Max Isaksson

June 2026 — Isaksson is a steady two-way center whose game is about doing the right thing consistently rather than any single standout trait. He posted 28 points in 30 U20 Nationell games for Växjö, a step up from his draft-minus-one season, and notably doubled his goal output to 14 while keeping the playmaking that defines him. He set up five goals in five games at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, the kind of distribution that shows the vision scouts point to. He’s a smooth skater with good hands and the sense to make the simple, correct read, and he backs it with grit, working in traffic and the dirty areas rather than floating to the perimeter. The knock is that nothing in his game is elite and he needs to add strength for the pro level, which is why Central Scouting slotted him 35th among European skaters, a fourth-round range. He got a brief three-game SHL look this season, a sign of the trust his two-way habits earn.

For fantasy, the projection is a middle-six center whose secondary scoring leans on his passing, a useful but not high-end profile that takes a couple of seasons in Sweden to mature. If the offense grows with his frame and he settles into a top-nine role, a two-way middle-six center near 45 points is the ceiling. Andrew Epps