Homer keeps on going

The Detroit warrior Tomas Holmström will be starting his 13th NHL season since he joined the league as a 23-year-old, but he says in an interview with Aftonbladet that he isn't seeing the end just yet.

- To continue until I'm 40 years old would be nice. I'm just 36 years so far and it's still damn fun to play hockey. Maybe I can try to beat Chris Chelios record, he is 47 years old, Holmström says.

Eleven more years? You got to be kidding me?
- (Laugh). I think it's incredibly fun to play. Sure, I'm going towards the end of my career, but this is a lifestyle and I want to keep on going for a couple of more years.

It's in the NHL that Holmström wants to spend those years and he doubts he will return to Sweden to finish his career. He enjoying being with the Red Wings incredibly much and the same goes for his life outside the club.

- Our kids are born and have grown up in Detroit, and we will probably stay here after my retirement. Right now I'm applying for a Green Card and to play in Luleå and Sweden is something I doubt I will do.

Holmström was part of the Swedish gold medal winning team in the 2006 Olympics. The upcoming Olympics in Vancouver are closing in very fast and that is something Holmström is really looking forward to.

While he loves talking about the Olympics, it becomes obvious that the 2009 Stanley Cup final is something he doesn't like talking about when Aftonbladet ask if he has recovered from it.

- No, absolutely not. I almost feel like hanging up now when you start talking about it. That's how hard it is.

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- I know how fun it is to win and we had the chance to do it at home ice... It still hurts. And that it will do for a good while yet.

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Random news - Where will the monster go?

Goalie Jonas Gustavsson, who seems to be this year's Fabian Brunnström, has narrowed it down to four NHL teams for next season. According to Aftonbladet, he travelled today to North America to visit Colorado, San José, Dallas and Toronto.

Gustavsson beat Henrik Lundqvist's old SEL playoff record this season for number of minutes without letting a goal in with the new record being 222 minutes and 40 seconds. This accomplishment gave him the nickname "The Monster" in Swedish media, which still lives on.

He ended up leading his team Färjestads BK to the Swedish Championship this year. Then he was awarded The Golden Puck and helped Team Sweden getting the bronze medal in the World Championship in May.

Gustavsson will get the maximum rookie contract no matter where he ends up, so money isn't a factor. Instead he is looking for the team that feels the most right.

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Swedish defenseman Patrik Hersley isn't exactly one of the more known Swedes in North America. This season he has been part of the Philadelphia Flyers, but has only played in the AHL and the ECHL.

After two seasons in the AHL and the ECHL with not much to show for it, he has decided to head back to Sweden. Hersley had one year left on his contract with the Flyers, but will now instead play that year with the team where his career started, Malmö Redhawks in HockeyAllsvenskan.

Hersley is still just 22 years old. So maybe he will make the jump across the pond again one day, if he can get his game going at home.

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Speaking of Malmö Redhawks; Detroit's super scout Håkan Andersson has expressed interest in 19-year-old defenseman Anton Blomqvist, who plays for that team. Andersson says the following to the newspaper Sydsvenskan.

Yes, we are interested. That we are, says Håkan Andersson.

A comment like that from a scout doesn't say much, but I thought it was interesting as the scouting service Redline called Blomqvist "the most underrated player in the draft at any position" just before last year's draft.

In that draft, Blomqvist was passed over. A big reason for this was probably that he basically had not played anywhere beyond the Swedish junior leagues. This year he played with the Swedish U19 national team though and impressed when he got a shot with Malmö's senior team in HockeyAllsvenskan at the end of the season.

Andersson describes Blomqvist as a big and mobile defenseman, who needs to add more muscles. I would also add that he got a bit of a mean streak and I must say he became a bit of a favorite of mine because of his finish to the season. Next season he will play full-time on Malmö's senior team.

A player to keep an eye on.
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The Wings re-sign RFA Jonathan Ericsson

Newspaper Aftonbladet is in my option a reliable source, when it comes to news about Swedish players signing in the NHL, which I think my earlier posts have showed. Today they are reporting that Swedish defenseman Jonathan Ericsson has re-signed with the Detroit Red Wings.

It's according to Aftonbladet a one-way contract on 3 years and worth a total $2.7 million. He will be making $550k in the first year, $900k in year two and $1.25 million in the last year.

The big defenseman was the last player drafted in the 2002 NHL Draft and is seen as another one of Detroit's late-round steals. Detroit being stacked at defense though has made for example Kyle at WTF Holland worried about Ericsson's future in the organization. I think this contract shows though that he's a big part of their future plans.

By the way, sorry for the long silence. I blame it on a combination of being busy with work and a computer crash. Only one week left of work now though until a month of vacation before another year at the university and I bought a new laptop the other day, so hopefully less time will go by before my next post.
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08 Draft: Mr. Irrelevant - Jesper Samuelsson

The 2008 NHL Entry Draft took place this weekend as most people here probably know. Personally I had a very busy weekend in general with both the draft and Midsummer celebrations.

The upcoming week at this blog will probably mean a lot of post-draft news and I will begin it all by translating an article from the newspaper Norrköpings Tidningar about what could be another classic late-round pick by Detroit Red Wings. I'm talking about forward Jesper Samuelsson, who was picked last overall in the draft - Mr. Irrelevant.

This year's Midsummer became something quite out of the ordinary for Jesper Samuelsson. Among the herring and the strawberries, the Norrköping native had time to get drafted by the Stanley Cup Champions Detroit Red Wings.

People have noticed Jesper Samuelsson's successful season in Vita Hästen even outside Sweden's borders.

On Midsummer Day, he was selected as number 211 in this year's NHL Entry Draft. The Detroit Red Wings, with the Norrköping native Jonathan Ericsson in the organization, are hoping to see him on the team one day in the future.

- Really fun! This has been an eventful Midsummer, says Jesper.

He has been in contact with Detroit’s chief European scout, Håkan Andersson, since last fall. At one point, he was on special training in Stockholm to show what he can do.

The Detroit management has obvious been impressed by the 20-year-old's hockey knowledge - to Jesper's big happiness.

- It didn't come totally unexpected, but I was a bit nervous because I had not heard from the club in the last month. I sat by the computer and followed the whole draft, says Jesper.

He ended up having to wait a long time before his name was announced. That he was picked at number 211 has no significance, according to him.

- It doesn't really matter. To be drafted by the best team in the world is big, who wouldn't want that?

Calgary and Ottawa have also showed interest for Jesper, but it ended up being Detroit that got the NHL rights for Jesper in the next couple of years.

There will be no time to rest though as Jesper travels to Detroit on July 5 for a nine-day training camp.

- It's going to be very exciting. A good opportunity to show what you can do and at the same time probably a lot of watching and learning. The training is going to be very hard, he says.

Jesper left Vita Hästen this spring. Next season he will be playing in the SEL with Timrå. He has moved in to a lovely duplex apartment in Sundsvall and has been training with his new team for a month now.

- Everything feels great. The amount of training, two times a day, is a bit different than what I'm used to, but I got into it pretty quick, says Jesper.

When do you think you will play in the NHL?

I've no idea about the time span. I take one step at a time and will have to see when my dream becomes true, says Jesper who has been home and celebrated Midsummer in the archipelago of Östergötland.

Celebrations that became something extra thanks to Detroit.

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Dick Axelsson on loan to Sweden

21-year-old forward Dick Axelsson was picked up late in the second round of the 2006 NHL Draft by the Detroit Red Wings. He just comes off a great rookie season in the SEL, where he had 12 goals and 13 assists in 47 games and also got to play on the national team.

Detroit thought he had showed enough and signed him to a contract about a month ago. Not that surprising though, it became official yesterday that he will go back to Sweden and Djurgårdens IF on loan for one season.

- We're hoping that he will continue developing this upcoming season. He showed really good results in his rookie season and got every possibility to take the next step in his development, says Djurgården's GM Janne Järlefelt.

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Lilja plans to stay in the NHL

A little bit more than a week ago, defensive defenseman Andreas Lilja of Detroit Red Wings became the first player born in the same province as me (Scania) to win the Stanley Cup. He came back to Sweden the other day, traveling home from the airport in a car that his family and friends had decorated with a bunch of red and white balloons and the text "Here comes Scania's first Stanley Cup Champion" at the back, and my local paper, Sydsvenskan, had a chat with him.

There have been talks about him returning to Malmö Redhawks from the city I live in, the team where he started his career, but he said in the interview that he has decided to stay in the NHL for at least 4 more years.

- I'm negotiating with Detroit about a new contract, but it was put on ice for the playoffs. I'm counting on everything being done soon.

Lilja said 2 weeks ago to Expressen, that he would be happy with a small raise and Expressen is predicting that he is looking for around $1.2 million per year.
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