Kings select defenseman Vertti Svensk (Round 5, Pick 145)

The LA Kings have selected defenseman Vertti Svensk with the 145th overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.

The Vitals
Name: Vertti Svensk
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Left
DOB: November 9, 2007
Height: 6-0
Weight: 169
Hometown: Joensuu, FIN
NHL Central Scouting Final Ranking: 87 (European Skaters)
SMAHT Scouting Final Ranking: 30
The Hockey News / Tony Ferrari Final Ranking: 47
DobberProspects Final Ranking: 63
Daily Faceoff / Steven Ellis Final Ranking: 89

Stats (Saipa U-20, Finland Jr.): 33 GP, 3 G, 28 A, 31 PTS, 80 PIM

Stephen Ellis / Daily Faceoff
The internet absolutely likes Svensk more than NHL scouting departments do. And I get it, Svensk is way too inconsistent in his own zone, even against his own age group. But he’s so fascinating. For starters, SaiPa has tried him on the wing at points. He’s excellent with the puck, so it’s worth a try. He fires a lot of chances on net and has been very successful against U-20 competition as a result. It feels like something interesting is going to happen every time he hits the ice. Svensk is a good skater, and he has gotten better at dealing with physical challenges as the season has worn on. Svensk needs to improve his hockey sense if he’s going to be more than just a boom-bust pick. But I absolutely love the raw talent and upside here.

Elite Prospects
As a skater, Svensk ticks almost all of the boxes. A highly mobile mover, he’s very impressive on his edges but also explosive. Skating is the foundation of Svensk’s game in every facet, as it is his main tool for creating offensive, defensive, and transitional value. He leverages it to evade and explode past forecheckers, jump on every rush possible, and close gaps defensively. A high-event player in every sense of the word, he’s involved in most sequences that happen during his minutes.

However, Svensk still has ways to go in refining the rest of his skill set. While the feet and the desire to activate are bound to provide him scoring opportunities, he rarely showed higher-end creation abilities or offensive instincts. Defensively, he consistently exposes himself by reaching with his stick and has trouble keeping up with his assignments. His feet are a major transition asset overall, but he often found himself unable to make plays quickly enough on retrievals, and his decisions on breakouts were often very hit-or-miss.

Quick Take – Svensk seems to be a modern offensive defenseman whose game is built around elite skating mechanics and high-end puck distribution. Scouts view him as a classic ‘high-reward project’ that will need to develop his defensive zone coverage. He plays an aggressive, high-activation style, and is a puck moving defender, which the Kings are looking for. He is able to use his exceptional skating to quarterback a power-play and can pull away from forecheckers in transition situations.