Willander turns down Sweden pro league for NCAA ahead of 2023 NHL Draft

The 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft will be held June 28-29 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The first round will be June 28 (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS) and rounds 2-7 are June 29 (11 a.m. ET; NHLN, SN, TVAS). NHL.com is counting down to the draft with in-depth profiles on top prospects, podcasts and other features. Today, a look at defenseman Tom Willander from Rogle's team in Sweden's junior league. NHL.com's full draft coverage can be found here.

Tom Willander was comfortable with taking the road less traveled for Sweden-born prospects.

The right-shot defenseman could have played for Rogle in the Swedish Hockey League this season and would have had a bigger role moving forward.

Instead, he committed to play at Boston University next season.

"The SHL, it's senior teams and it's professional teams, highest league, obviously all the teams are there to win," Willander said. "So what happens is that usually SHL teams ... they're not going to play the young guys as much and they're not as focused on development for the guys on the team since most of the players are older. They're just focused on winning.

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"We thought that going to college would be more of a development pathway, which to get to the next level and play in the NHL should be good stuff."

Willander (6-foot-1, 180 pounds) already has done a lot of good stuff during his development.

The 18-year-old had 25 points (four goals, 21 assists) in 39 games in Sweden's junior league this season.

The breakout moment for him came playing for Sweden at the 2023 IIHF World Under-18 Championship in April, where he was third among defensemen with eight points (three goals, five assists) in seven games.

"When you play back home it's one type of game, it's not really the same," Willander said. "I'd say it's a little bit more physical, a little bit bigger guys, older guys. When you get to the [World U-18s] and you play with people your age, they're usually more skilled. I guess it's a really good balance to see that you can play in both. And obviously you got to see a lot of the top guys in the world, you got to play against them, get to see how that works."

How it worked for Willander was the chance to shine a bright light on his skating, poise with the puck and physicality, which one scout said reminded him of New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox.

"It's Willander's hockey sense and maturity that stands out," Janne Vuorinen of NHL European Scouting said. "He has really good hockey sense and he plays always on the move. Likes to join the rush with his good footwork and puck skills. Plays with poise when on the puck and makes good decisions."

He got help developing those skills from his father, Erik, a skills coach in Sweden who coached Tom growing up.

"It was like a love/hate relationship a little bit," Willander said. "It's got its pros and cons, but I feel like as I've gotten older it's been easier for me to accept the feedback. And then it's just gotten to a point where it's like, I just really think the feedback is good. He's really the only one that tells me exactly how it is."

The work certainly has shown on the ice. Willander is No. 12 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of International skaters presented by BioSteel.

"His skating is just high-end, and it's very, very dynamic, very powerful," Rogle general manager Chris Abbott said. "And I would say that his competitiveness and how he is able to defend as well as he does and how aggressive and how much kind of assertiveness or snarl or whatever you want to call it in his game, where he just loves to compete and not back down in any way from being physical with guys and in achieving what he needs to achieve on the ice."

Abbott would have loved to have that with Rogle moving forward. Willander was with the SHL team late in the season for practices, and Abbott said he would have played him because of some injuries to other players.

Willander never got into a game so he could maintain his NCAA eligibility.

"We would have liked to have him in our roster, especially as we had injuries and had issues with finding enough players or personnel at times," Abbott said. "We wanted to have him in. … He did not look out of place in practice."

Abbott would have liked more time with Willander but understands his reason for moving to North America. Regardless of what path he takes, Abbott is confident he will excel.

"Mentally he's an aggressive kid," Abbott said. "He likes to compete hard, and his skating helps him get there quicker. Very talented player.

"He competes hard and he's very capable. He's definitely an elite player. He would be a very good young player in our league, and I know he will be in North America in college and then we'll see where it takes him after that. I imagine that he'll be in an NHL team's jersey in the not-too-distant future."

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