Julius Bergman

Playing career

Julius Bergman started his hockey journey in Sweden, playing youth hockey with junior teams tied to Karlskrona HK. He then went on loan to the Frölunda HC organization, suiting up for their J18 squad before moving up to the J20 team. He made his senior debut for Frölunda during the 2013 European Trophy. On July 16, 2014, Bergman inked a three-year entry-level deal with the San Jose Sharks. He spent the 2014-15 season playing major junior hockey in Canada for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. Following that, he played three seasons with the Sharks' American Hockey League affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. His most productive year came in 2017-18, when he notched ten goals and ten assists. On June 19, 2018, the Sharks traded him, along with Mikkel Bødker and a sixth-round pick in the 2020 NHL draft, to the Ottawa Senators for Mike Hoffman, Cody Donaghey, and a fifth-round pick in 2020. After attending his first training camp with the Senators, Bergman was sent to their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators, to start the 2018-19 season. He struggled to match his previous output, managing only six assists in 33 games from the blue line. In February, the Swedish sports paper Sportbladet reported that Bergman planned to return to Frölunda at season's end. On February 22, 2019, he was part of the trade that sent Matt Duchene from the Senators to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for prospects Vitaly Abramov, Jonathan Davidsson, and two conditional first-round picks in 2019 and 2020. Bergman was immediately assigned to Columbus's AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters. Before he could play a game for the Monsters, the Blue Jackets traded him at the deadline to the New York Rangers, along with fourth- and seventh-round picks in the 2019 NHL draft, for Adam McQuaid. He finished the season with ten games for the Rangers' AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. Unable to crack the NHL, and facing restricted free agency with the Rangers, Bergman chose to return to Sweden, signing a two-year contract with his original club, Frölunda HC, on May 8, 2019. Back with Frölunda for the 2019-20 season, he had trouble finding his role, posting just six assists in 42 regular-season games before the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the playoffs.