DRAFTED: who plays in the SHL?
An article in parts by @ABritOnThinIce1
PART 5. Swedes who have never been drafted
Whilst Sweden is the most represented European nation in the NHL and AHL, with only c. 80 Swedes currently playing in the NHL and c. 50 in the AHL, obviously the majority of Swedish hockey players remain in their home country and have successful careers here.
Undrafted doesn't mean untalented, it just means that the stars didn't line up at the right time and play to be spotted by NHL scouts in the early part of your career.
Two example of these players who played each other in this year's final Skellefteå's Pär Lindholm and Växjö's Robert Rosén.
Robert Rosén (above) has been playing for 8 years in the SHL and had a breakout year in 2011-12 when he won the Total Points competition then aged only 22, too late to be drafted in the NHL. Despite regular successful seasons at the top end of the SHL and playing internationally for Sweden since then, the talented 30 year old has never been selected for the World Cup or the Olympic Games for the national team.
Already at number 75 in Total Points scored in the history of the league, if he was to score 200 points over the next 10 years of play, he will enter an elite group - the Top 10 points scorers of all time in Sweden. Quite possible, when we consider that in his worst ever season in the SHL he scored 23 points - and that was his first season at senior level.
26 year old Pär Lindholm's potential was noted when he played for Sweden at Under 19 level. But crucially, he was not chosen for the Under 20 team and missed the exposure to NHL talent scouts the Junior World Championship would have given him.
However, the last two years at Skellefteå AIK have seen the Swede take huge strides forward in points production. In both years the centre has scored nearly a point a game and twice come second behind Joakim Lindström in the club's internal points competition. His success this year, alongside teammates Lindström and Möller, earned all three of them places in the Swedish Olympic team in Korea.
The negative of the NHL draft system is that it only rewards players who can show high levels of performance in their late teens, and not those who mature into their position in their twenties. On the other hand, when players like Rosén and Lindholm are not drafted it means they stay in Sweden. So we get to see their skills live three times a week instead of occasionally in the middle of the night on TV!
Next, in Part 6, we will take our final look at one of the groups that makes up the international melting pot of the SHL.
@ABritOnThinIce1
