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Brynäs

SHL Line-Ups: 20 September

by Matthew Smith 20/09/2024

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.

20/09/2024 0 comments

SHL Line-Ups

SHL Update: 10 September

by Matthew Smith 10/09/2024

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.

10/09/2024 0 comments

SHL Line-Ups

SHL Update: 3 September

by Matthew Smith 03/09/2024

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).

03/09/2024 0 comments

SHL Line-Ups

SHL: 1 September

by Matthew Smith 01/09/2024

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.

01/09/2024 0 comments

SHL Line-Ups

SHL: 29 August

by Matthew Smith 29/08/2024

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.

29/08/2024 0 comments

SHL Line-Ups

SHL: 20 August

by Matthew Smith 20/08/2024

written by Matthew Smith

This may be Update Part One depending on what news we get later on today, including from the game this evening between Brynäs and Örebro. Click on the team name to go to their dedicated page, which includes their Line-Up charts.

Brynäs

Starting with Brynäs, I’ve updated this line-up to reflect the (limited) update provided by Head Coach Niklas Gällstedt about defenseman Simon Bertilsson. Gällstedt told HockeyNews.SE that Berilsson “was not available to train today [19 August], but we are waiting and taking it day by day”. When questioned if it may be a long-term injury, the Head Coach said “No, I don’t think so. At least I hope not”.

Also updated to reflect the lines used in training on Monday, with the likelihood that this is how they will take to the ice this evening. That includes Miks Indrasis being away with the Latvian national team preparing for their upcoming Olympic qualifier at the end of the month. Gällstedt has confirmed that he will be trying out some different forward line combinations as a result.

HV71

Updated to reflect the long-term injury to forward William Ignberg Nilsson. It’s been confirmed on HV’s official website that he will undergo an operation on his foot this week and will be out for 3-4 months.

By the sounds of it, the injury was just a freak accident. It’s a tough blow for the team and the player, particularly coming at the time of the year when everyone is excited for the new season. I would currently pencil him in for a return in early December and adjust from there based on updates as his rehabilitation progresses.

Frölunda

Updated Gustav Rydahl’s injury status as reported by Raka Puckar (via HockeyNews.SE). Rydahl has been out since the end of 2023 and had surgery on his back in early 2024.

Frölunda are downplaying his limited role in training currently. It is said to be part of the recovery going to plan rather than being a problem. Taken at face value, I would work on the basis that they don’t expect he will be ready for Opening Day on 21 September.

20/08/2024 0 comments

SHL Line-Ups

SHL: 15 August

by Matthew Smith 15/08/2024

written by Matthew Smith

Before I get to the news, if you’re not already familiar with HockeyNews.SE then I can heartily recommend them – and their premium subscription – as a great source of news, interviews and features about Swedish hockey and the NHL. It’s all in Swedish (reasonably enough!), but Google Translate works really well in converting it into English.

Not only do they offer their own reporting, they also highlight key news reported by other outlets. That’s invaluable if you live outside of Sweden as all of the main national and local newspaper websites, plus hockeysverige.se, require payment using Klarna and the BankID service that – as far as I’ve ever been able to establish – is not available to non-Swedish residents.

Onto the Line-Up news …

Brynäs

Brynäs started their pre-season training game schedule on Thursday against Timrå.

Returning hero Jakob Silfverberg was used on the top line alongside Jordan Schroeder and Oskar Lindblom, whilst Christian Djoos and Charles-Édouard D’astous were paired up defensively. Defenseman Simon Bertilsson was the main absentee.

Timrå

As for Timrå, Olli Jokinen’s first unofficial line-up as Head Coach featured young Finnish forward Oliver Kapanen, the Montréal Canadiens’ 2nd round draft pick in 2021, centring the top line alongside Filip Hållander and Jonathan Dahlén.

Publicly there’s still uncertainty over which team Kapanen will be playing for in the 2024-25 season. He made 64 appearances for KalPa in the Finnish Liiga last season, including 13 play-off games from which he was credited for 14 points. Kapanen then decided to make the SHL the next step in his development by signing a two-year contract with Timrå in early May.

However, in mid-June he signed a 3-year Entry-Level Contract with the Canadiens and he will be joining the NHL team in early September for their pre-season training camp. Whilst it is still probable that Kapanen will head back to Timrå, there is some talk that he has a chance of making Montréal’s roster if he impresses in their camp. That would be great news for Kapanen, but a real blow to Timrå.

Malmö Redhawks

Goaltender Marek Langhammer was not involved in Malmö’s game on Thursday against Oskarshamn. Daniel Marmenlind was the starting goalie, so Langhammer he have just got some training work in instead rather than being the back-up.

After not being involved in Malmö’s first training game, Fredrik Händemark and Otto Stenberg played against Oskarshamn, joined on the same line by Axel Sundberg. Johan Ivarsson replaced Joseph Burger in defense.

Rögle

New signing Jacob Peterson is dealing with a shoulder injury and will not be involved in Rögle’s first few training games. It doesn’t sound like something that will slow him down for long, though, and the rest of the squad are ready to go.

Head Coach Roger Hansson revealed to Helsingborgs Dagblad the forward lines and defensive pairings that he will be starting out with, as reported by HockeyNews.SE. I’ve updated the Rögle lineup chart to match.

15/08/2024 0 comments

Swedish Hockey

Catching Up on Recent SHL Signings

by Matthew Smith 22/07/2024

written by Matthew Smith

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.

22/07/2024 0 comments

Swedish Hockey

Brynäs vs Djurgården: 2024 HAS Promotion Series

by Matthew Smith 16/04/2024

written by Matthew Smith

This season’s Promotion Series play-off in the HockeyAllsvenskan has the potential to be one for the ages.

It is a battle between two teams whose history suggests they should be battling for SHL glory, not simply the chance to play in the top-tier of Swedish hockey.

Brynäs trying to bounce straight back

Brynäs are looking to get back to where they belong. This is a team that had never been relegated from the top-tier of Swedish hockey (over 60 years) before disaster struck in 2023.

They finished that season second from bottom, in 13th place, and were beaten 4-1 by Malmö in the Relegation Series to condemn them to the HockeyAllsvenskan for the first time.

It wasn’t completely out of the blue. Brynäs had faced the relegation play-off series two years before where they got the better of HV71 to avoid the drop. A 10th-placed finish in 2022 was an improvement, but not one that lasted. Finally, in 2023, the unthinkable happened.

The team has responded to this blow in a perfect manner. They have finished top of the league by a distance, 17 points to be exact, winning 38 of their 52 games (5 in Overtime). They swept Nyrbo Vikings 4-0 in the Quarter-Finals and then beat Karlskoga in five games in a relatively stress-free march to the Promotion Series.

However, none of that will matter if they fall at the final hurdle. The objective is simple: promotion at the first attempt. Anything else will be considered a failure for the second most successful team in Swedish hockey.

Success at the second attempt for Djurgården?

No one knows that better than their Promotion Series opponents, the most successful team in Swedish hockey, Djurgården.

The 16 times champions Djurgården were relegated two years ago, in 2022, during a season in which they won only 14 games before being defeated in the Relegation Series by Timrå.

They finished fourth in the HockeyAllsvenskan last season and made it through to the Promotion Series where they lost to MoDo, so they’re aiming to go one better this time around.

They have history on their side too as this is how things played out the last time they got relegated, 12 years ago. They were relegated in 2012 and then got back up at their second attempt.

Not just status at stake

The financial disparity between the SHL and HockeyAllsvenskan is considerable, with broadcasting revenue approximately one-tenth of what comes teams way in the top tier.

A newly-relegated team does receive a parachute payment in their first year to soften the blow and Brynäs have used their budget well this season to give themselves a great chance of taking full advantage.

If they don’t, they’ll be in a similar position to Djurgården now, trying to find a way to put together a roster befitting the club’s history and expectations of fans without the benefit of the SHL broadcast money to fuel their budget.

Who to look out for?

Brynäs’s main strength is the depth of their roster and you can almost go so far as to say that they are an SHL team in the second tier.

Miks Indrasis was brought in over the off-season with over 500 games in the Russian KHL under his belt and he has been everything they hoped for, finishing second in the HAS points-scoring ranks with 58 in 52 games (only bettered by Södertälje’s Marcus Eriksson’s 59 points).

American Jack Kopacka showed promise last season with Kristianstads in the HAS and Brynäs saw a hard-working, physical forward who had the potential to add more goals to his game. He proved them right by scoring 33 times, the most of any player in the league, and he leads the team with 6 goals in 9 play-off games.

At the other end of the ice, Brynäs made a real statement of intent in mid-October by adding defenseman Jordie Benn to their group, a veteran of other 600 NHL games. He’s one of several quality defenders playing in front of the colossus that is 6ft 6in goalie Damian Clara. The 19-year-old was taken in the Second Round of the 2023 NHL draft by the Anaheim Ducks and has been hugely impressive in the HAS this season, following it up by conceding only 12 goals combined in 7 play-off games so far.

As for Djurgården, we have to start with the evergreen Linus Klasen. He had a point-per-game season as a 38-year-old (47 points in 47 games) and, after amassing 16 points in 15 play-off games last season, he’ll be desperate to help his team get over the final hurdle this time around, potentially as fitting swansong to a brilliant career.

Djurgården captain Marcus Krüger also put up 16 points in the play-offs last season. The disappointment of the Promotion Final defeat has been added to in 2023-24 due to him being sidelined for two extended spells due to injury. Thankfully for Djurgården, he’s been a consistent presence in the team since the start of March and, as a player who was part of two Stanley Cup-winning teams with the Chicago Blackhawks, having him fit and firing at this time of year has been a big factor in their progression to the Final.

At the back, they can rely on the steadying presence of goaltender Viktor Andrén. The former Brynäs goalie has started all 11 of Djurgården’s play-off games so far and you can expect him to be in between the pipes throughout the Promotion Final series.

Which way will it go?

Brynäs have shown few weaknesses across the regular season, and the play-offs so far, and it’s difficult to avoid the feeling that they should go on and complete the job; however, such great expectations come with great pressure.

The first two games of the best-of-seven series will be played at Brynäs’s Monitor ERP Arena. If Djurgården can win even one of those contests then they will fancy their chances at using their home-ice advantage at Hovet over the following two games to really test their opponent’s resolve.

The sensible prediction would be for a competitive series ending in a 4-2 victory for Brynäs, but no one should be surprised if we end up with a winner-takes-all Game Seven.

Series Schedule

Weds 17th – Gm 1 at Brynäs
Fri 19th – Gm 2 at Brynäs
Sun 21st – Gm 3 at Djurgården
Tues 23rd – Gm 4 at Djurgården
Fri 26th – Gm 5 at Brynäs
Sun 28th – Gm 6 at Djurgården
Tues 30th – Gm 7 at Brynäs

16/04/2024 0 comments