European Prospect Review: Magnus Nygren heating up, will suit up for Swedish National Team

Magnus Nygren and Joonas Nättinen were selected to national team of Sweden and Finland, respectively, for the Channel One Cup (formerly known as the Izvestia Tournament) coming up later in December. With no European-based Montreal prospects suiting up for the WJC, that was the highlight of the two winter-tournament press conferences from the two Nordic countries.

Joonas Nättinen, JYP, Liiga

It was a tough week for JYP and Nättinen, as the team had two close losses while Nättinen was held pointless.

Lukas Vejdemo, Djurgården, SHL

In the two games that Djurgården played — an overtime loss to Nygren’s Färjestad and a shootout loss against HV71 — Vejdemo averaged 11 minutes of ice time. While he struggled in the faceoff circle against Färjestad, he was on the other side of the spectrum against HV71.

He has had a rough season so far, but his play seems to be getting better again while slowly adapting to a centre role. He still has coach Ohlsson’s confidence, and he should improve with more time and practice.

Arvid Henrikson, AIK U-20, SuperElit

There was no games for Henrikson this week in the SuperElite series. AIK didn’t call any of the junior players up for time with the senior team, either, so it was a full week’s rest for him.

Magnus Nygren, Färjestad, SHL

Nygren showed off his offensive prowess in style with a goal in each game he played. While not typical Nygren bombs (one was a fluke goal from the boards, and the other a shot that everyone thought was deflected), it is obvious that Nygren has started to produce at a consistent level once again.

National Team Coach Grönborg also mentioned Nygren as one of the better performers in the SHL when announcing the team for the Channel One Cup.