Standouts from the U18 5 Nations Tournament in Ulricehamn, Sweden

ULRICEHAMN, Sweden – Early November always presents one of the more interesting tournaments for scouts: the Under-18 5 Nations in Sweden. 

Top prospects from Finland, Czechia, and Switzerland travelled to the small town between Gothenburg and Jönköping to meet with the host nation – and the US National Team Development Program Under-18 team made its first overseas trip of the season. 

Elite Prospects had two scouts on site, so here's who stood out for our team.

Axel Elofsson, D, Sweden

Axel Elofsson? More like Elusive-sson. The hometown kid was a treat to watch for fans and scouts alike. He’s among the best players in this draft class when it comes to offence creation from the backend, thanks to his elusiveness, deception, and constant attacking mindset.

As we wrote in a game report after the game against Switzerland:

One of two local kids on Team Sweden, as this tournament is played in Elofsson’s hometown of Ulricehamn, and he’s been treating his fans. Such a good offensive player. Had a great scoring chance early, as he walked in from the top, froze an opponent with a quick shot fake, deked around him, and rang a quick-release snapshot off the crossbar. A similar display of elite deception was his assist for the 2-0 goal: He activated, caught the puck, sold everyone in the building on the shot, but then sent a perfect backdoor feed to his teammate, who tapped the puck into a wide-open net. Elofsson is one of the most elusive, deceptive players in this draft class, it’s incredible.

As it pertains to the NHL Draft, Elofsson will still be one of the most difficult evaluations. His style just doesn’t appear translatable to the NHL game and smaller rink without some major adjustments, and his 5-foot-10 frame alone may cause him to fall in the draft. But at this point, there really is nothing more he could do to show he’s worthy of a pick.

Wiggo Sörensson, C, Sweden

Speaking of prospects leaving a mark in their hometown, Wiggo Sörensson is a fun story. Born in Vetlanda, he’s spent his entire hockey career so far with his hometown club Boro/Vetlanda HC. The problem: Their U18 and U20 teams play in the third tier of Swedish junior hockey, while their men’s team (where Sörensson has played most of his games this season) even in the fourth tier. 

While many prospects jump from one club to the next, searching for the opportunity to become a star player with a big-name program, Sörensson prioritized staying in a familiar environment – so this was his first real chance to play with and against his fellow NHL Draft prospects.

Centring Sweden’s second line between Elton Hermansson and Max Isaksson, Sörensson was a consistent standout with his quickness and motor. He wanted to make an impact, and that’s what he did.

From our game report after Sweden’s tournament opener against Czechia, and Sörensson’s national team debut:

A speedy forward with quick feet and hands. Shifty with the puck. Worked very hard, constantly battled for possession below the goal line. Good PP passing but made an impact at even strength as well. Had a nice scoring chance, picking up speed through the neutral zone and working a give-and-go to get behind the defence. Flashed some deception too, showing shot before setting up a chance with a slick slip pass. A strong national team debut.

Alexander Command, C, Sweden

After missing out on the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in August, Alexander Command came into this tournament with a lot to prove. With 11 goals in 14 games so far, he leads all draft-eligibles in goal-scoring in the U20 Nationell, and our staff has been high on him for a while. 

In Ulricehamn, he got to centre the hosts’ top line between Marcus Nordmark and Nils Bartholdsson, and Command tied Nordmark for the tournament’s scoring title with seven points in four games.

It’s not just Command's scoring that makes him a potential first-round pick, though. More importantly, he consistently showed highly translatable traits. He constantly plays with an edge, goes hard into battles, forechecks, backchecks, throws his weight around. When he wants the puck, he won’t stop before he gets it. But he’s smart about it, too – reads the game extremely well, angles, gets his stick on the puck before throwing the body.

When he gets the puck on his stick, he’s able to make plays in tight areas, weave his way through sticks and body contact. Constantly moving to create passing lanes, getting open for scoring chances to make use of his quick release, but also displaying great vision to set up his teammates.

At the end of the day, teams draft players that get their scouting staff excited – and we’re extremely excited about Command’s play so far.

Sammy Nelson, C, USA

It’s been a rough start to the season for the U.S. NTDP’s U18 group, making the trip to Sweden after a winless month of October across USHL and NCAA competition. This tournament was a chance to turn it around, but they will return with just two wins in four games – coming against Switzerland and a Czech team that played their fourth game in as many days.

But while the overall result might not quite have been what the team had hoped for, they certainly had some promising individual performances, led by 2027-eligible forward Sammy Nelson. The 6-foot-2, 192-pound right-shot centre recorded two goals and five points in four games and was Team USA’s most consistent play-driver. He missed 2026 eligibility by just four days, but would be a very strong first-round candidate if he was eligible this season.

From my game report vs. Switzerland:

A big centre who constantly battles for possession – great two-way work. Strong edge work, able to lose pressure in an instant using quick punch turns. Has very good speed and explosive acceleration to exploit open space behind the defence. Displayed an excellent wrist shot release on a couple of slot shots, one of which rang off the crossbar. His ability to get open in the slot was a standout trait, constantly making good reads and taking clever routes. Scored the 5-1 goal wide open in the slot as well. He’ll be one of the oldest players in next year’s draft class, as a Sept 19 birthday, but he looks like an A-grade prospect even compared to the 2026 class.

Mikey Berchild, LW, USA

Among 2026-eligible Americans, Mikey Berchild was the biggest – and most consistent – standout. After scoring over a point per game at the 2026 U18 World Championship as an underager, that’s hardly surprising, but it was still good to see.

A B-grade prospect on our preliminary players to watch list, Berchild is an elite puck handler with excellent skating abilities. While his size may hurt him, he constantly finds ways to come out of traffic with possession anyway, slipping through small openings while handling the puck through sticks and bodies in a phone booth, and his speed and mobility allow him to make plays off the rush. Throughout the tournament, he displayed high-level hockey sense, making advanced reads on and off the puck to create wide-open scoring chances for himself or feed his teammates with dangerous passes.

With size as big as factor as ever in the NHL, it will be interesting to see how high the 5-foot-10 winger can go, but his tools are A-grade.

Matěj Tománek, LW, Czechia

As is usually the case for mid-season international tournaments, Czechia iced a completely different roster than the one we saw at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup or the one we’ll likely see at the U18 World Championship at the end of the year. At least eight players from this group are active in the CHL, while 2009-born Dominick Byrtus and Lukas Kachlir, who are also mainstays as underage players, were playing at the World U17 Hockey Challenge. If that wasn’t enough, Šimon Katolický had to sit out games two through four with a lingering injury. Of course, that gave other players a chance to shine.

Enter Matej Tomanek. The 5-foot-8, 161-pound forward led the entire tournament in goal-scoring with five goals in four games, and added an assist. His scoring was consistent, too, recording at least a goal against Finland, Switzerland, and the US.

Throughout the tournament, Tománek stood out with his high motor, brining energy on every shift. What he lacks in size, he made up for with smart reads, quickness, and skill. As I wrote in my report following the game against Switzerland:

Throughout the tournament so far, Tománek has been noticeable as a quick, skilled, high-energy forward. Following a two-goal game including the game-winner against Finland the previous night, he put up another two goals and an assist here. Constantly involved thanks to a smart off-puck game and a very high compete level. Scored the 1-1 goal on the PP from the bumper position and added the 2-2 goal on a rebound on a 5-on-3 PP. Possesses an excellent release. He wasn’t just dangerous on the power play, though. Great playmaking flashes at even strength, too – he frequently displayed strong vision and passing skill to get the puck out of pressure and through or over sticks. At 5-foot-8, the NHL may end up being impossible to reach for him, but he’s an exciting junior player with a future in European pro hockey.

Jan Daron, RW, Switzerland

It was a tough tournament for Team Switzerland. While every other team won at least two games, Switzerland lost all four, with a combined score of 8-16. But it wasn’t all bad – and among the positives was forward Jan Daron.

Daron, a 6-foot winger, wasn’t truly on our radar for the NHL Draft going into the season, and therefore wasn’t a part of our preliminary watchlist. His year started with fairly pedestrian numbers in the Swiss U21 league, too, but then he started getting time with the pro team at the NL level. I liked him in his debut and Central Europe Regional Scout Honza Zoufal gave him praise for his performance the following week, so he’d clearly become a player to watch going into this tournament.

In Ulricehamn, Daron recorded just one assist, but he was one of the more noticeable players on a struggling Swiss team, standing out with his puck-handling and passing especially on the power play.

From our game report against Sweden:

Daron showed skill flashes in the opening game against Team USA but was Switzerland’s biggest standout among draft-eligibles on day two against Sweden. A lot of that came on the man advantage, but starting the tournament against the two toughest opponents, that tends to be the best place to evaluate his tools. A shifty carrier with good East-West mobility on his carries, able to use quick fakes and feints to throw off forecheckers. His best play at even strength was a D-zone steal and a burst of speed to create a two-on-one rush – he finished with a nice setup, but the goalie made the save on his teammate. On the PP, things mostly seemed to run through him, making plays from both flanks, posing a threat as a shooter but especially as a passer. Good vision and passing accuracy along with strong deception, which also allowed him to set up Switzerland’s only goal in this game. He may not be a high-end prospect and could go undrafted, but this was one of the strongest draft-eligible Swiss performances I’ve seen so far this season. 

Eelis Uronen, D, Finland

I’ll be honest: It was difficult to pick a standout from the Finnish team. Not because they were bad – they finished the tournament in third place with two wins and two losses. But unlike other teams, the Finns didn’t have any major individual standout performances. Which, to be fair, is often the defining trait of Finnish teams, from the junior to the men’s levels, as they often win games through structure and hard work rather than individual heroics.

One player who did catch my eye repeatedly, though, was captain and No. 1 defenceman Eelis Uronen. A minute-muncher in all situations, he wore down opposing forwards with his high-compete, physical in-zone defence, constantly battling for pucks in the corners and in front of the net. 

What stood out more compared to my last viewing at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, though, was his play with the puck. He constantly tried to rush the puck up ice, displaying solid speed in the process. His highlight of the tournament: The 1-0 goal against Czechia, as he rushed the puck up with speed, deked through the defender’s triangle, and buried the puck from the slot.

He showed some issues that could prevent him from getting drafted, most prominently on his rush defence and his decision-making, but this was an encouraging week for him, and he remains a player to watch.