Dallas Stars: A Breakdown of the Central Division’s First Round Draft Picks
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Minnesota Wild
Drafted player: Filip Johansson, D (24th Overall)
Height: 6’ 1”
Weight: 176 lbs.
Shoots: R
The Wild drafted Swedish defender Filip Johansson with the 24th pick. Johansson, who played for Leksand’s Junior team in Sweden, scoring 4 goals and had 5 assists in 29 games.
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The Wild pulled this pick out of a hat it seems, as Johansson was ranked #55 by hockeyprospect.com, #68 by Future Considerations, #39 by ISS Hockey, and #54 by TSN/McKenzie. Although these rankings seem to be fairly high, NHL Central Scouting had him 10th among European skaters.
NBC Analyst Craig Button said “[Johansson] doesn’t do any one thing really well.” It is puzzling as to why the Wild picked him in the first round, but they do need help defensively.
Minnesota only had a +21 goal difference last season, giving up 232 and scoring 253. Assuming Johansson makes the league, he will join Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, Matt Dumba, and others on the blue line.