Sweden

SHL

Carl Grundström

Frölunda had a light workload this week with a Friday and Saturday home and home against Luleå the only games.

In the first one, Grundström proved he is very serious about growing his offensive game.

He also managed to finally get another assist. He’s on pace now for at least four on the season:

The full highlight video is available if you want to see our number 3 in red playing well even when they didn’t score in an easy 4-0 game.

In the return game on Saturday, Joel Lundqvist scored in the first minute of the game and they managed to ride that to a 1-0 win.  Grundström played third unit, as the scoring talent was spread out a bit for this game—the lineup was very Leafs or Marlies like.  He had two shots on goal, including a nice breakaway attempt up the slot that looked a lot like his goal from the previous game. Right up until the goalie saved it, that is.

Next week, Frölunda plays their first game of the Champions Hockey League quarterfinals and two SHL games. After December 10, the SHL is on a break until December 20.

Grundström will be off to the World Junior camp and will arrive in Canada sometime before the first pre-tournament game on the 19th. The official announcement for Sweden’s camp roster is tomorrow.

Allsvenskan

Jesper Lindgren

MODO played two games this week. This first was their usual desultory loss 5-1 where Lindgren played in his now standard spot on the second unit defense pair and added no points.

The second game was a win over Mora IK.  More shocking than a win was the fact they scored five goals to Mora’s one.  Lindgren, playing the top unit in this one, somehow managed to be the only player other than his defensive partner to have a negative plus/minus even though forwards on the top unit were getting several of the goals.  Some days, you just can’t win.

Lindgren has now fallen to 13th in points for defenders in the Allsvenskan with nine, half of the points scored by the league leader. It is very hard to make a mark on a team like MODO, and he has been struggling along with the rest of them lately.

Pierre Engvall

Aside from Mora IK’s loss to MODO where Engvall was pointless but did have several shots on goal, they got a win in a game where Engvall did not dress.

He has now dropped to 27th in the overall points standings, nine points behind the league leader.

Russia

KHL

Yegor Korshkov

Lokomotiv won three straight games beginning with last Sunday’s outing. That’s good, right? I wish it was.

In the second game of the week, Korshkov had one penalty in their 1-0 win, and was kneed in a horrible fashion near the end of the game.  He needed help off the ice and looked miserable on the bench after.

It all seemed miraculous and wonderful when he showed up ready for action in Friday’s game and scored the first goal of what would become a 5-3 win.

And then it all went to hell.  Korshkov broke his leg on a mid-ice collision. There was no penalty on the play; it was viewed as a high-speed accident, and as of yet, there is no news on how bad it is or how long he will be out.

Playoffs begin in late February, so he’ll have to heal fast if he’s got a chance of coming back this year.

VHL/MHL

Nikolai Chebykin

After a brief flirtation with the big leagues, Chebykin is back in the MHL, or junior league, and is scoring up a storm.  In three games this week he had three goals and four assists, proving once again what we already knew: at 19, he’s too good for the junior league.  He might have to stay there, though, just to get ice time.

And we know that didn’t ruin Mitch Marner, and it’s not doing any harm to Adam Brooks or Jeremy Bracco, Chebykin is likely fine, and at least he’s playing.

Vladimir Bobylyov

Bobylyov was not on the roster for his KHL club, and the VHL club he has played two games for had one game scheduled that was cancelled.

Maple Leafs Prospects