Red Wings prospect Albin Grewe is playing a part-time role with Djurgardens IF of the SHL, playing mostly “fourth line” minutes, but Grewe will head over to the OHL to play for the Saginaw Spirit in a couple of months, and he managed to score his first goal of the SHL season this week after being promoted to Djurgarden’s third line on an interim basis.
Grewe spoke with HockeyNews.se’s Mattias Ek regarding his experiences playing for Djurgarden and his status as the most unusual kind of Swedish prospect–a “shift disturber.”
What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:
Grewe’s battle in Djurgarden will lead to his NHL dream with the Detroit Red Wings
STOCKHOLM. While waiting for his hockey adventure in the USA, Albin Grewe, 19, takes every chance he can to play for Djurgarden in the SHL.
The NHL team Detroit, via Niklas Kronwall and Shawn Horcoff, keeps a close eye on him.
“I talk to them, especially Kronwall, every week,” Grewe says to HockeyNews.se.
The Detroit Red Wings have drafted so many Swedish prospects in recent years that it’s almost hard to remember them all.
In their latest draft, Frolunda’s Lucas Raymond became the team’s first choice, fourth overall. Since 2016, Detroit has selected 14 Swedes in the drafts.
Djurgarden forward Albin Grewe is one of the prospects, and he was chosen in the third round in 2019. He’s been a bit overshadowed in the SHL behind Detroit prospects Lucas Raymond, Jonatan Berggren, of Skelleftea, and Albert Johansson, of Farjestad, who’s started the autumn brilliantly.
But on Tuesday, Albin Grewe struck with his first SHL goal in over a year when he got a chance on the third line instead of Dominik Bokk.
“We were quite a bit of goals down in Karlstad” (5-0 loss against Farejstad) “so there were many who could be sidelined. Now we put Dominik (Bokk) aside and Grewe had to jump in there. He did well. He had his animal power there today, and then he was good,” said Djurgarden coach Robert Ohlsson.
On a line with Michael Haga and Manual Agren, Albin Grewe contributed both a goal and his usual hard work without the puck.
“It’s my style of play. I thrive in front of the goal and want to win those loose pucks and push some of them in [to the net]. This is probably where he (Robert Ohlsson) wants me too, so I hope he is happy,” says Grewe, who smiles.
The competition for the forward’s spots in Djurgarden is fierce.
“We have a lot of forwards. It’s important to perform every game and be able to play. I don’t know how many we are, but we’re a lot now,” says Grewe.
The battle for playing time gets even tougher with Rhett Rakhshani starting and Tom Wandell and Oscar Bjerselius on their way back after illnesses and injury.
“Exactly. You just take the chance when you get it and do your best, and see how far it goes.”
Albin Grewe should actually be playing in the OHL with the Saginaw Spirit in North America this fall, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, that league may not start until February or even later, if at all.
“It’s been fun to be here. I should have been in the US and played there, but it never started, so I’m incredibly grateful for the chance I’ve got here from “Robban” (Ohlsson) and “Jocke” (Joakim Eriksson, general manager) and everyone here. It’s very fun to be here right now.”
And while he plays for Djurgarden, there is still a chance for him to play on the Junior Crowns’ World Junior Championship team. On Tuesday, Grewe scored when national team manager Tomas Monten was in the stands.
“I haven’t talked to Monten very much, actually, so I have no idea. I’m just trying to do my best and we’ll see how far it goes.”
The big dream is to reach the NHL and play in Detroit. The Red Wings’ Niklas Kronwall is more or less the Swedish players’ closest man.
“I talk to them, especially Kronwall, every week. He calls me every now and then, and we have some video meetings with (Shawn) Horcoff sometimes. There’s good contact there. It’s very fun.”
For the time being, Albin Grewe’s fight for playing time in Djurgarden continues.
“Now we have to battle Skelleftea again and for my own part, I only take it day by day and game by game, and just try to do my best on the ice so I play in the next game as well,” says Grewe.
