Milan Sundström is a Swedish center for MoDo and a first-round prospect in the 2027 NHL Draft. Milan Sundström scored the overtime goal that beat Slovakia at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup as a seventeen-year-old, then made his debut in Sweden’s second tier six weeks later. His father played 750 NHL games and now scouts for one of its clubs.
| Fast facts: Milan Sundström | |
|---|---|
| Current team | MoDo, No. 24. Sweden’s second tier and the club’s junior side |
| Position | Center |
| Shoots | Left |
| Born | 6 May 2009, Örnsköldsvik, Sweden |
| Height / weight | 6-foot-2, 207 lbs, per NHL Central Scouting in October 2026. EliteProspects lists 189 cm and 85 kg |
| Drafted | Not yet eligible. First eligible in 2027 |
| Contract status | None. He is registered as a junior and holds no professional contract |
| Youth club | Järveds IF |
Where does Milan Sundström rank for the 2027 NHL draft?
High, and the range between publishers is wide. NHL Central Scouting gave Milan Sundström an A rating, meaning a potential first-round pick, on the preliminary players-to-watch list it published on 26 October 2026, as NHL.com reported. That list is headed by Landon DuPont and includes 28 players at that grade, including Alexis Joseph.
The published lists put him anywhere from third to twenty-first. The Hockey News had him third in a projected top ten on 28 June 2026, Daily Faceoff tenth in its early-season top 40 on 9 October 2026, and Craig Button twenty-first on his own list on 23 September 2026.
That is how the lists stood in the autumn of 2026. They are revised through the season, and the draft is in June 2027.
What are Milan Sundström’s career stats?
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | P | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | MoDo U18 | U18 Region | 20 | 11 | 17 | 28 | 35 |
| 2024-25 | MoDo U18 | U18 Nationell | 17 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 4 |
| 2024-25 | MoDo U20 | U20 Nationell | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 2025-26 | MoDo U18 | U18 Region | 16 | 8 | 24 | 32 | 12 |
| 2025-26 | MoDo U18 | U18 Nationell | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| 2025-26 | MoDo U20 | U20 Nationell | 12 | 12 | 8 | 20 | 8 |
Completed seasons only.
Milan Sundström scored 57 points in 31 club games across three levels in 2025-26, at a point-per-game rate and better. Twenty-two were goals, and the spread across the levels is the interesting part: 32 points in 16 games in the regional under-18 league, and 20 in 12 after he moved up to the under-20 league.
Those under-20 games were only possible because of a ruling. In January 2026, he and Skellefteå’s Douglas Johnsson became the first two players in Swedish junior hockey granted an exception from the under-20 age rules, which cleared him to play in the U20 Nationell for the rest of that season.
READ MORE: Every NHL team’s last No. 1 draft pick, and the nine who have never had one
Do scouts agree about Milan Sundström?
Not about his skating, and the disagreement runs through everything written about him. The NHL’s own director of European scouting is unambiguous. “Sundstrom isn’t fast, but he can take his time and find open space, and his hands and hockey IQ are very good,” Jukka-Pekka Vuorinen said in October 2026.
Others describe a different player. The scouting service Draft Prospects Hockey credited him with top-end speed and the ability to attack through more than one defender in October 2026, while criticizing an upright posture and passive skating in the same report. Elite Prospects’ Jimmy Hamrin landed in between: not explosive, with first strides that look odd, but good top speed and the ability to carry the puck a long way. Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis was the most skeptical, writing in October 2026 that a lack of intensity and pace held him back and had already given him pause.
The dressing room lines up behind the second view: Elton Hermansson, the nineteenth pick of the 2026 draft and on loan to MoDo for the season, told a Swedish podcast that Sundström has the sense, the size and the shot, and that he thinks he is fast as well.
Everyone agrees on the hockey sense, size, and skill with the puck. North American reports are also harder on his defensive work than anyone in Sweden: Draft Prospects Hockey called his effort level and positioning significant concerns.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Porter Martone
Has Milan Sundström played in Sweden’s second tier?
Yes, since the autumn of 2026. Milan Sundström made his HockeyAllsvenskan debut for MoDo on 18 September 2026, a 3-1 win over AIK at the Avicii Arena in Stockholm in front of 13,950 people, and he scored his first goal in the league on 28 October 2026, on the power play in a 3-0 win at Nybro, in his thirteenth game.
His head coach was blunt about what the debut had shown. Mikael Karlberg said afterward that it wasn’t just that the seventeen-year-old was in the lineup, but that he was good in it, pointing to the number of times Sundström skated past defenders and reached pucks first.
He wears No. 24 for the club, his father’s number there, and he said the club’s sporting director offered it to him.
Who is Milan Sundström’s father?
Niklas Sundström, who was the eighth pick of the 1993 NHL draft. He played 750 regular-season NHL games for the New York Rangers, the San Jose Sharks and the Montreal Canadiens, scoring 117 goals and 349 points, won the world championship with Sweden in 1998, and played at two Olympics. He also won the Swedish championship with MoDo in 2007, two years before his son was born, and he has called that the biggest thing he did in the game.
Since the 2014-15 season, he has worked as a European scout for the San Jose Sharks, which puts him in the unusual position of scouting the draft his own son is a first-round candidate for. He spoke freely about his son to Expressen in September 2026, with one exception: when asked about his own job, he said he didn’t want to talk about it.
The son is relaxed about the comparison. “He gives me tips and, you know, just makes sure I have fun,” Milan Sundström told The Hockey News in August 2026. “He just wants me to have my own journey and be me, and not think too much about what he says.”
The article also notes a record. If Milan Sundström goes in the first round, they become the first Swedish father and son both taken there, according to The Hockey News. He had not known that when it was put to him: “That would be really cool. I didn’t know that would be a first in history.”
What has Milan Sundström done for Sweden?
His best moment in a national shirt is the one that ended a game. At the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Edmonton on 3 August 2026, he scored twice and assisted once in a 4-3 win over Slovakia, and the second of his goals came 2:51 into overtime, as the official tournament summary records. Sweden finished seventh in that tournament, where he had six points in four games.
Before that, he had five points in four games at the 2025 Under-17 World Challenge. On 20 October 2026, he was named in Sweden’s under-20 squad for a five-nations tournament in Nyköping, the last gathering before the World Junior Championship, as one of only two seventeen-year-olds in it. He wears No. 14 for the national team.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about the World Junior Championship
Does Milan Sundström have an NHL contract?
No, and he cannot have one. Milan Sundström is not eligible for an NHL draft until 2027, and EliteProspects and PuckPedia both register him as a junior with no professional contract and no contract history. An entry-level deal can only follow the draft, and until then no NHL club holds his rights.
Read more:
