Elitserien preview

Last season of Elitserien was very even and this year's edition seems to be just as even and it's very hard to see any clear favourites among the twelve clubs. The season starts on Tuesday when Frölunda plays Växjö, before the start of the season Eurohockey.com takes a quick look on the twelve participating clubs.



AIK

AIK made a succesful comeback in Elitserien last year and surprisingly reached the semi finals. Now it's time for the second year in Elitserien this time and the question is if AIK can repeats last year success. Viktor Fasth was the best goalie of the league last year and if he can repeat that AIK will surely do well. AIK has kept most of last year's roster and the biggest signings are Linus Videll and Robert Rosén. Rosén was the pre season top scorer with eight points in nine games, AIK won six of them.


Brynäs

Brynäs finished seventh last year and I have to believe that they will improve that position this year. Goalie Johan Holmqvist has returned but is he as good as he was the last he played in Brynäs. Key defender Mattias Ekholm and is replaced by Ryan Gunderson in anonymous roster on defence. Offensively much will rely on veteran Andreas Dackell and youngsters Jakob Silfverberg and Calle Järnkrok. Brynäs won five out of nine pre season game and impressed in the last on Sunday by beating Södertälje 7-0.


Djurgårdens IF

Djurgården placed sixth last year and is a contender to finish higher this year. They participated in the European Trophy but was eliminated after winning four of eight games. Goalie Mark Owuya was successful last year but has left for NHL but is replaced by Gustaf Wesslau that returned from North America. The roster lack top scorers but there is a good width with several players that could scored around 20-30 points. Last years to scorer Marcus Krüger left for NHL but another prospect Mika Zibanejad will probably stay. The club has made two big signings on defense Daniel Tjärnqvist and Kyle Klubertanz.


Frölunda HC

Being one of the richest clubs of the league Frölunda very disappointingly missed the playoff last season. Despite many star signings they failed to build a good team. This year they are trying a some what different approach with some former players returning. Magnus Kahnberg is back and after some bad years he looks hot scoring ten points in eight European Trophy games. Frölunda also won their division and looks stronger than last year. Perhaps there is a small question mark for the goalies as noone of them has played in Elitserien. Frederik Andersen was successful in Denmark while Magnus Hellberg played in Swedens 2nd tier last year.


Färjestads BK

Last season's champions are one of the main contenders also this year. The roster is quite intact even if they lost some key players like goalie Alexander Salak and hard working forward Mattias Sjögren. Incoming on the other hand is Fredrik Sjöström who returns to Sweden after several years in the NHL. Rickard Wallin is one of the most important players on this hard working team that doesn't have many stars player but a lot of talented players that always fight hard. But if Färjestad is to defend their title they need to be better than in the European Trophy  where they only had 10 points in 8 games.


HV71

HV71 is a club in shock after the death of Stefan Liv in the Yaroslavl plane crash. If it will have an effect on the ice noone can tell. HV71 won the league last season but very surprisingly lost in the quarter finals. Now former Swedish NHL star Ulf Dahlén is new coach who still has a lot to prove as coach. The team also lost some key players like Martin Thörnberg, Teemu Laine and Pasi Puistola. The question is if players like Jason Krog and Jesse Joensuu can replace them? Or can Fredrik Bremberg who had a bad 2000/2011 find his game again?


Linköpings HC

Fifth place and semi final last year, can Linköping do better this year? I think they can, they have kept most of the players even if they lost Patrik Zackrisson to KHL. Key players like Magnus Johansson, Fredrik Norrena and the Czechs Hlavac and Hlinka are still here and players like Johan Åkerman, Carl Söderberg and Pär Arlbrandt will strengthen the team. LHC has also signed Elitserien's best player at face offs, Joakim Eriksson. Linköping placed second in their Division in the European Trophy winning four out of eight games, Mikael Håkansson scored nine points in these games.


Luleå HF

Luleå was one of the big surprises last year, head coach Jonas Rönnqvist made a very good work building this team with a very solid defence. Last year's first goalie Anders Nilsson has left the team and is leaving David Rautio with more ice time this year, will he be as good? Luleå also lost their top scorer Pär Arlbrandt but also landed two big signings in NHL veteran Niclas Wallin and Johan Harju who scored 49 points his last season with Luleå. Other key players still on the roster from last year is Elias Fälth and the Abbott twins. Luleå placed second in their European Trohpy division with five wins in eight games.
 

MoDo Hockey

The classic club MoDo who created so many NHL stars finished in last place last year and barely avoided relegation. To avoid the same again they have replaced a lot of the roster but just as last year there are few own MoDo talents on the roster. Goalie Mikael Tellqvist, Dick Axelsson and NHLers Rob Schremp and Freddy Meyer are interesting signings by GM Markus Näslund who are assisted by Peter Forsberg. Another former Swedish NHL star is new head coach, Ulf Samuelsson. Two wins out seven pre season games are not impressive and MoDo need to improve a lot to avoid to repeat last season's failure.


Skellefteå AIK

Skellefteå AIK won the silver last year but the list of players that left the team since the is long. David Rundblad, Tim Erixon, Adam Larsson, Joakim Lindström, Fredrik Warg and Mikko Lehtonen are all gone. And even if players like Lee Goren, Hannu Pikkarainen and Oscar Möller are good, they can't replace these guys. Skellefteå on the other hand are replacing MoDo as the big talent school in Swedish hockey and perhaps there are a few new young guys getting their big break through this year. Five wins in sevens pre-season games can also give Skellefteå some confidence when the season starts.


Timrå IK

After a season badly hit by injuries Timrå missed the playoffs last year. The club was forced to make a lot of changes to their team and signed 14 new players for this season. Most of them are quite anonymous and on paper the roster seems to be the weakest of the league. Petr Vampola is a big signing that also played well on the pre season and he will have a very big role on this team that doesn't have many other stars but a bunch of hard working players. Johan Andersson was a World Championship player when he left the team a few years agao and now he is back again hoping to return to that level again. But he main key to success for Timrå is goalkeeping and avoiding injuries. With signing two backup goalies in Joakim Lundström and Stefan Riddewall they are taking a big risk and on the injury front things already looks a bit bad and try out player Aleksandrs Jerofejevs left the team injured leaving Timrå with only seven defenders.
 

Växjö Lakers

The only new team of the league is Växjö Lakers who makes their first ever season in Elitserien. Newcomers are often expected to finish at the bottom but after several impressive signings during the silly season Växjö looks strong. Martin Gerber is new goalie, other new players with NHL experience are Mike Iggulden, Liam Reddox, Tomi Kallio, Ilkka Heikkinen and Brad Moran. Last seasons top scorers Josh Soares and Steve Saviano are also still on the team. Växjö played eight pre season games and didn't lose a single one of them. The only question seems to be if they can have to much of self confidence going to the new season because playing in Elitserien will be a different thing. If they can get a good start to the season they can do very well.

 

Advanced player search

Tweets by @eurohockey