The Florida Panthers selected Danish winger Mads Kongsbak Klyvø in the fourth round (112th overall) of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft in Los Angeles. It was the trade-happy Cats first pick of the event.
Klyvø spent the majority of his draft season with Frölunda HC’s junior squad in the J20 Nationell. He put up impressive numbers for a 17-year-old, recording 14 goals and 15 assists in 42 games. In the postseason, he was even more productive, amassing four goals and eight points in six games played.
His impressive showing led to four appearances in the Swedish Hockey League playoffs.
Internationally, Klyvø represented Denmark at both the U18 World Junior Championship Division I-A and the U20 World Junior Championship Division I-A tournaments.
At the U18 event in Székesfehérvár, Hungary, which Denmark won to earn promotion, Klyvø put up four goals and five assists in five games to finish second in scoring. He collected three assists in five games at the U20 tournament in Bled, Slovenia, which Denmark also won to climb into the top division for 2026.
After being drafted by the Panthers, Klyvø attended Florida’s annual development camp before returning to Sweden. Unfortunately, an injury kept him on the shelf until the end of the calender year.
Klyvø finally returned to action at the 2026 World Junior Championship in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The overmatched Danes tried their best, but were relegated back to Division I-A after losing 8-4 to Germany on January 2. The rusty Klyvø acquitted himself well at the top-level tournament, playing in all five of Denmark’s games and finishing with three goals and an assist.
Following the WJC, Klyvø headed back to Sweden and ended up playing 15 tilts in the J20 Nationell, where he came within a whisker of averaging a point per game with four goals and ten assists. He also played his first two regular season games in the SHL and suited up in a game for the big club in the Champions League. Klyvø finished the season by producing five goals and three assists in 15 Nationell playoff games.
The now 19-year-old made another appearance in Fort Lauderdale this summer at development camp and will continue to hone his game in Sweden in 2026-27. He may be ready to graduate full-time to Frolunda’s SHL squad or perhaps a loan to a second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan club is in the cards.
Klyvø is another recent pick that is getting positive attention from the hockey press ranking Florida’s prospects, placing fourth in Corey Pronman’s recent look at the Panthers system on The Athletic. He moves like a future NHL player and has better acceleration and quickness than scouting reports give him credit for, and his edgework is in a good place for his age. There is a shiftiness in the way his body and stick move together as he positions himself for passes and shots that forces hesitation from defenders and goalies. It’s a deception that only players with an innate feel for offense have, and he’s got an above average NHL grade wrist shot to convert on that feel. Like most young scorers, his 200-foot game needs work, which there is plenty of time for. Is he a sure-fire top-line winger in the NHL? No, absolutely not. Could he be? Possibly, but everything would have to come together for that to happen.