Elitserien 2009/2010, Part 3

The 2009/10 season is soon upon us. This should be an interesting year with some exciting players returning to the league as well as the NHL Challenge being hosted in Sweden.

In this 3 part series we will be taking a look at the pre-season moves of all 12 teams a long with some pre-season results from tournaments and practice matches.

Part 3: Rögle BK, Skellefteå AIK, Södertälje SK and Timrå IK

Rögle BK

Rögle surprised a lot of experts and started the season out on a tear. They were in play-off contention for much of the first half of the season. But, a late season lapse dropped them to 11^th place which put them in the qualifying series (Kvalserien). That meant they had to finish 1 or 2 in the standing to get a ticket back to the big leagues. Rögle did what they had to do and finished second behind Södertälje and kept their spot in the Elitserien.

Rögle definitely doesn’t want to go through that situation again and have made same changes in the off-season.  They have picked up some new talent as well as lost some important players. Their biggest loss was veteran Kenny Jönsson who retired. Jönsson played a total of 8 seasons with Rögle as well as a long, distinguished career in the NHL. They also lost the exciting Abbott brothers to Luleå and Mathais Tjärnqvist to Djurgården. Other losses include: Daniel Sondell, D, Modo, Martin Strbak, D, HC MVD, Sebastian Karlsson, F, Linköping, Peter Lorentzen, F, Christofer Löfberg, F, Oskarshamn, Pavel Rosa, F, Kärpät, Johannes Salmonsson, F, Davos.

To compensate for these losses Rögle has added the following players to their roster: Baptiste Amar, D, Grenoble, Dominik Granak, D, Färjestad, Sebastian Ström, D, Västerås, Johan Alcén, F, Brynäs, Eric Beaudoin, F, Linköping, Jeremy Colliton, F, NY Islanders, Simon Hjalmarsson, F, Borås, Mario Kempe, F, Mora, Giulio Scandella, F, Ritten/Renon.

So far this preseason Rögle has put up 3 wins, 3 losses and 1 tie.

 

Skellefteå AIK

Skellefteå finished 6^th last season, in close fight for the last 3 play-off spots. That put them up against number 2 Linköping in the first round. Many predicted it would be a tough series for Skellefteå but, they proved the experts wrong and came back from being down 3-2  to win 2 straight and knock out LHC in seven games. Skellefteå went on to meet, soon-to-be-champions, Farjestad in round 2. Unfortunately for SAIK they were shut-out in the first three matches and went on to lose in 4.

To help continue and even improve past success SAIK has added the following talent this season. Adam Larsson, B, Skellefteå J, Ivan Majesky, B, Linköping, Niklas Strandberg, B, Piteå, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, B, Leksand, Johan Forsberg, B, Björklöven, Yared Hagos, F, Södertälje, Melker Karlsson, F, Skellefteå J, Mattias Lindström, F, Skellefteå F, Petr Tenkrat, F, Timrå, Fredrik Warg, F, Modo.

Probably some the biggest names to leave Skellefteå in the off-season were: Mikael Renberg, F, Niko Dimitrakos, F, CSKA Moskva, Gabriel Karlsson, F, Timrå, Kent McDonell, F, Färjestad, Fredrik Krekula, F. Other losses include: Erik Andersson, D, Linköping, Johan Burlin, D, Borås, Fredrik Lindgren, D, Färjestad, Niklas Strandberg, D, Atvars Tribuncovs, D, Tobias Viklund, D, Frölunda, Kimmo Koskenkrova F, Kärpät,

Skellefteå’s preseason has started out a slow and they have only picked up 2 wins in their first 7 practice games. But, then again, it’s only practice.

Södertälje SK

Due to their 12^th place finish last season, Sodertälje was the other team that had to qualify to stay in the Elitserien. SSK has not been a stranger to the Kvalserien after participating twice in the last 3 seasons. But, SKK showed once again why they belong in the Elitserien, by finishing the series with only 1 regulation loss. Thus, putting themselves in the top spot and securing another season in the Elitserien.

This season they are hoping to stay out of the bottom and hopefully get into a play-off spot instead. To accomplish that they went out and acquired Ryan Glenn, D, Troja-Ljungby, Blaz Gregorc, D, Södertälje J, Lukas Kilström, D, Södertälje J, Fredrik Svensson, D, Wolfsburg, Jonas Almtorp, F, Luleå, Andreas Gröndahl, F, Södertälje J, Julian Jakobsen, F, Odense, Yanick Lehoux, F, Hamilton.

In the process they lost the following players: Henrik Karlsson, G, Färjestad, André Benoit, D, Montreal, Kristian Kudroc, D, Daniel Ljungkvist, D, Oskarshamn, Martin Richter, D, Fredrik Sonntag, D, Timrå, Martin Cibak, F, Spartak Moskva, Daniel Despotovic, F, Yared Hagos, F, Skellefteå, Jonas Höglund, F, Skåre, Tomas Kollar, F, Leksand, Jason Morgan, F, Dragan Umicevic, F, Färjestad.

SSK has had a slow start in the preseason by picking up just two ties in their first 5 practice matches. But, as they say, the season is still young!

Timrå IK

Timrå picked up the 8^th and final play-off spot last season but made it interesting by only picking up 3 victories in their last 10 matches. Despite the not-so-winning percentage in their last few games, Timrå was considered a tough opponent in the play-offs, a team that really no other team wanted to meet. Number 1 Färjestad, number 2 Linköping and number 3 Frölunda chose to hop over the 8^th seed in favor of higher placed opponents. This meant number 4 HV 71 would be their first round match-up. Timrå didn’t disappoint and took a 3-1 lead in the series and were hoping to knock off last years champs early. That wouldn’t be the case and HV rallied back and won 3 in a row to the chagrin of Timrå players and fans.

To help improve their place in the standings and hopefully in the playoffs Timrå made also made some off-season moves. They picked up Anders Lindbäck, G, Brynäs, Petr Caslava, D, Pardubice, Elias Granath, D, Leksand, Mattias Karlsson, D, Binghamton Senators, Fredrik Sonntag, D, Södertälje, Niklas Anger, F, Djurgården, Daniel Corso, F, Kärpät, Gabriel Karlsson, fF Skellefteå, Laurent Meunier, F, Fribourg-Gottéron

They also lost their number 1 goalie Johan Backlund, to Philadelphia as well as Robin Jonsson, D, Luleå, Mikko Lehtonen, D, Kimmo Lotvonen, D, Leksand, Dennis Persson, D, Portland, Erik Andersson, F, Borås, Johan Andersson, F, Färjestad, Håkan Bogg, F, Mora, Mika Pyörälä, F, Philadelphia, Oscar Sundh, F, HV 71, Petr Tenkrat, F, Skellefteå, Tom Wandell, F, Dallas and Nate DiCasmirro, F.

Timrå has been busy in the preseason and has already racked up 5 victories and 1 tie in their first 8 practice games.

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