Going to start a new feature here on the blog until the season gets underway by taking a snapshot of the various prospects in the Boston Bruins pipeline by providing analysis and updates on the players and what we think their NHL future might resemble.

First up, is 2015 2nd-round selection Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, center; aka- JFK.

Hope you enjoy, will try to post these every Sunday/Monday to help get us through the rest of the offseason.

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Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson aka “JFK”

Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, C

6-1/190 Shoots: Right

Background summary

The native of Linkoping, Sweden played two years of junior hockey in the USHL with a team that’s near and dear to my heart- the Omaha Lancers. JFK was the 45th overall pick, one of three selections acquired from the Calgary Flames for Dougie Hamilton (Zach Senyshyn and Jeremy Lauzon round out the trio).

Since 2000, only three players drafted directly by NHL teams out of Omaha have been selected higher than JFK: Louis Leblanc (18-2009/MTL); Nick Petrecki (28- 2007/SJS) & Patrick Wiercoch (42- 2008/OTT) out of a total of 27 players (BU forward Patrick Harper– NSH/2016 and Minnesota-Duluth freshman Noah Cates- PHI/2017 are listed under their high school teams but both finished their respective draft seasons with Omaha and are rolled into the count). As far as the Omaha Lancers go, JFK has a pretty solid NHL draft pedigree, with 110 career USHL games (26 goals, 86 points).

Here’s a JFK highlight video posted by the USHL right before the 2015 draft, most of you have no doubt seen it, but for those who haven’t…

After two seasons at Boston University (78-24-39-63), JFK turned pro with the B’s making his NHL debut on the last day of the 2017 regular season, a loss to the Washington Capitals. Thus far, it is the young pivot’s only big league action, but he had a solid rookie pro season in Providence of the AHL, playing in 58 games 15-17-32 line and a goal in four playoff contests. He was sidelined by a concussion this season, which forced him out of 20+ games and given a concussion history, this will be something to keep an eye on.

Talent analysis

JFK is a cerebral two-way center. He was knocked in his younger years for lacking pace/urgency in his game, but this is an area he’s showed improvement in since early 2014. He’s strong in the faceoff circle and has excellent vision/hockey sense as a forward who is reliable across all 200 feet of the ice surface. While he’s not a burner in the open ice, he’s quick and agile, often reading and processing plays to get a step on defenders to gain time, space and separation.

Forsbacka Karlsson is not what you would call a classic top-2 line forward, but he projects as a quintessential third-line pivot who has the potential to play up or down the lineup in pinch. He has an excellent stick- able to make on-target passes from either side of the blade and has shown that he can find the back of the net in bunches, even if he is not all that consistent a goal scorer when compared to others in the system.

He’s a natural penalty killer, but doesn’t look to be on track to see much power play time at the highest level (at least not for a while), though he does have the head and hands to be able make good use of the added time and space the man advantage affords.

The biggest area of concern for JFK has to do with his injury history (two significant concussions) and a lean frame which is probably not going to see much more mass packed on as he nears the end of his physical growth cycle.

JFK isn’t a dynamic player- you have to watch him to appreciate the details of his game. But, he’s where he needs to be and is able to speed up and slow down the pace when he’s in the middle of the ice and making the play flow through him. If you expect an electrifying center who will bring you out of your seat on every shift, he’s not it. He is, however, highly effective in the middle of the ice, which is where most games are won and lost.

2018-19 Projection

Entering the third year of his entry-level contract, the expectation is that the Bruins would like to see him make a case for the third-line center position, but don’t expect them to force the issue. He showed signs of being up to the task last year with Providence and was developing nicely until the injury setback.

If he doesn’t win a spot on the third or even fourth line in Boston coming out of camp, he’ll go back down I-95 to Providence, where he should be able to score at around a point-per-game pace and would likely be on a very short list of callups if the need arises.

However, given how hard Boston worked to get him to leave school in spring of 2017, the thinking here is that he’ll be given ample opportunity to earn an NHL job in October. If he doesn’t, then it will be interesting to see what comes next in his development.

JFK factoids

Turns 22 on Halloween.

Both parents are lawyers in Sweden.

JFK and fellow Bruin Ryan Donato teamed up in Ralston, Nebraska for a very brief time, as Donato joined the Lancers after he and Dexter Southfield came up short in the New England prep school championship to Salisbury School Crimson Knights in 2015. Unfortunately for Omaha, JFK took a head shot in their first game together in the Lancers lineup and he ended up missing the final 10 games of the regular season and USHL playoffs.