How Swede It Is

SAINT PAUL, Minn. -Liam Ohgren has learned a lot from his dad, Andreas.
Well, actually, he's also learned a lot from the NHL players his dad has trained in his 15-plus years as a strength and conditioning coach in Sweden. Guys like Colorado Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog, Washington Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom, and New Jersey Devils forward Jesper Bratt.
"It's been really like exciting and an inspiration for me to train with them and to see what they are doing to get better every day," the younger Ohgren said after being selected 19th overall by the Wild at the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. "It's been really good for me as well."
The Minnesota brass hopes that Liam will play like Liam, though.
The 6-foot-1, 201-pound left wing scored 33 goals and 58 points in 30 games with Djurgarden, earning him the best forward in Sweden's junior league last season. In 69 games -- across two leagues and through several tournaments -- Liam was a plus-49 with 88 points (45 goals, 43 assists) and with 16 penalty minutes.
A captain for the gold-medal winning Under-18 Swedish World Championship team, Liam tallied two goals and an assist in victory of Team USA.

"It's been a great year for me," the Stockholm native said.
The left-handed winger is most noted for his offensive prowess and ability to break into the zone with speed and power.
"He skates with pace," Wild director of amateur scouting Judd Brackett said. "He's really well built, physically strong and it translates on the ice too. (He has) good hands through the neutral zone with some power element to his game.
"(He's someone) we felt that absolutely can play the way want to play: fast, hard, heavy and skilled."
The Wild closed out their first-round selections by taking right wing Danila Yurov, another two-way forward with size and vision who spent most of last season dominating with the Magnitogork's s junior team in Russia.
Yurov, who comes in at 6-foot-1, 178-pounds scored 13 goals and had 23 assists through 23 games in the MHL, while posting 0 points in 21 KHL games -- a stat Yurov hopes to reverse in his final contract season in Russia.
"I plan to play that out and hopefully have an amazing year," said Yurov, who is the highest-drafted Russian player in franchise history. "I think that's where I'll be able to show myself and hopefully the year goes well, I can make it over here next year."
"It's his goal at this point to make the KHL team," Brackett added. "To carve out a bigger role than he had this past year but there's always some seasoning if he gets stuck in a spot where the minutes are limited or the ice time is where he can go down with some kids in his age group. But as we saw this year he can really dominate that level, so I think he's close to being ready."
Both players will be at development camp July 12-14, with the organization anxious to add more prospects as the draft concludes tomorrow. Minnesota holds six more picks in rounds 2-7 on Friday, including No. 47 and No. 56.
"I'm very happy that we made both selections," general manager Bill Guerin said. "I was really happy that we were able to come out of it with two first round picks. Both players were very high on our list. We feel like we got them at a really good spot. They're both very good two way players. I think the main thing is their compete level is extremely high. They just play really hard. That's what we really liked about them."