Örebro HK

Örebro for the first time since they gained promotion to the SHL might be a top six team and are my surprise package to topple some of the big names of Swedish hockey this year.

The chequebook has been out to create a team that wants to score goals.

They retained Anton Hedman (above) who came in from Luleå to rescue the team at the end of the season, scoring 8 points in just 10 games. But more significantly, have bought in the top scoring back from HockeyAllsvenskan, Marcus Björk as well as one of the top scoring backs already in the SHL, Kristian Näkyvä from Linköping HC.

At the back they have brought in 27 year old Finn, Rasmus Rissanen who was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2009. The big hitter is more used to collecting Penalty Minutes than goals played nearly 300 games for the Charlotte Checkers (AHL) collecting 357 PIMs. He has similar stats his two seasons for Jokerit in the KHL.

Perhaps the person who'll remind him that in Sweden you have to keep the gloves on is his former teammate from 2009/10, Shane Harper. The American has a very successful career in the AHL with nearly 400 games, 85 goals and 183 points.

But if Harper is an unknown quantity, they have goal scoring certainty with the brilliant Aaron Palushaj. He was an unknown in Sweden before playing for Brynäs, but had his best year since 2013/4 when he played with Rissanen for the Checkers in the AHL.

He joins a team designed for success and only time will tell if the ambitious attacking re-build gamble pays off.

Marcus Björk (ÖHK)

Shortly 21, Marcus Björk will be joining Örebro HK this autumn for the biggest step in his career. Originally from Norrbotten, it was last year with IK Oskarshamn that he had his breakout year not just leading the league in points as a defenseman but the whole team with 34. He was only 10 points behind Jonathan Dahlén, who will be starting in the AHL/ NHL circus shortly and he scored more than seasoned players like Mattias Ritola of Leksand IF. Oskarhamn finished 7th in the league but surprised many by getting to the semifinals stage of the qualifiers for the SHL. They nearly caused the shock of the season when the beat Leksand and took the Dalarna club to sudden death then beat them at home before eventually losing the series 2-1. Björk impressed with one goal and two assists in the series. He will be joining a new look Örebro and playing alongside Kristian Näkyvä, an experienced points scoring back in the AHL, Liiga, SHL and at international level. I'm hoping the young defenseman can make a success transition to the SHL and make his mark as a top back in the league. He's already had a small taste of North American hockey where he played a handful of games in the USHL as a junior. So who knows how far this young Swede can go?

The second weekend of the CHL has come to an end with every team playing another two games, leaving only just two remaining matches in the group stage of the tournament.

The only teams to maintain unbeaten record are Czech Republic's HC Pilsen (four wins out of four in regulation) and Swiss SC Bern (three wins in regulation and one in overtime). Meanwhile Skellefteå AIK (SWE) and HV Zug (SWI) remained unbeaten in regulation having both won three games, but losing one match in overtime.

Three players have scored 8 points in four games, but Red Bull München's Trevor Parkes leads the Total Points competition by virtue of also being the CHL's Top Goal Scorer with 6. The Canadian forward is in his third season in the German DEL but has previously played over 200 games in the AHL. Those have primarily been with Detroit Red Wings development team, Grand Rapid Griffins.

Unexpected losers in the competition are Finnish TPS, Swedish champions Växjö Lakers (both with 3 losses) and Germany's Eisbären Berlin, who have lost all four matches. These teams will struggle to make it into the knockout stages now. Likewise, Storhamar Hamar, the Norwegian team of Patrik Thoresen (pictured above) who are bottom of Group E.

This has been the most exciting CHL since it started in 2014/5, mainly because the gaps between the teams are far less than before.

Cardiff Devils (GBR), for example, may not have won a game, but are at a whole other level to the team that lost 10-1, 7-3 and 5-1 in their away games last year. The Elite League champions were leading top team, SC Bern 2-1 with 16:06 to go in the game until a late run of goals lead to 3-2 to the home side at the final whistle.

Surprise of the tournament remains Italian, HC Bolzano who have beaten Finnish legends Helsinki IFK home and away as well beating Skellefteå AIK in overtime at home. I use the word "surprise" cautiously, however, because this is team has nearly 2000 AHL games of experience. Wins against Polish GKS Tychy, who so far have lost every match, will guarantee the EBEL champions qualification to the knockout stages.

The final rounds of the group phase of the competition will take place on 9/10 and 16/17 October and will feature back to back matches against the same opponents. So, see you then to find out who's in and who's out of this year's Champions Hockey League.

Marcus Davidsson (DIF)

Soon 20, the centre has already two seasons in the SHL with Djurgården having come through the team as a junior. Last year he played in Sweden's Junior World Championship team that won Silver and scored in the match against the Czech Republic as well as serving up two assists.

As well as the World Championships, the 2017 Buffalo Sabres drafted player had a breakout year, as did the whole club, and Davidsson finished the season with 21 points in 39 games in the regular season. An attack minded centre, he's always dangerous in the last third and he has a knack of being in the right place at the right time, as well vision to see when he should release the puck to teammates. The younger of the Davidsson brothers also plays smart, staying out of the penalty box.

Especially with the Swedish junior team, but also with Djurgården he was in a milieu of talented players playing at the top of their game. Marcus won't necessarily have those kind of players around him this year, such as his brother Jonathan. So this season will see him develop as an individual and if he maintains the upward trajectory can expect to join many of his Junior World Championship colleagues in North America soon.

Simon Hjälmarsson (FHC)

Hjälmarsson is one of those many talented, but underrated, Swedes who provide skill and experience to teams enabling some of the more famous names around them to shine. The youngest, but most successful of three hockey playing brothers, Simon is now in his third season at Frölunda where he played at Under 20 level. He also played for Sweden every year between 2010/11 and 2014/5 and earlier in his career at the Junior World Championship two years in a row which lead to him being drafted in 2007 by St Louis Blues. However, this has never lead to time in North America and at 29 years old Hjälmarsson is now unlikely to play on the continent. Although he has had success in the KHL with CSKA Moskva it is in the SHL he has excelled the most, first at Linköping where he was part of Pär Alverbrant's incredible 2013/4 when he scored 71 points and teammate Chad Kolarik won the top goal scorer with 30 goals. But now with Frölunda he has picked up so that his average fit his seven seasons in the league is an impressive 0.63 PPG. He probably won't be on the top line with the likes of Lasch and Rakhshani on the team, but he be knocking in goals on a regular basis.

The Swedish Hockey League is naturally dominated by homegrown players and differing stages of their careers. The young wannabes hoping to join the NHL, the 20-somethings who have settled in the rhythm of European hockey and the 30-somethings returning from North America hoping to feel their way back into the Swedish game.

I'm going to make a Fantasy Team from this year's crop of Swedes playing in the SHL - two forwards, a centre, two defenseman and, naturally, one keeper. I've not always chosen who I think is the best in each position, but tried to a variation of clubs, backgrounds and stories to give you a feel of the talent on offer this season.

Joakim Lindström (SKE)

Who wouldn't want to have Lindström in their team? The 34 year old, playing in his hometown club had played in the NHL, AHL and KHL and his statistics in the SHL are simply phenomenal- since 2010/11 when he returned to the country after his first stint in North America he has scored more than 1 Point Per Game every season, except one - where he also played in the NHL - that is 300 points in 283 regular season games in total. It means every single game he plays he either scores a goal or creates a game. I think it fair to say he is one of the best Swedish players outside the NHL. Lindström's major weakness his discipline- he consistently picks up more Penalty Minutes in a season than matches played and you can almost guarantee that each year he will pick up a match penalty or two for Checking to the Head or Boarding plus subsequent suspensions.

Justin Pogge (RBK)

Imports players often come in and support or provide specialist services to a team, especially goal scoring. You might have thought that this would lead to a lot of netminders coming in but, no, Justin Pogge is the only North American of all 28 SHL keepers.

The 32 year old Canadian was drafted by Toronto Maple Leafs in 2004 after he had played for the national team in the Under 18 World Cup. He then followed that up by playing in the Junior World Championship the following year, where he minded net in a Gold winning team that included future stars, Jonathan Toews of Chicago Blackhawks and Kris Letang of Pittsburgh Penguins. Pogge had set a new tournament record with three shutouts and was been billed to be the "next big thing" in the Leafs illustrious history.

But having played brilliantly in his first NHL match, it simply did work out in the remaining six starts he was given. Instead he was "sent down to the minors", playing three years at the Leafs AHL development team, Toronto Marlies.

Pogge continued to seek take first keeper places in the AHL over the next four years until he took a risk before the 2012/3 lockout and moved to Europe aged 26. And it has been Sweden that his become his home. This is his second season at Rögle BK at he will be hoping to improve on his SVS% of .898 - the worst of his European career. The team will need him to be at the top of his game to not get ensnared in the relegation fight, as they did last year. The team has great ambitions and hope sparked by their remarkable second half of the season that saw them move up from bottom to tenth place. But will that drive be enough to produce results or will it be the fearful drop zone again for the team from Skåne?

Chay Genoway (FHC)

Chay Genoway is my wildcard player, a player who at 31 years of age has only just moved to Sweden for the first time and is yet to establish himself in the SHL. But in many ways he has a typical profile of a player who will do well in Sweden.

After five promising years at University of South Dakota in 2011/2 he started a three year spell in the AHL even getting one tryout game for Minnesota Wild. But the point scoring back was unable to maintain the quality of his first year with the Houston Aeros with 0.50 PPG and 29 assists in 72 games. In the cut throat world of the AHL that drop in form and his age, then 26, meant he was out of contract at the end of the 2013/4 season.

But in the era of Erik Karlsson-like mobile backs are in demand it meant Genoway was still able to make a living, but now in the KHL. He played there from 2014/5 with a different team each year, but continuing to smash in shots and produce assists averaging out at 0.45 PPG.

When the NHL refused to send players to the Olympics in April 2017 Team Canada went for a search through the European leagues looking for players. Genoway caught their eye and got to play a couple of international tournaments before being selected for Canada's Olympic team in PyeongChang. Apart from picking up a bronze medal, he got an assist from the first goal in the match against South Korea. The goal scorer was Christian Thomas, who is also starting his first ever season in Sweden, but now as one of Genoway's opponents at Rögle BK.

Växjö Lakers

It is rare that you see a team as talented as last year's Lakers squad and they fully deserved to win the league and knockout section of the SHL, and really should also have taken home the Champions Hockey League Trophy too.

But the nature of the sport in Sweden is that probably the best team in Europe means that will not be as strong this year. Of the nine players leaving the club, seven were key in last year's victories. The quality shows through in that three will go to the NHL and four to the KHL. So, imports Andy Miele and Andrew Calof are going to Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod and super forward, Elias Pettersson is going to Vancouver Canucks, whilst defenseman Eric Martinsson is due to start at Minnesota Wild. Noah Welch's tough tackling days are over as he retires at 35 years old after 298 games in the SHL with 521 Penalty Minutes served.

But that still leaves Daniel Rahimi and Brendan Shinnimin (in photo) to dish out the big hits and none less than Joel Persson, Linus Fröberg, Janne Pesonen, Tuomas Kiiskinen and Liam Reddox left to find the net. Perhaps surprisingly, Shinnimin is not just an agitator but actually the highest scoring player from last year who remains at the club.

As regards new imports, a name you should be hearing a lot of is Czech Olympian Roman Horak. The 27 year old was drafted in 2009 and played a full season with Calgary Flames in 2011/2. Then after two seasons in the AHL he moved to the KHL where he gained a 0.51 PPG after four years play.

A more intriguing signing is the 24 year old American, Austin Ortega. The North America dislike of shorter players, means he is seeking a new career in Europe despite 21 points in 35 games with the San Diego Gulls (AHL). The 173 cm tall player will be hoping to follow Ryan Lasch and Broc Little to the top of the scorer table regardless of height disadvantage.

Ryan Gunderson (BIF)

Gunderson is an American import player using his specialist skills at the top end of his career. The point scoring back is a master of creating goal opportunities from the blue line, forcing the keeper to save and allowing forwards to capitalise on rebounds and spills.

His stats would make many forwards jealous, currently registering 0.63 Points Per Game in his five years with Brynäs IF in the SHL. He can boast similar PPG from the KHL, ECHL and HockeyAllsvenskan. In this league he has twice won highest scoring defenseman, won the Le Mat Trophy once and was part of the Brynäs team that lost in overtime in game 7 of the final in 2016/7.

The 33 year old played university hockey for Vermont in the NCAA immediately was picked up by Trenton Devils in the ECHL where he scored 107 points in just 156 games, including an incredible 98 assists. Not surprisingly, this got him noticed and lead to his only season in the AHL for Houston Aeros where he couldn't repeat his success.

The American says when interviewed recently that he knew he would not play in the NHL and wanted to move to Europe. So in 2010/11 he played in Sweden's second division taking the prize for top scoring defenseman and creating a 0.75 PPG. He then settled with Brynäs where he has been ever since, apart from a two year stint in the KHL.

Gunderson's game however is not just about assists- he has an incredible ability to stay out of the penalty box. In five seasons at Brynäs he has sat out for just 50 minutes, that is only five minor penalties a year! Pretty impressive for the player who clocks the most ice time in the club, a huge 23:59 minutes per game in playoffs in 2017/8.

In 2018, the Brynäs player was rewarded, like his Swedish back colleague, Simon Bertilsson, with a surprise call up the national squad for the Pyeongchang Olympic Games. Although he did not score in his five games, the other aspects of his game shone through and he collected no PIMs and clocked the second highest ice time in the team behind Växjö Lakers tough man, Noah Welch. Whilst Welch has now retired, Gunderson has a year left on his contract and I expect him to continue for a few more years yet, vying for the top scoring defenseman spot each season.