Carolina Hurricanes: A Look Into the Development of Jesper Sellgren

Jesper Sellgren gave Caniacs a glimpse of what he can do during the Calder Cup Playoffs last season. But can he reach the NHL and the Carolina Hurricanes?

In what is unanimously considered one of the deepest defensive groups in the NHL, the road for Canes prospects on the back-end looking to make the jump has been a very difficult task.

Haydn Fleury, the 7th overall pick in 2014, is still barely just finding his way. Roland McKeown, acquired in February of 2015, has been patiently waiting for a chance that seems unlikely to come. Jake Bean, the Canes’ 13th overall pick in 2016, is all but ready for the NHL but there’s just no room right now.

With those things considered, the road to the NHL seems to be a long one for young Swedish-born Jesper Sellgren, who was drafted 166th overall by Carolina in 2018 after being passed over by the entire NHL in his first two years of draft eligibility.

Likely overlooked because his diminutive size for a potential NHL defender, Sellgren’s talents had become too noticeable for the NHL to keep passing on. As such, the Hurricanes got a kid 2 years further into his development than most kids from the 2018 draft, and it looks like Sellgren could carve out an NHL future for himself.

His Story

If you go to google and type in “Jesper Sellgren 2016 draft”, nothing of importance regarding the search appears. He wasn’t even a blip on the radar in his draft year. If you do the same thing and put “2017” the results are also sparse.

It seems rather fair to say that this kid was virtually unknown to the NHL landscape until the 2018 World Junior tournament, where he emerged as a real dynamic piece on the Swedish blueline. Scouts and observers raved at his ability – despite just one point in the tournament, he showed a calming presence exiting his zone and nice defensive instincts for a guy his size.

Sellgren was listed at just 5’10, 143lbs when he was drafted, but at Canes training camp this past summer, the team listed him at 5’11, 169. It’s a good sign that he’s added some mass. He’s not an overly physical player, but he uses leverage and angles to his advantage when defending. His high hockey IQ also helps in that regard, and he’s quick at processing plays as they happen.

Anyway, during his initial draft year, Sellgren was playing for MODO of the  SuperElit league in Sweden, which is the highest level of junior hockey over there. He moved up to the Allsvenskan league the following year, which is more or less the Swedish AHL, and had decent results, but nothing eye-popping enough to be drafted as a first-time overager.

The next year was obviously when Sellgren got his chance to show scouts his ability with the Swedish WJC team. Despite having first-round talents like Erik Brannstrom, Rasmus Dahlin and Timothy Liljegren alongside him, Sellgren was heralded by some as the best Swedish defender in the tournament, and he led his team in ice-time during the Goal Medal game that year.

Scouts were very impressed by Sellgren’s performance, and he got a ringing endorsement from credential Athletic prospect writer Corey Pronman:

As such, when the 2018 NHL draft rolled around, Sellgren was a fixture on a lot of draft boards. Some scouting outlets had him as high as the 4th round, but he ultimately slid to the Hurricanes in the 6th, 166th overall, who now stand to reap the rewards of Sellgren being overlooked.

Sellgren’s Pro Career

After being drafted, Sellgren moved from the Allsvenskan league up to the Swedish Elite League, as he’d clearly began to outclass the lower level. He moved on from the demised MODO program to Lulea HF, where he’s become something of a star player in his native Sweden.

Last year there, he scored 3 goals and 15 points in 52 games with the team, playing over 20 minutes a night for the 2nd-best team in the league. That’s extremely impressive for a 20-year old kid, but shows off that his maturity is far beyond his age. You notice that when you watch him play.

His hockey sense is extremely high. He’s got really good skating ability; his quick feet and acceleration make him very effective on the breakout and in the transition game. As a distributor, he’s very precise with his passing, and his patience limits his mistakes in that regard. He’s got a deceptively good wrist shot, which makes him a real threat as an attacker.

On the defense side of things, he’s got an effective stick and poke-check that allows him to break up rushes. His high hockey IQ gives him the ability to cut passing lanes, and he has a sense of being in the right place often. He likes to quickly transitions the puck up the ice after negating rushes, which leads to counterattacking opportunities for his team. Take a look here:

He’s back in Lulea this season, where he’s been putting together an awesome season after nearly making the Canes roster out of camp (more on that later!). In league play, he has 6 goals and 8 assists in 33 games, as well as a +17 rating. He’s spent a lot of time paired with Rangers 2018 1st-rounder Nils Lundkvist, and they’ve been one of the top pairings in that league this year.

He also put on a show in the Champions Hockey League, which consists of 32 of the top hockey clubs in Europe. Sellgren led his Lulea squad all the way to the Semi-Finals, with an exceptional display of 9 points in 10 games during the tournament against top-quality competition.

Moving to next season, he’ll likely find himself at home in the Hurricanes organization. If he can’t make the Canes roster out of camp, he’ll likely play in Charlotte, where Canes fans have already been treated to his play…..

Charlotte Stint

After Sellgren’s successful season concluded over in Sweden last year, he came over to join Charlotte on their Calder Cup playoff run, and became an insanely important piece for that team. He ended up moving all the way up to the first defensive pairing, and really wow’ed avid Checkers supporters.

“It took exactly one shift in his first game in North America to realize that [Carolina] picked a future NHL defenseman. He turned heads immediately” – Checkers commentator Jason Shaya said of Sellgren.

During his Checkers playoff stint, Sellgren contributed 3 goals and an assist in 11 games, and helped them hoist the Cup. He showed off his shooting ability in Game 3 against the Toronto Marlies, firing an absolute laser to give the Checkers a 2-1 lead:

Sellgren earned himself his NHL entry-level contract during the playoffs, as Don Waddell and Co. were undoubtedly impressed with what they saw from him.

“Jesper is a solid, two-way defenseman who played for one of the top teams in Sweden in 2018-19, We’re looking forward to him taking the next steps in his development.” said Don Waddell in the Canes’ press release.

He took his brilliant run of form with him to the Hurricanes training camp this past summer, and managed to turn heads along the way. Rod Brind’Amour in particular took notice.

“I like the way he thinks the game,” Brind’Amour said of Sellgren. “He’s got that smooth, silky way he moves around. That’s today’s game. It’s important.”

Sellgren ended up playing in 2 preseason games for the team – averaging over 19 minutes a game, with 2+ minutes on each the powerplay and penalty kill units. He didn’t register any points, but he played all situations and gained some viable experience against NHL talent. He recorded 4 shots on goal and had a takeaway in those two games.

Overall, his development over the years and particularly since being drafted has been impressive, but what might his future hold?