Erik Brannstrom’s name hasn’t typically been grouped in with the rest of this year’s top-rated draft-eligible defencemen slated to be taken in the first half of Round 1, but it probably should be.

The undersized but offensively gifted blueliner has found early success in his young career, already playing in Sweden’s top professional league at just 17 years old, and has even earned comparisons to elite rearguard Erik Karlsson for the way he moves the puck and jumps into scoring plays.

Here’s what you need to know about Brannstrom.

Team: HV71 (SHL)

Position: Defence

Shoots: Left

Age: 17

From: Eksjo, SWE

Height: 5-foot-10

Weight: 173 lbs

NHL Central Scouting ranking (final): No. 9 (European skaters)

Jeff Marek’s Take: “A fantastic skater who is offensively gifted. Not the biggest defenceman on the ice, but is usually the smartest.”

He’s small, but speedy

It can be a risky move for a team to take a smaller defenceman, especially in the first round, but in a league currently leaning in the direction of speed over brute force, Brannstrom could prove to be a smart pickup midway through Round 1.

His game has been compared to Karlsson as well as Kimmo Timonen, he’s taking notes from players like Ryan Ellis and Shayne Gostisbehere—skaters known more for their playmaking and resourcefulness than for their size—and his ability to dominate a power play is hard to ignore.

Truly skilled offensive defencemen are hard to come by outside of the draft, which means Brannstrom’s name could be called earlier than his mid- to late-first-round projection—undersized or not.

He’s got a real flare for offence

It’s easy to get lost in Brannstrom’s highlights when he does stuff like this:

And this:

Also this:

(He’s No. 4 here.)

He’s been playing among men

Brannstrom got his first taste of life in the big leagues this past season, suiting up for the SHL’s HV71 at just 17 years old—the same club his father, Niklas, skated with throughout his career.

The younger Brannstrom was able to accomplish in his first year what the elder never could: winning the Le Mat Trophy as SHL champion.

Brannstrom developed in the HV71 system, starting with the U16 team in 2013-14 and excelling at every level. He was the top defenceman in terms of point production almost annually, and served as captain of the J20 squad in 2016-17.

This past season, he tallied an impressive nine goals and 23 points in 19 games with HV71 J20 before joining the big club and registering a goal and six points in 35 games. (Those SHL totals don’t sound like much, but his age and position should be taken into account here.)

He has also played a starring role for Team Sweden over the years, most recently during this year’s Under-18 world championships, where he had five points in seven games and made opposing goalies’ lives difficult.

It’s also worth noting that Brannstrom, who was born Sept. 2, 1999, just made the cut for the 2017 draft by a few weeks and is therefore almost a full year younger than many of those in his draft class.

Patience will be required with this young defenceman, but all signs point to it paying off down the road.