You never know what type of value you’ll find outside of the top 100 in the NHL Draft. As far as the Toronto Maple Leafs are concerned, they hope they found a hidden gem in defenseman Victor Johansson.
To say Johansson was an off-the-board pick at No. 120 in 2024 is an understatement. Many scouts that were consulted knew very little about Johansson, other than the fact that he’s the cousin of San Jose Sharks forward Alexander Wennberg. You saw the numbers against U-20 competition – they were underwhelming.
And then there’s the frame, with Johansson being listed as being just 143 pounds when he was drafted. To be fair, it’s hard to get accurate numbers for things like that when players aren’t invited to the NHL Draft Combine in Buffalo, but you can tell he wasn’t a big kid by any means.
So, what’s the deal in his Draft + 1 season? With more eyes on him than before, it feels like scouts are starting to like what they see – even if he’s far away from being a big-time, impactful player. For starters, he’s listed as 6-foot-1 and 160 pounds. He’s still not strong, but he’s so physically engaged. And that’s always been a thing for him, according to those who have watched Johansson closely – he isn’t afraid to rough it up. It can lead to some ugly penalties at times, and discipline is definitely an issue. But if you’re not a big player but you’re involved in the rough stuff, people take notice.
Johansson is back with the Leksands U-20 program this year, where he has 19 points in 23 games. It’s well over double his eight-point output from a year ago. He’s taking on more responsibility overall, but he’s also shooting more too. That helped earn him a call-up to the top Swedish league, the SHL, back in October, but he only played 2:16 in a 5-2 loss to HV71. Maybe practicing with pros for a little bit helped him, though – scouts have noticed that he returned to junior with a bit more pep in his step.
From watching game tape this year compared to most of last year, you see a young defenseman more confident in his own abilities. Johansson was solid in his own zone before, but never really took risks with the puck. He’s doing that a lot more now and getting power-play time, allowing himself to be more free and open with the puck on his stick. That has led to him being the third highest-scoring defenseman in the Swedish J-20 so far through 23 games and the highest of any drafted defenders. Granted, there aren’t a ton of them playing junior still – many are in one of the two Swedish pro leagues – but prioritizing ice time and being in a position where he could make mistakes was important for Johansson’s overall development.
Still, the big takeaways here is that he looks stronger, meaner and more effective with the puck. We’re talking about a player that not many had on their radar when the Leafs took him, but they have quickly started to take notice. He’s not a real threat to make Sweden’s World Junior team this year, but the two-way defender has definitely upped his stock in his second year playing in the top junior league in Sweden.
Hopefully, it’ll translate into some more playing time with Leksands before the year is over – at least to just get a taste of the speed. Johansson can still get caught moving too slowly with the puck at times, so there needs to be more swiftness in his decision-making. Playing against men will only expose that more.
Johansson is still so raw. As a pure defenseman, he covers the man well and is rarely out of position. He still needs to add pure muscle and do a better job at reading and receiving passes coming his way. From watching him in development camp, you saw a young kid who struggled to do much with the puck – like he was too nervous. Right now, it’s not as big of a deal, but his puck game is still not fully where it needs to be.
But at 18, that’s fine. There’s a long runway for a prospect who most didn’t expect to come close to touching the NHL. If he doesn’t make it, whatever. If he does, the Leafs can be happy they took a chance on a prospect most teams weren’t interested in.
