Andreas Johnson named SHL Rookie of the Year, Will Be Future All-Star
10 years ago
More positive prospect news for Toronto… Andreas Johnson, the Leafs 7th round pick in 2013, has been named the SHL’s Rookie of the Year after scoring 15 goals and 24 points in 44 games this season. The speedy winger beat out Alexander Wennberg (CLB), Kevin Fiala (2014 Eligible), and fellow Leafs prospect Tom Nilsson for the honours. All but Fiala play for Frolunda, which is pretty impressive in itself.
Johnson joins a pretty impressive list of former winners, many that have gone on to enjoy NHL success and. in some cases, develop into perennial All-Stars.
Patric Hornqvist, Nicklas Backstrom, Loui Eriksson, and Henrik Zetterberg have all previously been named the SHL/Elitserien Rookie of the Year. Swedish legends Peter Forsberg and Mats Sundin were at one time also nominated for the award. They didn’t win and are therefore losers.
From SHL.se, translation courtesy of Google:
You’ve had a fantastic season. How would you describe it?“I took during last summer know that I had asthma and got medication for it. It enabled me to raise my stamina and also my level of really everything. I could do everything at a faster pace.That I did so many goals came a bit as a surprise to me anyway. I had aimed to take a place in the squad. I did so directly and so I started making goals which felt a little unexpected.” – Johnson
Whether or not we’ll get to see Andreas Johnson in North America anytime soon is another story. Johnson re-upped with Frolunda earlier in the year, committing to the Indians until 2016. That being said, and as we’ve seen before, young Swedish players sometimes have NHL out-clauses.Do I expect to see Johnson suiting up for the Leafs next season? No, but playing for the Marlies in 2015-2016 seems reasonable enough.
In our TLN Top 20 Leafs Prospect Midterm Rankings, Johnson jumped way up to 14th after not even ranking in the preseason. I imagine he’ll be much higher when we rank again.
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