Drafted #33 Overall by the Montreal Canadiens
Today we take a look at NHL Draft Prospect Sebastian Collberg, a versatile winger playing for Frolunda in the Swedish Elitserien. He also has a ton of international experience and was a member of Sweden’s recent gold medal winning World Junior Squad. He is currently playing for Sweden’s Under 18 team in the IIHF U18 World Championships taking place in the Czech Republic.
Right Wing/Left Wing
Born February 23, 1994 – Mariestad, Sweden
Height 5.11 — Weight 174 — Shoots R
| 2010-11 | Vastra Frolunda HC | SEL | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2011-12 | Vastra Frolunda HC | SEL | 41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -8 |
At Last Word on Sports, our viewings of Collberg have mainly come in international competitions over the last two years. We saw him in last summer’s Ivan Hlinka tournament, in this winter’s World Juniors, and now in the first few games of the IIHF U18 World Championship. Throughout the last year we’ve seen a great progression in the young Swede’s game, and every time we see him we walk away more and more impressed.
The first thing you notice about Collberg’s game is an incredible wrist shot and release. Collberg possesses a very heavy wrist shot and has a very quick release. Collberg is also a great stick handler, and not afraid to go to the dirty areas to score goals. He’s great on breakaways, and has shown that he can beat the goalie in the shootout. In short Collberg is a natural sniper. Collberg is also an above average skater and has very good vision and passing ability, which gives him the added dimension of becoming a good playmaker too.
In the World Junior Championships we felt that Collberg outperformed his teammate Filip Forsberg, and was the best draft eligible forward on the Swedish team. He scored 7 pts in 6 games in the tourney and came up with a huge shootout goal in the semi final win over Finland. Collberg appears poised to continue his great international play as he’s started strong for Sweden in this year’s Under 18 tourney.
There are some concerns about Collberg’s size, and his ability to handle the physicality of the NHL. We have been impressed with his willingness to battle along the boards and go to the net, however we are unsure at how well this will translate against bigger opponents at the pro level. He also needs some work on his defensive game as he sometimes can be in the wrong position on the ice. We think that Collberg will need some time to develop before he is NHL ready, however we do think he can be a goal scorer for someone going forward, especially if paired with a good centre. We’d compare Collberg’s potential to become a player similar to Mike Cammalleri of the Calgary Flames.
… and thats the Last Word.
