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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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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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SHL Line-Ups

SHL Update: 10 September

by Matthew Smith
written by Matthew Smith

After enjoying a whole load of Champions Hockey League action over the weekend, and then recording the latest podcast episode yesterday evening, I’ve spent part of my Tuesday evening catching up on some SHL team notes. As always, click on the team name to go their dedicated team page where you can find the Team Line-up chart and further details.

Brynäs

Brynäs are continuing to look for a defenseman following the news that Christian Djoos will be out for 4-6 weeks. He confirmed today, in an interview with Gefle Dagblad (via HockeyNews.SE) that he has discarded his crutches and his recovery is going to plan. “I hope [to return] as soon as possible, but hopefully I will be back in four weeks”, is how Djoos puts it.

We know that there will not be a return for Jordie Benn as the Canadian confirmed today that he has retired. Whilst Brynäs would have loved to have him back, the fact that his wife is due to give birth to their third child soon always made that seem unlikely. There was a chance that he may sit-out the first few months and then join later in the season, but his retirement has closed that door.

Brynäs next take to the ice on Wednesday with a pre-season game against MoDo.

Frölunda

The good news coming out of Frölunda’s pre-season training camp is that Gustav Rydahl’s rehabilitation from back surgery is going well.

Rydahl last played at the end of December and it’s been a long road back for him. He was able to start skating last week and it’s hoped he will be able to take part in team training this week. That means there’s a chance he could be ready for SHL Opening Day although, given his lengthy lay-off, you would expect Frölunda to be cautious rather than risk a setback. Having Rydahl back within the first couple of the weeks of the season starting would be a bonus in any event.

Färjestad

Färjestad had an excellent start to the 2024-25 season in the Champions Hockey League by winning both of their first two matches. They beat Lahti Pelicans 5-0 and KAC Klagenfurt 6-2.

Joel Kellman missed the opener but was in the line-up on Sunday and Färjestad’s other injured players all have a chance of being involved in the CHL games this weekend, with the exception of long-term injured defenseman Jérémy Groleau. David Tomasek was close to being involved on Sunday, but ultimately was not risked, although it’s currently expected he will play this weekend. The same goes for Linus Johansson and Magnus Nygren.

HV71

HV71 today announced the signing of defenseman Sean Day. He has spent the past four seasons in the AHL playing for Syracuse Crunch, as well as making 2 NHL appearances for Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2021-22 season.

This will be Day’s first foray into Europe and, as with all North American players, we should expect there to be a period of adjustment as he gets used to the bigger rink and the slightly different style of play. He will have a familiar face to welcome him to Jönköping in goaltender Hugo Alnefelt, who was previously a teammate of his in Syracuse.

HV also announced today that young forward Herman Träff is being loaned to Nybro Vikings so that he can get some regular playing time in the Allsvenskan.

HV71 played a pre-season game against Örebro today, winning 5-4. Their starting line-up included young Swiss forward Jamiro Reber. He only turned 18 years-old last week and is set to be part of the J20 team again this coming season having scored 39 points in 46 games at that level last season.

Örebro

Head Coach Niklas Eriksson was interviewed on Örebro’s official website yesterday and spoke positively about how pre-season has been going.

The preseason has been a week longer than before. It will be seven weeks, we usually do six weeks and now we’ve done this tough loading part. Now it’s more about trying to fine-tune, find fresh legs, fresh minds, and find a game where we are clearly precise and have a common thought in what we do.

Things look fairly settled with Örebro’s line-up ahead of the SHL Opening Day on September 21st, with William Wikman now back in full training with the team.

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SHL Line-Ups

SHL Update: 3 September

by Matthew Smith
written by Matthew Smith

I’ve made a few updates to the Team Line-up charts from the Tuesday pre-season games. As always, click on the team name heading to go to their page for more details.

Brynäs

Thankfully Jakob Silfverberg was no worse-for-wear after leaving the previous training game after being hit by a puck. In Brynäs’s game on Tuesday against Djurgården he played on the top line alongside Anton Ohlsson and Johan Larsson. He got his third pre-season goal as Brynäs bounced back from losing 6-2 to AIK by beating Djurgården 3-0.

Elsewhere on the forward group, Bobby Trivigno – Linus Ölund – Jack Kopacka looks like being a third line with some promise.

There was a minor change to the defensive pairings, with new recruit Charles-Édouard D’astou moving from being paired with Kasper Larsen to being paired with Theo Lindstein. Axel Andersson moved up to partner with Larsen.

Leksand

Leksand and Örebro played a pre-season game on Tuesday. Leksand welcomed back Peter Cehlarik and Lukas Vejdemo to their forward group, with Eddie Larsson and Joonas Lyytinen returning among the defensive corps.

HockeyNews.SE reports that defenceman Patrik Norén is being held out of game action just as a precaution currently and that he will be playing again soon. Meanwhile, Marek Hrivik has returned from international duty with Slovakia and will be assessed in the coming days.

Örebro

I’ve updated Örebro’s line-up to reflect the team that played against Leksand. No great changes to report, although it was good to see Noah Steen back with the team and playing on a line with Christopher Mastomäki (and Hugo Orrsten from their J20 team).

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SHL Line-Ups

SHL: 1 September

by Matthew Smith
written by Matthew Smith

Like everyone else, I’m wondering how it is September already! Not that I’m complaining, though, as that means competitive European hockey is about to be begin. The SHL teams are stepping up their preparations for 21 September and I’ve been updating the team line-up charts to reflect the recent pre-season games. As always, click on the team name heading to go to their team page where you can find the line-up chart.

Brynäs

Brynäs played previous Hockey Allsvenskan rivals AIK on Friday night and lost 6-2. The score really doesn’t matter, but it’s a small blow to the ego that they will look to put behind them quickly.

The two main concerns coming out of the game were Brynäs being called for seven penalties and Jakob Silfverberg leaving the ice early in the Third Period due to injury. Silfverberg took a nasty puck to the body whilst blocking a shot. The initial reports make it sound like the sort of incident that hurts like mad but shouldn’t lead to him missing any significant time.

Örebro

Örebro were in pre-season action against AIK’s rivals Djurgården on Saturday. The English translation of the (brief) match report on Örebro’s website made me chuckle:

Örebro had a rather weak performance against Djurgården on Saturday afternoon. Despite that, Örebro took their third straight victory during the pre-season. The final score was 2-3 after extra time and Örebro’s goals were scored by Christopher Mastomäki, Ludvig Larsson and Patrik Puistola

HV71

HV71 issued a helpful injury update on their website from doctor Jonas Kalman. Generally the news is positive with players back training with the team this coming week, other than the known long-term lay-off for William Ignberg Nilsson.

Mikael Seppälä is continuing his recovery from the back injury he suffered at the end of December 2023. Whilst it still looks like he will not be ready for the start of the SHL regular season, there are encouraging signs that he could be back on the ice sooner rather than later.

André Petersson’s complicated off-season continues with him being 1-2 weeks away from full training with the team. That doesn’t yet rule him out for HV’s opener on 21 September, although if it’s the latter end of that timescale then opening day may come a little too soon for him.

MoDo

I have updated their line-up from the game on Saturday against Timrå. MoDo have some players away on international duty and a few pre-season aches and pains, so only listed five defencemen.

Timrå

As for Timrå, they look to be in pretty good shape at the moment with most of their key players playing an active part in pre-season.

Oliver Kapanen arguably is the biggest question mark. The 21-year-old has been the centre on the top line so far in pre-season. Kapanen signed with Timrå this off-season, after dazzling for Finland’s KalPa in the second half of last season; however, it remains a possibility that he will not actually play a competitive game with them.

He will leave for training camp with the Montréal Canadiens soon and their Front Office and coaching staff will be watching him closely. Such is his potential, they may feel that Kapanen could contribute at the NHL level this coming season and decide to option him to their AHL affiliate Laval Rocket.

All at Timrå will have their fingers firmly crossed that he ends up on a flight back to them later in September.

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SHL Line-Ups

SHL: 29 August

by Matthew Smith
written by Matthew Smith

A few updates for you as the pre-season training game schedule starts to ramp up from this coming weekend.

Brynäs

Brynäs have had a week of training and will get back to pre-season training games on Friday against AIK. I’ll update the Line-Up chart properly tomorrow when they post their line-up, but there are a couple of notes already:

  • Simon Bertilsson has been gradually building up his training after suffering from some elbow inflammation. The defenseman confirmed in an interview on their YouTube channel that he will be good to go against AIK.
  • Head Coach Niklas Gällstedt spoke to Matthias Persson of HockeyNewsSE about the team’s pre-season training so far. That includes revealing the two powerplay units he will be deploying. I’ve updated the “PP PK” worksheet with the details.

Linköping

Linköping confirmed on Monday that they have signed Robin Kovács. The former AIK, Luleå, and Örebro forward has spent the past two seasons in Switzerland with Lausanne. He negotiated an early termination of his contract and has signed a new a four-year contract to return to the SHL.

Kovács wasn’t yet ready to feature for Linköping in their game on Thursday against Växjö. Also on the absentee list were Oscar Fantenberg (out for another week or so with an upper-body injury), Patrick Russell (national team assignment with Demark) and Jonathan Myrenberg. The team also confirmed that Rasmus Rissanen and Nick Shore will not be joining the squad until late September.

Växjö Lakers

As for Växjö, they called up a couple of forwards from their J20 group (Anton Linde and Ville Svensson) to make up a full set of 12. Off-season recruits Karl Henriksson, Otto Koivula and Félix Robert are all still out of action. That will be a concern given that Växjö are just one week away from their opening Champions Hockey League game against Eisbären Berlin next Thursday 5 September.

Joachim Blichfeld was absent too, but in his case he was looking very sharp playing for Denmark in their Olympic qualifier against Great Britain this evening.

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SHL Line-Ups

SHL 24 August

by Matthew Smith
written by Matthew Smith

Frölunda’s David Edstrom had an eventful Friday. He was traded by the San Jose Sharks to the Nashville Predators as part of the deal for goaltender Yaroslav Askarov. It’s the second time that Edstrom has been traded since he was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights in the First Round of the 2023 NHL draft.

Nashville have had a busy off-season, acquiring Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei, and signing Juuse Saros to an eight-year, $62M contract extension. The latter decision signalled that the highly-rated Askarov could be available if the right offer presented itself to Nashville’s General Manager Barry Trotz.

The Sharks decided to deal from their prospect pool to acquire someone who they will hope can develop into a goalie at the heart of their rebuild.

It shouldn’t have any immediate impact on Edstrom. He was already ticketed to spend the 2024-25 season on loan with Frölunda and there’s no suggestion that this will change. Edstrom doesn’t turn 20 years old until mid-February next year, so the plan should remain for him to have another season in the SHL and then potentially to move across to North America next summer.

Frölunda

Earlier in the evening, Edstrom was centring Frölunda’s second line in a pre-season game against Leksand. Edstrom was flanked by Max Friberg and Linus Weissbach, with Mikael Ruohomaa on the first lines alongside Erik Thorell and Arttu Ruotsalainen.

Leksand

As for Leksand, Jakob Hellsten made his first unofficial start with his new team and conceded five goals. It’s always good to get the bad luck out of the way early!

MoDo

MoDo’s training game on Friday against Björklöven saw Lucas Pettersson, the 35th overall selection in this summer’s NHL draft (by Anaheim), starting on a forward line with Riley Woods and Sam Vigneault.

Rögle

Rögle played their second main training game on Friday night, this one coming against Västerås. Daniel Zaar returned to the line-up, following missing their previous game through illness, and went on a forward line with off-season recruits Leon Bristedt and Josh Dickinson.

Bristedt also has been named as one of Rögle’s three Assistant Captains alongside Dennis Everberg and Ludvig Claesson, with Anton Bengtsson continuing as the team’s Captain.

Timrå

Timrå played their second game against Vassan Sport and, once again, fielded a shortened line-up with only 11 forwards and 6 defensemen.

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