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Matthew Smith

Founder of Hockey With Ice. Based in the UK, between September and June Matt spends pretty much all of his spare time either watching hockey, writing about hockey or talking about hockey. July is spent thinking about the past season. August is spent looking ahead to the new season.

Podcast

S2 Ep8: Bust Ups In Buffalo

by Matthew Smith
written by Matthew Smith

In our latest podcast episode, we take a look at all of the key news stories from the first week of the 2024-25 NHL season, including:

  • Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin and Peyton Krebs getting into an altercation during a practice session.
  • The Edmonton Oilers’ 0-3 start.
  • The NHL’s first 3 Stars of the week
  • The first games in the life of Utah Hockey Club.
  • The contract market for NHL goaltenders.

We also preview Matchday Six in the European Champions Hockey League and round-up the latest news from the Swedish Hockey League.

You can subscribe to the the podcast at all of the major podcast places or access the latest episode directly from here:

https://hockeywithice.podbean.com/e/s2-ep8-bust-ups-in-buffalo

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Podcast

S2 Ep7: NHL Western Conference Preview

by Matthew Smith
written by Matthew Smith

In the second part of our 2024-25 NHL season preview, we look at the 16 Western Conference teams.

We also preview this week’s Champions Hockey League games and round up all the key talking points from the Swedish Hockey League.

You can find the podcast on all the major podcast platforms or direct from the following link:

https://hockeywithice.podbean.com/e/s2-ep7-nhl-western-conference-preview-24-25

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Podcast

S2 Ep6: NHL Eastern Conference Preview

by Matthew Smith
written by Matthew Smith

Our latest podcast is Part One of our NHL 2024-25 season preview.

In this episode we take a look at the Eastern Conference, running the rule over all 16 teams in terms of their off-seasons and their prospects for the coming season.

We also take a look back at the first full week of games from the Swedish Hockey League.

The podcast is available on all major podcast platforms, or direct from the podcast site at:

https://hockeywithice.podbean.com/e/s2-ep6-nhl-eastern-conference-preview-24-25

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SHL Line-Ups

SHL Line-Ups: 25 September

by Matthew Smith
written by Matthew Smith

There were five games on Tuesday evening in the SHL. There was notable news for five of the teams in terms of their line-up, as rounded up below. All of the Team Line-Up Charts have been updated for their starting line-ups from yesterday, their powerplay and penalty kill stats, and an initial projected line-up for the games on Thursday. Click on the team headings, or use the menu at the top of the site, to browse the team information.

HV71

HV lost 3-1 to Skellefteå and appear to have taken over the injury curse that affected their opponents in pre-season.

Having lost Oliwer Kaski (4 weeks) and Oscar Fisker Mølgaard (8 weeks) to injuries in their opening game, HV suffered two further casualties in their second game. Defenceman Wilhelm Hallquisth took a puck to the face, losing some teeth in the process, whilst Herman Hansson came off the ice in clear pain and with a bloody nose and a sore wrist after a tackle. Both ended up being taken to a local hospital to have their injuries assessed and treated.

HV71 have posted an update on their website this afternoon and the news isn’t good.

HV71 suffered two injuries in the premiere against Växjö Lakers. Yesterday there were two more injuries since Wilhelm Hallquisth and Herman Hansson were forced out during the match against Skellefteå. Doctor Jonas Kalman examined the players on Wednesday.

“For Wilhelm, it is an upper body injury that will keep him out of action for 1-2 weeks. With Herman it was unfortunately a little worse. He has suffered a wrist injury that requires surgery and I expect him to miss games for three months”, Kalman announces.

Adding illness to injury, HV71 were also without forward Joona Luoto yesterday due to him being unwell.

Skellefteå

As for their opponents, Skellefteå have still got a bunch of players on the injured list and they may be adding Frans Haara to it. He took a nasty landing during last night’s game and it appears that he may have suffered a concussion.

Skellefteå announced this afternoon that they have agreed a short-term loan deal with Allsvenskan team Karlskoga for Stefan Milosevic and that he will be in the squad for Thursday’s game against Växjö.

Timrå

Timrå’s captain Anton Lander, injured in the previous game, was missing for their match against Örebro. Thankfully for the home team, they were able to regroup and beat Örebro in Overtime to give new Head Coach Olli Jokinen his first victory in dramatic fashion.

It was an exciting game, on an evening where that was a common theme. Timrå trailed 3-2 until Anton Lundmark equalised with eight minutes to go. Anton Wedin then got the winner with just seven seconds left in OT.

Örebro

It was a frustrating loss for Örebro, even if they did still come away with a losing point; however they have had some good news off the ice.

It was reported last week that they were trying to come to an agreement with free agent centre Kalle Kossila. SportBladet are reporting today that the two parties are close to agreeing a three-year contract.

The only problem is that there are costly tax implications for the Finnish forward if he moves back to Sweden before 27 October. SportBladet note that Örebro have limited budget space, in part due to still owing Mathias Bromé and Philip Holm money this season after paying off their contracts. That means there is no scope for Örebro potentially to incentivise Kossila to sign earlier.

Kossila will still be an excellent addition for Örebro, even if they have to wait a month before he can join the team.

Leksand

I was correct in predicting that Charles Berglund would stick with Mantas Armalis as a show of confidence in his goaltender after he conceded five goals on Saturday. Unfortunately, things didn’t go much better for the goalie or his team on Tuesday night against Luleå.

Leksand were outplayed and lost 5-1, with Armalis conceding 4 goals on 24 shots and being replaced at the start of the Third Period by newcomer Jakob Hellsten. In fairness, you couldn’t really attach much blame to Armalis on the goals he conceded, but sometimes that’s the life of a goaltender when the defence in front of you is conceding good chances.

I suspect Hellsten will get the start between the pipes on Thursday when Leksand host Rögle.

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SHL Line-Ups

SHL Line-Ups: 23 September

by Matthew Smith
written by Matthew Smith

Saturday’s SHL Premiere lived up its billing with plenty of drama and excitement. I reviewed all seven match-ups in my latest podcast episode.

I’ve also updated my Line-Up sheets for every team to include: 1. the Line-up details from their first game, 2: a projected line-up for their next game. I’ve noted some of the key injury updates below. 10 of the 14 teams are in action on Tuesday evening. As always, click on the team name heading to go to their page where you’ll find the Team Line-Up chart and other information.

Färjestad

Joel Kellman had to be helped off the ice by two of his teammates during the Third Period on Saturday. He was down for a while and then went straight to the dressing room. We’ve not had an official update as yet, but I’m expecting him to miss at least Tuesday’s game against Växjö.

I’m currently projecting Jack Berglund to take his spot at centre on the third line. He was taken 51st overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL Amateur draft at the end of June and recently signed a rookie contract with Färjestad, progressing up from the J20 squad. Berglund didn’t look out of place in his four Champions Hockey League starts this September, grabbing a goal and two assists whilst averaging over 9 minutes per game as an 18-year-old.

I’m also expecting Damian Clara to get the start between the pipes. Maxime Lagacé started against Rögle on Saturday and left the game in Overtime due to suffering cramp.

HV71

HV had a rough Opening Day, losing 4-3 to Växjö and losing two key players to injuries in the process.

Seattle Kraken prospect Oscar Fisker Mølgaard faces eight weeks out due to a hand injury. I’ve provisionally moved Måns Lindbäck from Extra Skater to the Second Line Centre, with Herman Hansson being added to the active line-up.

Oliwer Kaski will be out for four weeks with an upper-body injury. He was on the top defensive pairing with new signing Sean Day on Saturday, so we’ll see if Head Coach Anton Blomqvist decides to move another experienced SHL defenceman up to partner with him, or if he keeps the other two pairings the same and promotes Victor Sjöholm to that spot. I’ve opted for the latter for now in my projected line-up.

HV71 are at home against Skellefteå on Tuesday night.

Leksand

Leksand are away to Luleå on Tuesday and will be looking to bounce back from a 5-1 defeat away to Frölunda. I’ve currently projected them to have the same line-up, with the main question being whether there is a change in the starting goaltender.

Ordinarily I think Charles Berglund would stick with Mantas Armalis as a show of confidence in his goaltender after he conceded five goals on Saturday and that’s what I’ve gone for in the projected line-up; however, he may have already decided that Armalis would play on Saturday and then Jakob Hellsten would start on Tuesday, so we’ll have to wait and see.

MoDo

MoDo suffered a very disappointing 5-0 loss away to Örebro on Saturday, so line-up changes are a possibility.

The big story has concerned team captain David Rundblad. He was left out of the matchday squad entirely on Saturday with the club explaining that it was simply due to the coaching staff picking other players ahead of him. The Swedish hockey media, and MoDo’s fan base, are not convinced and their Sporting Director Henrik Gradin spoke to HockeyNewsSE today to defend the decision and state that rumours of Rundblad being close to leaving the team are untrue.

Will Head Coach Mattias Karlin restore him to the line-up for their game against Malmö on Saturday? The reaction to Rundblad’s omission makes me feel it’s more likely Karlin will stick to his guns, as changing after one game (unless an injury forces it on him) could be seen as him giving in to public pressure.

Rögle

Rögle are reeling from the news that Daniel Zaar needs surgery on an undisclosed injury that will put him out of action for at least six months, almost certainly meaning he will miss the entire 2024-25 season.

Former NHL player Dennis Everberg suffered a thumb injury on Saturday, so he is probably going to miss Tuesday’s game against Frölunda. I’ve provisionally moved Axel Smeds up to the top line in his place, although Head Coach Roger Hansson may feel he needs to mix the lines up more widely.

Timrå

Olli Jokinen will have his first home game as Head Coach of Timrå on Tuesday against Örebro. The main question is whether captain Anton Lander will be able to play after he left Saturday’s loss to Luleå with an injury.

The team have stated that his condition is Day-to-Day and I’ve left him in my projected line-up for now. It would not be a surprise if Tuesday’s game comes a little too early for him and, if it does, Timrå will have to dip into their J20 squad given that they went with only 12 forwards and 8 defencemen on Saturday.

The team are having to wait patiently whilst Oliver Kapanen is in NHL training camp with Montreal and they’ll be desperate to have him back as soon as possible.

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Podcast

S2 Ep5: European Leagues get going

by Matthew Smith
written by Matthew Smith

Our latest podcast episode looks at some of the key talking points as the European leagues have started their regular seasons over the past week.

We discuss the exciting Penny DEL opener between Augsburger Panthers and Ingolstadt in Germany, as well as the upcoming visit of the Buffalo Sabres to Munich at the end of this week for the grand opening of the new SAP Gardens facility.

Opening night in the Hockey Allsvenskan brought us a classic clash between Oskarsham, relegated from the SHL last season, and the sleeping giants of Swedish hockey, Djurgården. We discuss all of the drama, from the ‘5 and game’ penalty issued to Djurgården’s Daniel Brodin, the 12 rounds of penalty shots to determine a winner, and the fashion style of Djurgården’s Head Coach Robert Kimby.

We then discuss all of the opening day games from the Swedish Hockey League, from David Tomasek’s four-goal performance for Färjestad, Malmö and Örebro serving up some humble pie for the many people predicting that they will be in the relegation zone, to some depressing injury reports for HV71 and Rögle.

And then we move across the Atlantic to the NHL where the teams started their pre-season games over the past weekend.

The podcast is available via all of the usual podcast platforms, or you can listen to it direct at https://hockeywithice.podbean.com/e/s2-ep5-european-regular-season-and-nhl-pre-season/

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SHL Line-Ups

SHL Line-Ups: 20 September

by Matthew Smith
written by Matthew Smith

We’re almost there! The 2024-25 Swedish Hockey League season gets going tomorrow with all 14 teams in action. Here are a few team notes from today.

Frölunda

There are two positive bits of news coming out of Gothenburg on the eve of the new season, just outweighing the bad.

The first is that the team has somewhere to play! Frölunda have been in dispute with their landlord, GotEvent, all summer regarding a new lease at the Scandinavium. The new lease was signed today so fears that their opener against Leksand might be postponed, which always seemed like a negotiating tactic rather than a likely endpoint, have been allayed.

The second is that goaltender Lasse Johansson has signed a two-year contract extension with the team. The 37-year old already had one year remaining, so this takes him through to the end of the 2026-27 season.

The bad news is that forward Gustav Rydahl will not be returning to action as soon as first hoped. Having undergone back surgery at the start of 2024, a pre-season game appearance over the previous weekend backed up the player’s own optimism that he might be ready for the SHL Opener.

That is not to be, as Head Coach Roger Rönnberg has confirmed that it will still be a few weeks before he is ready for competitive action. The English translation of his quote to GP is: “Nothing dramatic has happened. It takes time to get fresh after an operation like this. He was examined by specialists earlier this week – and received reassuring news from there. But it takes longer than he wants”.

Brynäs

The Hockey Gods also giveth and taketh away in Gävle.

Brynäs have confirmed today that defenseman Viktor Persson has signed a short-term contract with the team. He was brought in on trial over the pre-season period and has impressed enough to be given an initial seven-week contract.

The decision has been influenced by a lower-body injury to off-season signing Charle-Édouard D’Astous. Brynäs state that he is expected to be out for “two to five weeks”.

The other big loss in Brynäs is nothing to do with the playing squad. Fans will have to do without a ‘media cube’ (i.e. the big four-sided TV in the centre of the arena ceiling) for the time being. The team decided to invest in some improvements to Monitor ERP Arena after their promotion back to the SHL was confirmed; however the equipment has been held up on its ocean voyage from Asia and is unlikely to be operational until sometime in October.

Malmö

Malmö players and fans have come out fighting in response to them being the most frequently-predicted team to face the drop this season. The feeling from many is that they have more depth than others are giving them credit for.

That depth will be tested straight away as goaltender Marek Langhamer has been ruled out of the opening game against Skellefteå, with Daniel Marmenlind taking over between the pipes. Expressen are reporting that it may be the start of a longer lay-off, although the team’s official line currently is that it is a day-to-day issue.

Unfortunately, it’s definitely not a day-to-day issue affecting Thomas Berg Paulsen. The forward is currently sidelined and Head Coach Tomas Kollar confirmed to Expressen that it is possible he will be missing until mid-November.

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SHL Line-Ups

SHL Line-Ups: 18 September

by Matthew Smith
written by Matthew Smith

The Swedish Hockey League 2024-25 gets going this coming Saturday. I’ve been updating the Team Line-Up charts with projected line-ups for the opening games, which I’ll be revising as more news is announced by teams closer to the weekend. I reviewed the first seven teams (alphabetically) yesterday and now look at the other seven. Here are the latest updates. As always, click on the team name to go through to their respective page where you can see the line-up chart and other related team info. And don’t forget that our latest podcast episode is a comprehensive preview to the SHL season ahead.

Malmö

Generally Malmö look to be in decent shape in terms of player availability. Not so good is that they are the most common answer as to which team may be relegated this season (including in my own predictions). They do have good talent on the roster and if they can stay healthy then there’s enough there to potentially keep them out of the bottom two. I worry about their depth, though, if a couple of their key players miss any significant time.

MoDo

MoDo are another team who mainly have a clean bill of health ahead of their season opener. The recent signing of Mattias Norlinder gives them an impressive group of defenders that appears to be pushing Ludwig Byström down to the Extra Defender role. That’s frustrating for him after signing for the team this summer, but a sign of strength for MoDo.

Rögle

There was bad news today for Rögle. It’s been confirmed that Daniel Zaar’s injury will keep him out of the opening game against Färjestad, and possibly for longer. Linus Sandin will take Zaar’s place on the 2nd line.

Jacob Peterson and Michael Kapla both missed training on Wednesday; however it is expected that they will be available on Saturday. Leon Bristedt also should be in the line-up after leaving the training game against HV71 on the 14th with an injury.

Skellefteå

The reigning champions are in great shape from the perspective of retaining their crown, given that they have kept the majority of their squad together from last season.

It’s a different story in the short-term. They have been ravaged by injuries over the past few weeks, to the point where they have been calling up J20 players and making short-term loans to have a full line-up for their recent Champions Hockey League games.

The latest update (from yesterday) is that the team hopes to have Axel Sandin Pellikka and Frans Hara back in their defensive ranks for Saturday, although neither is guaranteed. Skellefteå only have three other recognised SHL defenseman available so they are in a challenging spot in not wanting to rush them, but also needing players back asap. Gustav Lindvall will start in goal with Linus Söderström still out injured.

On the forward lines, Linus Lindström and Jonathan Johnson are definitely out injured and Michael Brandsegg-Nygård unavailable due to being at the Detroit Red Wings’ camp. Pär Lindholm was expected to be back in training today, so there’s optimism around him being ready, whilst Oscar Lindberg’s involvement depends on developments with his wife expecting to give birth.

Timrå

Timrå currently look to be relatively settled heading into the season, with the main omission being young Finnish star Oliver Kapanen who is in North America at Montreal’s training camp.

Forward Sebastian Hartmann is said to be making good progress from his horrible injury back in February, where his calf was accidentally sliced by an opponent’s skate, with the hope of him maybe being available for games by the end of October.

Växjö

Head Coach Jörgen Jönsson confirmed yesterday that Hugo Gustafsson will be out for at least a month after getting clattered in Växjö’s CHL game against Storhamar this past Saturday. Gustafsson suffered a concussion, but the length of absence is said to be more related to other injuries from the collision.

Off-season recruit Karl Henriksson is also unavailable due to injury, but otherwise Jönsson has a full squad to pick from.

Örebro

The main question around Örebro right now is the potential of a new player joining the squad. HockeyNewsSE reported yesterday that they are in the mix to sign former Växjö centre Kalle Kossila, whose move to Bern in Switzerland was scuppered by an issue revealed in his medical examination.

He is said to be ready to play, subject to getting up-to-speed with new teammates. That would suggest it was not an immediate physical issue but something that Bern’s medical team highlighted and was deemed to create too high of a risk against the lucrative multi-year contract that Bern were due to commit to.

Kossila would be a high quality addition for Örebro if they could get him, but for now it looks like they will go with Hannes Björninen, Milton Oscarson, Robert Leino and Christopher Mastomäki as their four centres.

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SHL Line-Ups

SHL Line-Ups: 17 September

by Matthew Smith
written by Matthew Smith

The Swedish Hockey League 2024-25 gets going this coming Saturday. I’ve been updating the Team Line-Up charts with projected line-ups for the opening games, which I’ll be revising as more news is announced by teams closer to the weekend. I’ve reviewed the first seven teams (alphabetically) and will look at the other seven on Wednesday evening. Here are the latest updates. As always, click on the team name to go through to their respective page where you can see the line-up chart and other related team info. And don’t forget that our latest podcast episode is a comprehensive preview to the SHL season ahead.

Brynäs

The main news with Brynäs is the recent signing of defenseman Victor Söderström. Previously of the Arizona Coyotes/Utah organisation (technically he’s still with Utah as they retain his NHL rights), Söderström has joined on a two-year contract. The expectation is that he will be ready to play in the season opener against Linköping.

Meanwhile, Charle-Édouard D’Astous is battling with an undisclosed injury. HockeyNewsSE spoke to Brynäs’s sporting director Johan Alcén today at the SHL launch event and he would not be drawn on whether D’Astous would be available this Saturday. I’m leaving him out of the projected line-up for now.

Frölunda

Gustav Rydahl made his return to the ice last Thursday, playing in a game for the first time since December due to a back injury that required surgery. Getting some time in a training game is a different proposition to playing a competitive SHL game, so it’s not guaranteed that he will be in the starting line-up against Leksand, but it’s very positive news in any case.

Färjestad

Färjestad are many people’s pick (including mine) to finish top of the SHL again. The state of their squad coming into their opener against Rögle is a good indication as to why. They appear to have everyone fit and raring to go other than Jérémy Groleau, currently rehabilitating from off-season surgery, and potentially Linus Johansson.

They have been perfect in the Champions Hockey League, with four wins out of four games, and have looked very impressive. Like Skellefteå and Växjö, the fact that they’ve already started playing competitive games may give them an advantage in their opening match-up against Rögle too.

HV71

HV71 are also in a good position when it comes to having a healthy squad for new Head Coach Anton Blomqvist to pick from.

Henrik Borgström didn’t play in their final pre-season game against Rögle; however Blomqvist confirmed that this was precautionary and it’s expected he’ll be ready to go by Saturday and slotting back in as the centre on HV’s top forward line.

New recruit Tanner Kero was the centre on the top line in Borgström’s absence. I suspect HV would prefer to keep Kero in his natural position at centre as he settles into the SHL, so the likely option there would be for him to centre the third line and for Måns Lindbäck to shift across to the wing.

Recent signing Sean Day could make his debut against Växjö on Saturday, although he has only just joined the team so we’ll wait and see if he is quite up to speed.

Leksand

Largely a settled group for Leksand, albeit with Lucas Elvenes having dealt with an injury recently. All signs point to him being available for Leksand’s opener against Frölunda.

Linköping

Remi Elie missed their recent pre-season game, but should be fine for the game on Saturday against Brynäs. New recruit Robin Kovács looks likely to start the season on a forward line with Broc Little and Patrick Russell.

The main question mark is in defence, with Linköping using J20 player Felix Öhrqvist in their most recent training game against Örebro. Currently I’ve got him listed as being in the starting line-up, pending any further developments.

Rasmus Rissanen and Nick Shore will not be joining the team until later this month, so they are not currently available.

Luleå

Luleå suffered a big blow recently with the news that defenseman Oskar Laaksonen is going to be out injured until early 2025. Oliwer Sjöström and Arttu Tuhkala are two promising young defenders who are being tipped to step up in Laaksonen’s absence.

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Podcast

S2 Ep4: Swedish Hockey League Preview

by Matthew Smith
written by Matthew Smith

Our latest podcast is a bumper 90-minute episode in which we preview the 2024-25 Swedish Hockey League competition.

It includes an in-depth guide to the domestic Swedish hockey system, provides plenty of useful pointers on pronunciations, and then looks at all 14 teams that form the SHL this season.

I’ve included chapter markers in the podcast so you can navigate to different sections, although how they appear (possibly ‘if’ they appear) may depend on what platform you listen your podcasts through. You can find the episode direct here: https://hockeywithice.podbean.com/e/s2e4-swedish-hockey-league-preview-2024-25.

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