The San Jose Sharks used the sixth-round pick that they received from the St. Louis Blues in a trade earlier in the draft to select Theo Jacobsson, a forward from MODO Hockey of the Swedish Allsvenskan league, the second-highest league in the Swedish men’s hockey system. The trade sent pick number 71 to St. Louis, which they used to draft right-winger Simon Robertsson, in exchange for picks 81 and 177.
Jacobsson, a left-handed forward, bounced around four teams in the 2020-21 season, playing with the MODO Hockey under-18 and under-20 teams as well as the senior MODO Hockey club, before being loaned to Ornskoldsvik HF of the third-tier HockeyEttan league.
With MODO’s under-18 squad, Jacobsson tallied a remarkable four goals and ten assists in only four games, ranking second-overall in the league with a 3.5 points per game average. He carried his scoring touch to the under-20 team, albeit at a lower rate, with one goal and five assists over 11 games. However, Jacobsson wasn’t able to keep his scoring rate going with the senior club, posting no points in five games played, but was able to find it with Ornskoldsvik, with six goals and three assists in 11 games.
The 5-foot-10, 174-pound center had a much more stable season in 2019-20, playing with the MODO under-18 team for 19 games, posting an impressive 17 goals and 18 assists. He has been playing above his station for some time though, playing in the under-18 league since his age-15 season, and with the under-20 team since his age-16 season.
Jacobsson turned 18 years old last April, hailing from Ornskoldsvik, Sweden — the birthplace of many current and former NHL names such as Peter Forsberg, Markus Naslund, Victor Hedman and Henrik and Daniel Sedin. He was ranked as high as 103rd among draft-eligible skaters from Europe by NHL Central Scouting, while Smaht Scouting had him ranked 115th. He was one of 103 honorable mentions in Scott Wheeler’s mid-season rankings of the top 64 players on The Athletic.
If Jacobsson can crack the Modo Hockey senior team this upcoming season, it will almost certainly spell good things for the 18-year-old who torched the under-18 league.
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