Former Wild first round pick has signed in the SHL, ditching the AHL.
The Wild have had some pretty bad first round picks in their franchise history. Tyler Cuma, AJ Thelen, Colton Gillies, and James Sheppard are some that come to mind. You could maybe add Filip Johansson to that list.
Johansson, 24, was drafted by the Wild with the 24th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. He has yet to play an NHL game and is not in the organization. In fact he never played a single game in the organization.
He went unsigned by the Wild and instead signed a deal with the Vancouver Canucks. Johansson played in 55 games with the Canucks AHL team the Abbotsford Canucks. He notched five goals and 18 points and picked up an assist in six playoff games for the Canucks during the AHL playoffs.
The right-shot defenseman signed a two-year deal with Rögle BK of the SHL in the end of May. He is on track to never play in a single NHL game in his career.
Jacob Bernard-Docker, Nils Lundkvist, Sean Durzi, Mattias Samuelsson, Kevin Bahl, Alexander Romanov, Rasmus Sandin, and Scott Perunovich were a few defensemen who were taken after Johansson. They all have played games in the NHL and are currently NHLers.
Only Bernard-Docker, Lundkvist, and Durzi are right-shot defenders but both Romanov and Samuelsson have played the right side with their respective teams.
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