As the season came to a close, Rasmus Bergqvist was standing with a silver medal around his neck, not the colour that he wanted in the end, but his season had been an overall success.
When the Montreal Canadiens drafted him with the second-to-last pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, the expectations were low, and a lot of people were scratching their heads. At development camp another Swede, Alexander Zetterberg, drew the biggest interest. However, Bergqvist won’t have to stand in anyone’s shadow during camp this summer.
As injures piled up for Skellefteå AIK during the early start of the season, Bergqvist, who had been a late addition to the main roster, got more and more time on the SHL rinks. He rarely placed a skate wrong and was solid defensively. His tough play made him a perfect partner to Axel Sandin-Pellikka, whom he already knew from the U18 and U20 teams.
It is not easy for a young defenceman in the SHL, and Bergqvist had been asked by the Canadiens to be a bit more physical. He did, accidentally, cross the line in October as he tried to box out attacking forwards in front of the net, and got a two game suspension:
When speaking to Robert Ohlsson, who coached Skellefteå AIK at the time, at the end of October, he thought that a Bergqvist and Sandin-Pellika pairing for the World Juniors would be a good thing, and Bergqvist got the chance to highlight his capabilities in the Four Nations tournament in early November. In December he was selected for team Sweden for the WJC, a tournament he opened with a bang as he opened the scoring for Sweden in the tournament, on the first pairing with Sandin-Pellikka.
In the end Sweden lost out on the medals, as usual, but Bergqvist’s stock had improved. With injured players returning to Skellefteå, he got one game in HockeyAllsvenskan with Södertälje, and then played out the season with Skellefteå’s U20 team that finished second in the playoffs.
Strengths
When you see Bergqvist play, it is his toughness and his defensive smarts that you see first, and many are quick to put him into that pigeonhole. He reads the game well and cuts off both passing and skating lanes with equal ease. His physicality in and around the crease makes him a potential player on North American ice down the stretch, but that’s still far away. One needs to point out that Bergqvist finished sixth in plus/minus for the U20 playoffs, with only two defencemen from champion Djurgården ahead of him.
There are offensive instincts there too. From afar they are hard to catch, but having watched him live a few times this season they stand out. He can join the cycle, with both an idea of setting up and finishing plays.
Weaknesses
His shot is what stands out as a weakness to me, not that it is a critical weakness for his potential role nor his position. However, it is something that he can improve upon. The same goes for his outlet passes and zone exits. Next year, Bergqvist won’t be able to rely on Sandin-Pellikka for those areas of the game, he will have to take that on responsibility himself and it will be interesting to see how that turns out.
He could stand to use his physicality more to his advantage. He needs to build up a bit to play with the professionals next year, but he also needs to play smart after the whistle. His suspension was the correct decision, and he needs to know when to stop and not make that last hit.
Grade: A
Anyone who said they foresaw Bergqvist making team Sweden for the WJC at the time of the 2024 draft is lying. Just making that team makes the season a success. Bergqvist’s usage in the SHL with close to 11 minutes of average ice time in 25 games also makes the season a success. Combine the two and it has been a very positive year for Bergqvist. The U20 silver medal was something that many sort of expected, but it adds to the season as a whole.
Overall, Bergqvist still needs to get better in every aspect of the game, and this while making a top SHL team full-time next season. One would like to see an increase in points at the professional level — it’s not that much to ask for he only needs one point to achieve that goal. Even if Bergqvist were to go to a club in HockeyAllsvenskan for a full season, that would be considered a normal step for him in regard to positive development.
Can Bergqvist become an NHL player down the line? Yes, he can. Will it take time? Yes, it will. The grade is not for his chances to get to the NHL, it is a grade for the season that he has had, and that has been better than anyone could have hoped for when it comes to the penultimate pick of the 2024 NHL Draft.
