As we discussed with #19 prospect, Bauer Berry, the Edmonton Oilers love to take defenceman late in the draft and have done so with reasonable success. This does stand to reason. Defenders often take much longer to develop, so they can look awkward and overwhelmed in their 18-year-old seasons, but blossom as they grow into their bodies and understand the game further.

As such, when the Oilers selected Albin Sundin with the 183 pick of the 2024 draft, it should have come as no surprise. The overager in his second draft-eligible season had a very weird 2023-24 season. In his time in the SHL, he played 18 games registering one assist. He was used sparingly in most games and often played less than five minutes per game. He also played five games in the third tier of Swedish professional hockey, HockeyEtten, during the season. Not the second division, HockeyAllsvenskan, but all the way down to the third division. His most time was with the J20 league where he registered 4-13-17 in 47 games playing heavy minutes in a top pairing role.

This wasn’t even the weirdest part of the year. When his J20 season was over, Albin joined his SHL team, HC Frolunda for the playoffs. Now, he had been with them for their first four games and was either playing not at all or spot duty. However, when he joined the team for the remainder of the playoffs, there was a drastic change. Albin averaged just under 15 minutes per game in those last ten playoff games. He also went 1-1—2 in those ten games and had 17 shots on net. None of these are eye-popping numbers on the whole, but in the context of his season, these totals are very impressive.

Albin has very good size at 6’2″ and 200 pounds. A right-shot, he can be considered a two-way defenceman who leans a little more to the defensive side of the game using his physicality. His skating from limited viewings looks average and probably is the area that needs work. On the other hand, his puck skills are quite good for someone who doesn’t have a big track record of point production. He has very good passing skills in all three zones. He also walks the line quite well in the offensive zone and there is no question he could play some powerplay minutes if that continues to develop.

The key question for Sundin this year will be whether those last ten games were a mirage or a player breaking out. He is listed on the HC Frolunda roster and judging by the group there, he appears slotted to play in the top six. This will give us a better understanding of whether this is a player that can move up the Edmonton Oilers depth chart.