With the 74th overall pick, the Senators selected grabbed the slick, Swedish forward
Pre-draft ranking: N/R by TSN/McKenzie
The Senators took another swing in the NHL Draft when they selected skilled forward Oliver Johansson who didn’t have much exposure this past season but impressed in a small sample size against men. These are the type of picks I love: a young, talented, skilled player who has a ton of development left at the ripe age of 18.
A few years ago Johansson pulled off this ridiculous move:
Oliver Johansson pulled off the “Kucherov” in 2018. Kid is full of skill #GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/iKoypgjzsl
— Daniel Bruce (@danielbruce11) July 26, 2021
Not many players have the skill and confidence to pull off the “Kucherov”, the skill Johansson possesses was definitely worth a gamble in the third round.
Johansson didn’t get a ton of game action during this past season, only lacing it up for 15 regular-season games and 7 playoff tilts, he obviously showed enough in those games to warrant great interest from the Senators scouting staff. Do you know what’s impressive? Johansson appeared in 5 games with Timrå IK (the top team in the HockeyAllsvenskan), adding 3 goals during that stretch while flashing his skill on multiple occasions, and his play was good enough to force the coaching staff to play him in 7 playoff games. His skill set is on full display in the video below:
Johansson uses his speed to separate from opposing back checkers before playing a little give-and-go on his way to eventually finding the net.
Standing at 6’0″, 183 pounds, Johansson isn’t small by any means, and combine that with his great skating ability and you might just have a steal at the centre position. I love this gamble by Trent Mann and staff.