It’s generally a good thing when a Swedish defender is compared directly to Erik Karlsson, and Adam Boqvist has lived with those comparisons ever since the 2017 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in 2017, where he burst out onto the international stage.
Boqvist certainly brings out the same type of offence and delivers the same output as the more known defender at the same age. He scored 24 points (14 goals, 10 assists) in the Swedish U20 Super Elite the past season for a 0.96 points-per-game average. In his draft year, Erik Karlsson put up 37 points (13 goals, 24 assists) for a 0.