2026 NHL Draft Profile: Wiggo Sörensson

Okay this header photo I have to actually explain, because it's stupid and convoluted but also I think very smart and I'm so proud of myself for it. Also because I can use it and not have to think of an introduction which I always hate writing.

I see Wiggo, I think Viggo Mortensen, who played Aragorn in Lord of the Rings. Aragorn's nickname/alias was Strider, which brings me to water striders which are bugs that zip along the surface of water in a way that reminds me a lot of Cathy's infamous ZLW archetype. Except Wiggo is a center, so he's even better than that!

THE BASICS: STATS AND CONTEXT

• Position: Left-shot center/winger
• League(s): [Deep breath] U18 Division 1, U20 Division 1, Division 2, U18 Nationell, U20 Nationell... all various Swedish leagues and levels.
• Height: 5'11"
• Weight: 181 lbs
• Birthdate: Apr 15, 2008

Here are his draft rankings, as of writing this:

• TSN NHL Scout Poll: Not ranked
• Cam Robinson NHL Scout Poll: Not ranked
• Corey Pronman: Not ranked
• Will Scouch: 25th
• Elite Prospects: Not ranked
• Scott Wheeler: Not ranked
• McKeen's Hockey: 78th
• Upside Hockey: Not ranked
• NHL Central Scouting: 84th (European skaters)

The very best of the best prospects coming out of Sweden will be the ones that play most if not all of their draft season in the country's top pro leagues, the SHL and Allsvenskan. That's guys like Ivar Stenberg, Leo Carlsson, the Sedins, and so on. Most of the guys in next tier of very good but not elite Swedish prospects may get a taste of the SHL, but don't play a major role and maybe only dress for some of the games. Most of them will spend the bulk of the season in Sweden's top U20 junior league. That would be guys like Tinus Luc Koblar or Axel Sandin-Pellikka. Then there are the lower tier guys who probably never make the NHL, and they're drafted after playing mostly in Sweden's U18 junior league.

And then there's weirdos like Wiggo Sörensson.

Instead of following one of those usual paths and working his way up the ranks in these various leagues and levels, which by all accounts he had offers to do, Sörensson instead stayed home. The past two seasons he played for Boro Vetlanda in the fourth-division professional men’s league in Sweden. I didn't even know they had four divisions until this year. I don't know the full reasons, but I do know his father was on the coaching staff for this team, so that might have something to do with it.

After playing for them last year as a 16 year old in a men's league, even if it's a 4th division men's league, Sörensson was second on the team with 48 points in 36 games. Just for funsies, he also played some games for the U20 junior team for Boro Vetlanda and had 25 goals and 46 points in 18 games. And then just for even more funsies, he played for their U18 team to help them avoid relegation and had 14 goals and 23 points in 6 games. Hilarious stuff.

This season, Sörensson had a truly absurd season and I'm not talking about his points. I'm talking about how many different leagues he played in and how many championships he helped win. He mostly played with the men's pro squad, but would go down to join the U20 junior team whenever there were lulls in the men's team schedule that lined up with the junior team's games. In 13 games he had 32 goals and 56 points. Then in those men's league games, he led the team in points with 20 goals and 38 points in 29 games. He then led the team again in the playoffs with 4 goals and 10 points in 8 games to win his first championship of the season. His team got promoted to the third division of Sweden's pro leagues, the HockeyEttan.

Then Sörensson was loaned to Växjö's U18 junior league, where he had 3 points in his lone regular season game, and finished third in playoff scoring for them with 5 goals and 9 points in 6 games – which actually lead the team in points per game. He helped them win the championship for that league. Somewhere in between this, he also played in one regular season game for Växjö's U20 junior team where he had a goal, and one regular season game for Boro Vetlanda's U18 junior team in the lower divisions. His play was enough to start earning invitations to Sweden's international games, first with smaller exhibitions through the season but then culminating with an invite to their World U18 roster where his 4 goals tied for the team lead and his 6 points was good for 4th. He was playing as a top six center, getting all situations minutes and playing as little as 14:27 (his first game) or around 19+ minutes later in the tournament.

So to count it all up, this season Sörensson played for five different teams in Sweden's various junior and pro leagues. He led his team in points or point per game pace in just about all of them. He helped two of them win a championship. And to top it all off, he won a gold medal for Sweden at the top U18 international tournament of the year for his sixth team and third championship of the season.

So the problem with all that, is it's almost impossible to contextualize Sörensson's season. What does it even mean when he was racking up absurd points while playing against competition he was obviously too good for? He was playing in leagues no prospect worth his salt would ever play for, even guys I've seen barely get drafted in the 7th round! How am I supposed to judge his play when he only played a handful of games in Sweden's top junior league, and on the international stage with Team Sweden for one major tournament?

Well that's where #watchingthegames is supposed to fill the gap.

THE GOOD: ELITE SKATING, RELENTLESS PACE, STRONG PUCK HANDLER, INSIDE-DRIVEN OFFENSE, TWO-WAY POTENTIAL

So to be clear, I'll only be talking about the games of Sörensson's that I've seen... which is a couple of his playoff games in Sweden's top U18 level (which is still a level below the top league league period, which is the U20 league), and all of his games at the World U18s.

With the puck on his stick, Sörensson has a good amount of skill. I don't know if I'd call him elite in this area, he can freeze defenders and goalies with fakes, he hides his intentions to pass very well to make it a last second surprise for the defense. He isn't necessarily a "can dangle in a phone booth" kind of guy, but he isn't far behind that level. He can make plays at speed most of the time, but there are some consistency issues when he's trying things at his all-out speed. He is well balanced with his skill, in terms of his puck handling, playmaking, and finishing skills. His wrist shot is dangerous, and he has the skill and footwork to be able to shoot it from dangerous areas.

That said, Sörensson's best strength is his elite skating. He has truly explosive first steps, his mechanics are smooth with no hitches or awkwardness, his edges and agility make him highly elusive, and his top speed is among the best in this class. I didn't pick a water strider as the header image just for the weird connection to Aragorn. He will attack the center of the ice with his speed and/or his horizontal agility. He'll cut hard to the net once he's gained a step on the defense, or put on the brakes if they back off him too much because of his speed and take the center ice that's given to him.

What makes Sörensson's skating even better, to me, is how he uses it. He has a relentless motor and works hard every shift I saw of him. One of my biggest pet peeves with guys who have speed is when they don't use it unless they're chasing an offensive chance. It drove me crazy about Ovchinnikov, and to a lesser extent Kapanen when he was here in Toronto – it's why I don't value "speed" on its own very much anymore. Sörensson at least doesn't have that problem so far, from what I can tell. He is an aggressive forechecker with his skating, and he will haul ass back hard when he has to back check. He will win battles in close with bigger, older opponents more often than just breaking even, by moving his feet and getting low/wide to create better leverage and balance.

That's why Sörensson has some projection as a two-way forward. While he plays center now, I don't think he'll stick there unless he has a bit of a growth spurt and follows in Nylander's footsteps in becoming a Greek God in terms of his muscle. He has good awareness for his surroundings and flashes a high level of defensive anticipation. With his explosive and quick skating he can quickly jump into passing lanes to intercept or at least deflect it away from danger. He can also be a hound on pursuing puck carriers, not letting them escape and using his stick to harass them into turning it over or at least not having the time and space to make an easy play. And with his speed and supportive positioning for his defense, he sometimes acts as another defenseman and gets back to dump ins first to retrieve them and kickstart their transitions. These skills also make him a valuable penalty killer, at least so far against similar-aged junior competition at the Worlds. With his speed he could turn into an interesting power-killer threat.

THE FLAWS: STRENGTH, PUCK CONTROL AT TOP SPEED, QUESTIONS ON STRUCTURE

So there are three main issues I can see with Sörensson, which are also the usual flaws I've seen mentioned by scouts.

First and most obviously, he's simply on the smaller side and physically is not that strong – 5'11" and 181 lbs is only a bit below average and there are plenty of NHLers in that size range who have had impactful careers, but it will be a problem for him as he plays at higher levels against better competition than a fourth tier division. It's the main reason why I don't see him sticking long term at center, and there's only so much speed, skating and skill can do.

At the same time, his skill is not really elite. He is not anywhere near Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg or even Tynan Lawrence or Wyatt Cullen. He has decent hands, but he has consistency problems trying to handle the puck and make moves when he's at his top speed. He can bobble pass receptions when he's going all out too. His passing and playmaking is pretty good, but also not something I would consider him to be among the best in this draft. The one skill he has that is at that kind of level is his skating. His type of player is just someone that typically has to have good enough offense to be a top six forward, and if he can't manage that then with the limitations from his projected size and strength it's hard to give him good odds to be an NHLer. That's why he isn't ranked as even a borderline first rounder.

The final issue is more of an element of the unknown with him. His development path the last two years is just a true anomaly. No one's done it before, I don't know that for 100% sure but I'd put good odds on it being true. But the issue is actually more around questioning how well he can play within a good structure for a whole season? He was so good playing against fourth tier juniors and pros that I'm sure he didn't need to play in a structure, he could just skate around everyone and exert his will everywhere at any time. But he won't be that level of dominant now that he's getting to the top junior and pro leagues in Sweden.

Hell, even playing for Sweden at the World U18s, it's a short tournament with some structure but there's a lot of free-wheeling going on too, and it wasn't exactly a super strong year for the usual top contenders – Team USA and Canada were meh, as usual these days there was no Russia, Finland was good but lacked high end talent, ditto Czechia compared to past years. NHL teams don't like uncertainty, and there's no getting around that there just isn't a lot of tape or data to compare Sörensson in adequate levels of competition with his peers.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Take all of those weaknesses I said about Sörensson and throw them away. They're true but useless to me, because after watching him even just those few games I love Sörensson. He's the kind of player I used to really love that I cooled on because they rarely seemed to pan out (the ZLW to bring back Cathy's phrase), your Ovchinnikovs if you will. But he has other elements that those kinds of players always need to make them more effective and projectable. He works hard, he uses his speed to put pressure on the other team with and without the puck, he shows some real potential utility as a two-way guy even if he winds up as a winger, and that makes me think that even if he can't be a clear top six guy, he could still have utility as a bottom six energy line guy if he develops in the right way.

So call it a nostalgia trip for me, but I love Sörensson. I also think that because of those uncertainties, he's more likely to be available come the third, fourth, hell maybe even the fifth round. That's where you can feel safer on making the bet on him with his skills and strengths, and give faith to your development coaches to work some magic in his physique and skill refinement.

Thanks for reading!

I put a lot of work into my prospect articles here, both for the draft and Toronto's prospects. I do it as a fun hobby for me, and I'd probably do it in some capacity even if PPP completely ceased to exist. But if you like reading my work, some support would go a long way! I pay for a few streaming services (CHL, NCAA, USHL, the occasional TSN options for international tournaments that are broadcast) to be able to reliably watch these prospects in good quality streams. I also pay for some prospect-specific resources, such as tracking data and scouting reports from outlets like Elite Prospects, Future Considerations, McKeen's Hockey, The Athletic, and more.

Being able to get paid for this helps me dedicate more time and resources to it, rather than to second/third jobs. And whatever money I make here, a lot of I reinvest back into my prospect work through in those streaming and scouting services. Like I said, I'd be doing whatever I can afford for this anyway, so any financial help I get through this is greatly appreciated!