There may not be more of a “Never Heard His Name Before” or a “Off-Board” prospect in this draft, but drafting those players has been going well for the Leafs over the last few years.
Wiggo Sorensson
Position: Centre
Shoots: Left
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 181lbs
The reason Sorensson would be an off-board pick is because he has literally played off-the-board in terms of where he decided to ply his trade. Generally what happens in Sweden is similar to what would happen if you were growing up in my part of Canada, which is Newfoundland and Labrador. The issue with being a top end talent at the edge of the Atlantic is the sparsity of population and lack of proper development routes to the NHL. With just 500,000 people scattered around a vast amount of land, it’s understandable that the talent pool in NL is less than that of a more condensed area, such as the GTA.
In short, the best way to improve is to play against people better than you, so if you’re a big fish in the little pool that is Hockey NL, your best bet is to head to the mainland where you can play against better competition from a bigger pool of players. That’s what the likes of Dawson Mercer and Alex Newhook did in their mid teens and it’s what a lot of kids in Sweden do if they’re very talented and on the outskirts of their country.
That isn’t what Wiggo did.
What he did was stay home and play for Boto/Vetlanda in the U20 Division 2 and, while I’m not exactly well read on Sweden’s tiered league system, from what I can tell that is the equivalent of Senior Hockey here in Canada. It was there that he produced 20 goals and 38pts in 29 games as a 17 year old, which was his 2nd season in that league. So we know he’s been playing at a pro level of hockey since he was 16, which is impressive, no matter how you chop it up.
It’s also what has lead to his playing a hard working, defensively responsible and offensively deceptive game. Think about it, if you were 16 and had to play against grown men, to survive physically you’d be as elusive as possible with the puck, as smart as possible without it and as hard working as possible when you had no other choice but to make contact.
It’s these attributes that allowed him to produce 6pts in 6 games at the U18 WJC on route to a Gold medal. He was voted a top 3 player for Sweden at that tournament. It’s those few international showings he had amongst his peers that intrigues scouts as well. When he was called upon to play for his national team he was one of the better players on the ice, which shows that he can play to higher competition.
The player we’re talking about here is said to have a high hockey IQ, is quick and agile on his feet, works hard on the ice, is good defensively, has a solid shot that is accurate, is deceptive and has experience playing against grown men. He will need time to pack on muscle, which is normal for any kid in the draft, but outside of that the only criticism you will hear is that nobody really knows how well his production at his chosen level of play will translate to higher tiers of hockey. What they do know is that when he has played with his draft level peers he has been excellent. This is where having good European scouts and trusting them will come into play, because Sorensson could represent the biggest steal of the 2026 NHL Draft and possibly the biggest steal of the past few NHL drafts combined.
For the past few years the Leafs have “reached” on prospects. Easton Cowan and Ben Danford were both selected higher than expected and both have developed well so far. Tinus-Luc Koblar literally made Leafs Nation say “Who?” simultaneously and just had a fantastic World Championship, where he scored 6 goals and 9pts in 10 games, making many wonder if he’s closer to an NHL job than originally projected. If they get to the podium this year and announce Wiggo Sorensson as the next “never-heard-of-him” prospect to join their prospect pool, well, now you’ve heard of him and don’t be surprised if the highly skilled, two-way centre turns out to be one of the better picks they’ve made outside of the 1st round in this century.