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Get to know a draft pick -- Filip Forsberg

Filip Forsberg

Richard Wolowicz

All week leading up to the 2012 NHL Entry Draft in Pittsburgh, we’ll be profiling top prospects who may hear their names called Friday in the first round. Nothing too in-depth. Just enough so you know who they are and what they’re about.

Filip Forsberg (C/RW)

Height: 6'2 Weight: 181 Shoots: Right

Team: Leksands IF (Allsvenskan)

Country: Sweden

NHL Central Scouting ranking: No. 1 among European skaters

What kind of player is he?

Though he’s not related to Peter Forsberg, he’s tried to model his game after Foppa’s. Scouts have lauded his physical play despite the fact he’s only 17 -- Forsberg doesn’t turn 18 until mid-August and was Sweden’s youngest player at the 2012 World Junior tournament.

Forsberg’s physicality could be a byproduct of playing against men last season. He scored 17 points in 43 games for Leksand (same team Oliver Ekman-Larsson played with before joining the Coyotes) while showing an ability to drive the net and score timely goals.

Those traits were on further display at the international level, most notably at the 2011 World U-18s and the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournaments, where Forsberg combined to score eight times.

Goran Stubb, NHL Director of European Scouting, compared Forsberg “to Anaheim’s Corey Perry a little bit.”

Quotable:

“He’s a skillful player. He can contribute in all parts of the game. He can play the power play, the penalty kill, and he’s really a hard-working, good skater. And he loves to battle. Of course, he can also be the guy who makes the difference offensively.” -- WJC Team Sweden coach Roger Ronnberg

More draft profiles:

Nail Yakupov