Mandatory credit – Calgary Flames X handle

Eric Nilson NHL Draft Projection – Overview, Strengths, Weaknesses, and Projection for 2025 NHL Entry Draft

Nilson is a potential first-round draft pick

Mandatory credit – Calgary Flames X handle

Continuing the countdown to the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, the stage is nearly set for hockey’s new stars to make their way in the top professional ice hockey league in the world, i.e., the NHL. With this year’s draft taking place on Friday, June 27, and Saturday, June 28, in Los Angeles, California, plenty of excitement has built up for the big event.

Here, we will take a look at Eric Nilson, one of the prospects from the professional Swedish Hockey League. Let us take a look at his strengths, weaknesses, and draft projection.

Eric Nilson Overview

Eric Nilson is a Swedish-Canadian professional ice hockey player. He was born on 11 May 2007 in Calgary, Alberta, and holds Canadian citizenship by virtue of birth. However, the 18-year-old has been playing for Djurgårdens IF in the Swedish professional league. Nilson has also represented the Swedish national team.

Nilson comes from a hockey background. His father, Marcus Nilson, started his career with Djurgårdens IF, after which he played in the NHL for several years. At the time of Eric’s birth, his father was playing for the Calgary Flames. In 2009, Marcus Nilson went back to Djurgårdens IF, in Sweden, where his son would grow up and carve his own journey as a hockey player.

The 2025 draft prospect plays as a forward, with his primary position being the center. Nilson is a right-handed shooter who stands 6 feet tall and weighs approximately 115 pounds. Playing for Djurgårdens IF this past season, Nilson tallied 12 goals and 38 points in 37 games.

Eric Nilson is a forward with Djurgarden Jr.

He hopes to follow in the footsteps of his father, Marcus, who skated in over 500 NHL games. #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/1YLoXOnmtz
— NHL Public Relations (@NHLPR) June 10, 2025

Also Read: Top 7 NHL Free Agents for 2025

Eric Nilson Strengths

Starting with the strengths for Nilson, the Swedish player has good skating ability. Even though he is not physically strong enough due to a lack of size, he has the ability to fend off defenders, even those who are much bigger than he is.

Nilson is one of the better forecheckers in this draft class and is really active off the puck. He closes in on defenders, looking to force opponents into mistakes and turnovers. At the same time, he also shows qualities of a good center with his overall work rate and backchecking effort.

Eric Nilson Weaknesses

As for weaknesses, Nilson lacks physical strength, which at times leads to losing control of the puck. He has the ability to find his way around stronger defenders, but on occasion, he can get overpowered.

The forward needs to work on both his shot selection and shot power. There are plenty of instances when he has a decent look at the goal, but his shot selection lets him down. Less power in his shot is also a disadvantage when he needs to blast the puck past the goalie.

"It's really fun to have a lot of Djurgårdens guys (here)."

The son of @AlumniFlames Marcus Nilson, Eric, discusses his NHL Combine experience and his development in Sweden! pic.twitter.com/4LQgRpM3Hu
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) June 4, 2025

Another area he can work on getting better at is dishing off the puck to players near the net. Instead of prolonging the play by waiting for something to develop, he can involve his teammates by passing the puck near the net.

Nilson has also shown a tendency not to apply enough pace on his backhand passes, and that has resulted in turnovers, especially at the blue line, from where breakouts can occur.

Eric Nilson Draft Projection

As per the various mock drafts and scouting reports, Eric Nilson is a contender to be selected in the first round at the 2025 NHL Draft. However, there is also a strong possibility that the Swedish-Canadian player could fall to the second round as well. Even if Nilson does get selected in the first round, it is expected to be near the end.

2025 NHL Draft

Eric Nilson

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NHL Draft

Devavrat Kulkarni

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I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!