A Taste of the AHL for Four Young Swedes

For Swedish prospects, the cloud of an early end to the SHL season for their team has a silver lining of an opportunity to gain some experience in North America. Here are four notable young players who have just made their way across the Atlantic.

Liam Öhgren

Öhgren signed an Entry-Level Contract with the Minnesota Wild shortly after being selected 19th overall in the 2022 NHL draft. He spent the 2022-23 season in the HockeyAllsvenskan back on loan with Djurgården before making the step up to the SHL with a loan move to Färjestad for the 2023-24 season.

It proved to be a very encouraging season of development for the forward. He recorded 19 points (12 goals, 7 assists) in 26 SHL games whilst also impressing as Sweden’s captain at the World Juniors. The only blemish on the season was missing time early on with an injury, but his consistent ice time once he returned showed that he hadn’t been slowed at all, both literally on the ice and in terms of his development.

The Wild development staff must have thought they wouldn’t get the chance to work with him this season given Färjestad’s top-of-the-table finish and a presumed full-on tilt for the SHL Championship. Their 0-4 Quarter-Final sweep at the hands of Rögle put paid to that, so Öhgren should get some game time for Iowa after all.

Jonathan Lekkerimäki

Lekkerimäki was taken 15th overall in the 2022 draft by the Vancouver Canucks. Like Öhgren – and fellow first rounder Noah Östlund – he continued at Djurgården in the 2022-23 season, but Lekkerimäki’s regular season didn’t go to plan as he recorded only 9 points from his 29 appearances.

He soon put that behind him in the HAS Play-offs when he amassed 15 points in 15 games as Djurgården narrowly missed out on a return to the SHL by losing the Promotion Final series against MoDo.

Lekkerimäki signed an Entry-Level contract last summer before being loaned to Örebro to make the step up to the SHL and “stepping up” is a good way to describe his 2023-24 season. He led the team in goals (19) and points (31) and, most impressively, seemed to come alive when Örebro needed him most after a sticky spell that cost Head Coach Johan Hedberg his job midway through the campaign.

He’s been assigned to the Canucks’ AHL affiliate in Abbotsford.

Filip Bystedt

Bystedt was selected 27th overall in the 2022 NHL draft by the San Jose Sharks and Linköping’s Quarter-Final exit has meant that he is heading to the Bay Area to be part of the AHL Barracuda squad.

As a product of the Linköping junior programme, Bystedt played the majority of the 2022-23 season in the SHL under contract with the team before being loaned back there by San Jose for the 2023-24 season following him signing an Entry-Level Contract last June.

Statistically his two seasons have been quite similar and it’s in the eye of the beholder as to whether that shows positive consistency or his development having stalled. As a power forward at 6ft 4in, there have been questions posed about his skating ability perhaps reducing his potential to make it to the NHL, so that may make you lean towards the latter conclusion; however I would be wary about judging him too harshly.

We need to see him on the smaller rinks among North American competition to get a better gauge on how well he can leverage his undoubted physical talents. Getting a taste of that now before a full campaign in the AHL next season should be hugely beneficial for him.

Anton Wahlberg

Wahlberg was selected in the 2nd Round of the 2023 NHL draft by the Buffalo Sabres and was sent on loan to Malmö shortly after signing his Entry-Level Contract last summer.

He featured in 43 games during the regular season and whilst his counting stats may not jump out at you (5 goals, 5 assists), Wahlberg’s size (6ft 3) and speed across the ice made him stand out on multiple occasions when I watched Malmö games towards the end of the regular season.

Malmö finished one place above the relegation zone, 12th out of 14, and whilst points proved hard to come by for Wahlberg, he was consistently getting 16-17 minutes of ice time on the second line (typically on the wing alongside club captain Fredrik Händemark) during pressure-filled late-season games, showing a level of trust in his play from the coaching staff.

Most significantly, Wahlberg is now heading to AHL Rochester Americans three months ahead of his 19th birthday (July 4th, appropriately enough!).