footage of his game or reports on him at all that I could find.
So what do you all think? After seeing some of his highlights above, how much does that change your outlook or opinions on Johansson as a prospect?
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