According to GP.se’s Adam Johansson, Red Wings prospect Theodor Niederbach, who’s been tearing up the Under-20 National League in Sweden, may end up heading home to the Ornskoldsvik area to play a “level up” with MODO Hockey. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:
Frölunda’s super talent now open for MODO
MODO would fill the gap left by the retired Aaron Gagnon.
In Frölunda there is an son of “O-vik” who is open to play games for the team.
“A loan would be fun, especially to Modo,” says Theodor Niederbach to SportExpressen.
After just nine games with MODO Hockey this season, Aaron Gagnon, 34, announced on Monday that he is ending his hockey career.
“I have been forced to realize that the time has come when my body no longer has what I need to play at the level that I want to perform. At the same time, it is a combination of the fact that the situation looks like it does in the world, and that I have not been able to see my family at all lately. I do not want to blame anything on anyone, and am therefore rather sincere with my feelings, which has been well received by MODO,” he says to the club’s website.
With the Canadian’s decision to exit, MODO is now going out on a hunt for a center position player. The idea is to add another name to the team, which currently includes the centers Aleksi Heponiemi, Max Tjernström, Kalle Jellvert and Mikkel Aagard.
“Right now I am scanning the market for what is out there. No decision has been made yet. What we know is that we want, and work to find, a permanent solution for the center side,” says sports director Fredrik Glader.
Fighting for a place on the World Junior Championship team
As the coronavirus pandemic has hit hard on unemployed players, there are a handful of available alternatives on the market. But MODO’s choices do not stop there.
In addition to loaning players from North America, the club can also use SHL loans, which are limited to two outside players per teeam.
One such player could be Theodor Niederbach, who was born and raised in Naske, outside Ornskoldsvik. The 18-year-old has posted 35 points in 19 games in the J20 National league, and he was recently selected by national team captain Tomas Monten’s latest team before the World Junior Championship.
Niederbach himself thinks that it would be special to play for Modo.
“I have not heard anything about it. I feel that such a loan would be fun, especially to MODO. But it is absolutely not a must, and nothing I think must happen.
Since the competition is so tough in the men’s, have you talked to Frölunda about being loaned out to play senior hockey [with another team]?
“No, I have not talked to Frölunda about being loaned out.”
Fredrik Glader when he hears Niederbach’s words:
“He is a talented player from the [Ornskoldsvik] region that we would like to see in MODO in the future.”
NHL reinforcement is said to have been on the agenda
Modo has been surrounded by rumors regarding both players and coaches lately. Among other things, Toronto defender Rasmus Sandin has been considered, but according to information from SportExpressen, the NHL team does not want to lend their prospect at the moment.
Fredrik Glader has little to say about the contact with Sandin.
“A very good defenseman. But what has been said or talked about I keep to myself. He is Toronto’s player and they have to answer for him.”
