The PensBurgh countdown of the Penguins’ top under-25 prospects continues with Melvin Fernström, who is hoping to impress the organization with a strong 2025-26 season in the SHL.
Catch up on the previous entries in this year’s countdown:
#12: Melvin Fernström, RW
Age: 19 (February 28, 2006)
Acquired Via: Trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 31
Height/Weight: 6’1”, 185 pounds
The Canucks originally selected Fernström, who had made the jump to the highest level of Swedish professional hockey earlier that season, with the No. 93 pick of the 2024 draft.
Former Penguins assistant GM Patrick Allvin, who became the NHL’s first Swedish general manager when Jim Rutherford brought him to Vancouver in 2022, was the one who selected Fernström with the Canucks’ No. 93 pick.
Fernström had recently been called up from the junior Swedish league to join the adults in the SHL, where he played nine total games as a 17-year-old. He had also led Sweden in production at the U18 Worlds with eight points in seven games during the 2024 tournament.
The reason the forward slipped as low as the third round despite those positive signs in his development may have been at least in part due to concerns about his speed.
From the EliteProspects 2024 NHL Draft Guide: “Fernström reads the play away from the puck, anticipates where the next pass will come, and he gets there just as his puck-carrying teammates turn to execute the play. His shot may not be the most powerful, but he gets it off from the right positions and angles to score.”
From Elite Prospects’ J.D. Burke (h/t Vancouver is Awesome): “He just isn’t quick enough. He can’t keep up with the game physically and he’s not anticipating the play in a way that covers for that deficiency.”
After the 2024 draft, Fernström split the season between the junior league and the SHL before he was traded to the Penguins as part of the return from the Feb. 1 deal that sent Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor to Vancouver Canucks.
Penguins analyst Jesse Marshall, who compiled a highlight reel for Fernström after the trade, noted at the time that skating was still a concern for the forward but that he had an “ability to find space to use his versatile and lethal shot.”
Dubas said after the trade that the Penguins had originally had Fernström highly ranked in the 2024 draft, per Penguins team reporter Michelle Crechiolo.
The Penguins GM spoke a little bit more about his thoughts on Fernström after the February trade, per Crechiolo:
“I think the thing that stood out in the draft is that when we interviewed him, he was known as an offensive, scoring winger. And we interviewed him and it was very clear to us that his mindset was in the right spot. His goal for this year was to earn a spot in the SHL and, knowing that role wasn’t going to be as a top-two-line scorer. And when we watched him this year for Orebro there, he was highly competitive.
“As an 18-year-old, he’s in their lineup every night. He’s not playing in the top two lines. He’s playing on the third or fourth line and on the second power play. But it’s what he’s doing in the games competitive. He’s chipped in. For an 18-year-old, he’s got nearly 10 points.
“And he’s been a very good player for the national team in the past. All of these players that you draft have been mostly top-line players or top-pair defensemen. Very rarely are you drafting a player from junior who was a lower-in-the-lineup guy unless it’s late in the draft and you think that there’s something that can pop. It’s going to be how they adapt when they’re lower in the lineup. Do they bring other elements when they’re not scoring and they’re not on the first-unit power play? And in his case, that’s what he’s continued to show.
“When we interviewed him at the draft, which was only seven or eight months ago now, he showed an understanding of what the development path was going to be like and what he was going to have to put into it, and that’s what impressed us then. And then as we track all of these guys – Andy Saucier’s department does this at an elite level – he is executing upon everything that he said, which is for us an important developmental attribute.”
Fernström was named SHL Rookie of the Year this spring after leading all first-year players in the Swedish league with eight goals, nine assists and 17 points in 48 games.
Penguins director of player development Tom Kostopoulos recently weighed in on Fernström’s first time playing most of a season in the SHL, per NHL.com’s Brandon Karafilis:
“Although the team didn’t do really well, they felt like he kept getting better and better. To be put with a big team and be able to produce, I think it was a really good season for him.”
“He could be a real offensive threat, like very dynamic, and he’s got a really wicked shot. So, if he keeps building that and his ability to get pucks off the wall and attack the middle of the ice, he’s got a lot of potential.”
The Penguins offered Fernström a vote of confidence by signing the forward to a three-year, entry-level contract in June.
Fernström also made his debut in black and gold as one of the 52 prospects invited to Penguins development camp this summer.
The franchise will now hope to see Fernström take another step forward in his development as he prepares to begin another season with Öbero HK.
Fernström said during development camp that he had decided to return to the SHL for another campaign, while Kostopoulos confirmed the Penguins approved of the plan, Matt Vensel reported for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in July.
“It’s a good setup — a good coaching staff and a good opportunity for him to keep building on the ice time and the role,” Kostopoulos said about Fernström returning to Öbero next season, per Vensel. “We think it’s a good spot for him.”
Fernström could get more playing time at both even strength and on the power play as he heads into his first full season in the SHL. Improving his speed while taking on an increasingly significant role against high-level competition in Sweden could potentially put him on track for a look at Penguins training camp in 2026.