With the 154th pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft the Dallas Stars select forward Daniel Ljungman from the Linköping program in Sweden.
Ljungman put his name out there in the scouting world last summer at the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, scoring four goals in five games, as well as some shootout tallies against Canada and the United States. His stock fell a bit over the 2019-20 season though, putting up just 23 points in 40 games in Sweden’s top junior league, but he was still ranked as high as 100th by McKeen’s and 104th by Elite Prospects.
As a player, Ljungman’s scoring is easily his best skill. His wrist shot is hard and accurate, and he has good hockey sense, which allows him to get into dangerous scoring areas. He’s not very big and his skating isn’t high-end, which hurts his ability to create scoring chances for himself, but he does seem a little underdeveloped still physically, so you can see the room for growth. He’s definitely more of a finisher than a play-driver, so he’ll need to be paired with the right linemates to be successful.
It also needs to be said that he’s off to a great start in the 2020-21 season. He has 10 goals in nine games for his junior club, and also made his SHL debut.
The Stars have an enormous amount of trust in their Swedish staff, and for good reason, so the organization must be pretty hopeful about how far his game is going to develop.
Daniel Ljungman scored his 3rd shootout goal of the tournament before that, great shooter #HlinkaGretzkyCup pic.twitter.com/Z2jiwWRaW0
— Brandon Holmes (@BHolmes_Hockey) August 9, 2019
Daniel Ljungman scores twice in the shootout and once in regulation to give Sweden the 5-4 shootout victory. Second time the Americans gave up an early lead in a losing effort. #HlinkagretzkyCup pic.twitter.com/kFwiLxp5fs
— Steven Ellis (@StevenEllisTHN) August 7, 2019