Wild drafts Swedish center Eriksson Ek; Boeser goes to Vancouver at 23

The Wild drafted Joel Eriksson Ek with the 20th pick in the first round of the NHL draft.

Eriksson Ek, a 6-2, 180-pound center, played for Farjestad BK in Karlstad, Sweden, his hometown. He had four goals in 34 games for the team, which is in Sweden's top league, and also had 21 goals in 25 games for Farjestad's junior team.

He is under contract and will likely play for Farjestad, the program that produced Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin, again in 2015-16.

"Being taken by the same team as Brodin is pretty cool," said Eriksson Ek. "He was born maybe 15 minutes from me."

Eriksson Ek described himself as "a two way player that can feel comfortable playing on both sides of the puck and will do everything for the team to win. Just give my best."

Eriksson Ek's father, Clas Eriksson, played with Färjestad BK for 12 seasons.

Said Wild assistant general manager Brent Flahr about Eriksson Ek: "He's a big two-way center, very smart player both ends of the rink. He's a real hard-working kid, he's a character kid and he can really shoot the puck. He has the ability to score goals, but he can do a lot of things. He's a big leader on the Swedish national teams on every team he's played on.

"He's played well in all the tournaments and also played well for Farjestad in the Elite League already as a young player. Farjestad's a good program. We know that from Jonas Brodin."

Burnsville's Brock Boeser went to Vancouver three picks later, 23rd overall. For more on Boeser, here's the preview story for the draft.