Edmonton Oilers Top 25 Under 25: #23 Filip Berglund

Filip Berglund is a 6’3’’, 205 lb Swedish defenceman. He is 21-years-old and he played for Skelleftea AIK of the SHL (Sweden’s top domestic league) last season. There was a fair bit of disagreement over where he should land on this list, among our writers. Jeff was Berlund’s harshest critic, rating him 38th, while Ira was his biggest supporter, rating him 13th. The rest of us had him in the low-to-mid twenties, which is how our consensus arrived at 23.

What the scouts say:

From Elite Prospects

What the stats say:

Berglund’s offence is pretty non-existent. Last year, he ranked fifth among his team’s defencemen in points. Including playoffs, he has played 121 career games in the SHL, in that time he has three goals to his credit (all of which came during last year’s regular season). He also has 23 assists, and has a +21 rating.

Obviously plus-minus is far from perfect, but, while his offensive numbers don’t support his positive offensive scouting report, his plus-minus does seem to support the scouts’ assertion that he can defend. Between last year’s regular season and playoffs, Berglund was a +19, which was the best mark on his team among defencemen.

What does it all mean?

While it seems unlikely that Berglund has the upside to be an impact player at the NHL level, he does have the size, and possibly the defensive acumen to occupy a bottom-of-the-roster spot in the world’s top league.