Noah Östlund

January 2024 – Ostlund has had a strong start to his first full SHL campaign with Vaxjo HC. He currently has eight goals and 17 points in 24 games with his club, scoring at a similar near-point-per-game pace to the team’s scoring leaders at the age of nineteen. His strong showing at the 2024 World Juniors helped earn Team Sweden a silver medal. He scored a crucial goal and assisted on another insurance marker in the semifinal game against Team Czechia. Ostlund applied pressure and created plays with his slick skill set throughout the tournament, in which he scored three goals and ten points in seven games — tied for Team Sweden’s scoring lead alongside regular international tournament linemate Jonathan Lekkerimaki. Kevin Wong

May 2023 – Ostlund finished his 2022-2023 Allsvenskan regular season with eight goals and 26 points in 37 games, a successful year for the 18-year-old if not for his subsequent playoff campaign which was ultimately derailed by injuries. He was fourth among regular-season scorers for his team, Djurgardens, but during the playoffs was relegated to the fourth line while he struggled to return to form. Ostlund is a quick, agile playmaker whose game revolves around his distribution and transition abilities. He can shield and protect the puck individually to create offense, but he currently lacks heaviness and strength in his game. His contributions to his team’s forecheck and his possession work down low need to improve. The 2023 Allsvenskan playoffs have concluded; thus, Ostlund is slated to join the Rochester Americans for the remainder of the AHL postseason as a member of their practice roster, although he is not expected to participate in their upcoming matches this spring. Kevin Wong

July 2022 – Östlund has been selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft, 16th overall. Nick Richard

December 2021 – Östlund has been a highly touted prospect in this class for some time but a disappointing performance at last summer’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup raised questions about his place among the top names in the 2022 draft. He has had a solid start to his season though, and his raw tools are still very intriguing.

The first thing that stands out about Östlund is his high-end skating ability and the pace at which he plays the game. He is a technically sound skater who can carve up the opposition as a puck carrier, weaving through checks in transition and dicing in and out of traffic off the cycle. Östlund has fantastic hands and is able to quickly string pass receptions into slick dekes which he layers on top of his agile skating stride, giving him an explosive element to his game. He shows good vision in the offensive zone but has a tendency to stick to the perimeter a bit too much, and though he can still manipulate defenses from the outside, getting to middle ice with the puck on his stick would make him a more dynamic offensive threat. Östlund still has a lot of areas of his game that require refinement but his combination of skating, puck skills, and offensive awareness make him a worthy selection near the middle of the first round. Nick Richard