The past week has seen another group of player signings in the Swedish Hockey Leagues.
MoDo Making Moves
Predicting which two teams may end the coming season in the relegation play-off is always very difficult, not least as you’re bound to upset their fans in the process.
One team who you could reasonably put in the group of potentials is MoDo. That would be ased on their 11th-placed finish last season and that 2024-25 will be their second season in the SHL following promotion. Just as music bands can struggle with the ‘difficult second album’, the ‘difficult second season’ can be an issue too.
The problems are usually two-fold. Firstly, some of your best players can be snapped up by more established teams now that they have shown what they can do in the top-tier. For MoDo, that’s come in the form of forward Josh Dickinson departing for Rögle and defenseman Daniel Brickley moving to Tappara Tampere in Finland.
Secondly, staying up the first season often relies on retaining the team spirit that helped you get promoted in the first place and that group dynamic can be disrupted when bringing in new players if you are not careful.
So far it looks like the team has managed this process well this summer and they confirmed two more additions last week. Paul LaDue has joined from the Bridgeport Islanders in the AHL and Ludwig Byström returns to the team that gave him his professional debut as a 16-year-old back in 2010.
Mattias Persson of HockeyNews SE was so impressed that last Tuesday he even tipped MoDo to be a play-off team in 2024-25. If that comes true then it will be the perfect way to banish the ‘difficult second season’ curse.
HV71 and Brynäs too
Two other teams you would have to put in the relegation series conversation are the team that narrowly escaped relegation in 23-24, HV71, and the team that has come up from the Allsvenskan, Brynäs. Both teams have made a number of additions over the off-season to try to keep out of the danger zone.
Brynäs unsurprisingly have been especially active in building a team to step back up to the SHL. Their most recent move has been to complete their goaltender tandem by signing former Frölunda junior Ludvig Persson. Persson spent four years playing in NCAA and now returns to Sweden to compete for playing time in the crease with Erik Källgren.
Brynäs benefitted from some outstanding goaltending in their promotion campaign courtesy of the Anaheim Ducks’ prospect Damian Clara. The 6’6″ goalie was selected 60th overall in the 2023 draft and was then loaned to Brynäs by Färjestad for the 23-24 season. Clara signed an Entry Level Contract with the Ducks in June and although he is expected to return to Sweden for one more season, that will be with Färjestad.
As for HV, they were one of several SHL teams linked to Finnish forward Joona Luoto this off-season and they were able to confirm that they had won this particular prize last week. The former Winnipeg Jet and Columbus Blue Jacket spent the 23-24 season in Switzerland with Bern and should be a very useful addition to HV71’s group of forwards.
Teams at the top getting better as well
At the other end of the table, last season’s beaten finalists Rögle have completed what, on paper, looks to be a flawless off-season by signing Jacob Peterson. The former Frölunda and Färjestad forward returns to the SHL after three seasons in North America that included 83 NHL games combined for the Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks.
Peterson is one of 10 main new signings that Rögle have secured this off-season. Sporting Director Hampus Sjöström deserves a lot of credit for the retooling job he has done, particularly after the somewhat surprising exit of Rodrigo Abols who opted out of his contract to sign a two-way contract with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Meanwhile beaten semi-finalists Frölunda followed up their signing of Arttu Ruotsalainen on 12 July with the capture of Linus Weissbach over the past weekend.
The team from Göteborg has also had to recover from an unplanned departure to the NHL, in Frölunda’s case that being Jere Innala opting of his contract to sign with the Colorado Avalanche. Bringing Weissbach back home is an excellent Plan B, not least as the 26-year-old will still feel highly motivated to keep his own NHL dream alive.
The forward hasn’t been able to find a way through the Buffalo Sabres’ deep prospect system over his past three AHL seasons. He will return to Sweden determined to perform well for Frölunda and to catch another NHL team’s eye in the process.
Växjö to add one more?
Expressen reported on Monday that Växjö Lakers are about to complete their summer shopping with the addition of Canadian forward Félix Robert. [NOTE: just after I published this article, Växjö confirmed the signing on their website].
He turns 25 years old on Wednesday 24th July and his birthday present will be to sign a contract to play in Europe for the first time. The centre has played in the AHL for the Syracuse Crunch over the past two seasons, with very consistent results: 34 points from 55 games in 22-23 and 34 points from 53 games in 23-24.
The news immediately puts to bed any rumours of a return for Kalle Kossila. The Finnish forward’s move to Bern was called off at the end of last week due to them finding issue with an undisclosed part of his pre-contract medical examination. Kossila had been excellent for Växjö over the past two seasons and a return to his former team might have been an option, given that they will know his recent medical history better than most.
However, there will be no space for him once Robert arrives and HockeyNews SE reports that it is looking likely that Kossila will stay in Switzerland with Ambri-Piotta.
