HockeyNews.se’s Mattias Ek posted an article in which he reveals that two of the Frolunda Indians’ top prospects, Montreal draft pick Mattias Norlinder and New York Rangers pick Karl Henriksson will both take part in their respective NHL rights-holders’ training camps.
According to Ek, Red Wings draft pick Simon Edvinsson is slated to remain with the Frolunda Indians as he did not sign with Detroit by August 15th, and it doesn’t sound like Edvinsson is going to be attending the Red Wings’ training camp. That would nix him from participating in the prospect tournament.
Here’s what Ek and Frolunda GM Fredrik Sjostrom say about Edvinsson, roughly translated:
The great defenseman Simon Edvinsson, who was Detroit’s first pick in this summer’s NHL draft, will remain with Frolunda for at least one more season, and did not sign a contract before the [European player signing deadline] on August 15th.
“Not exactly. You can never really know, but there was never anything to talk about, at least not something we’d gotten to with ourselves. Simon should be here and it feels great for us of course.”
Frolunda has paired Edvinsson on a defensive pair with the NHL-merited SHL champion Christian Folin. Detroit follows the development [of their prospects] in the Gothenburg team with great interest Detroit has more prospects with them.
“We have close dialogues with them, and they’re interested in their guys, and of course, they get in touch with us, and are down here [to watch], so there are quite close conversations between us. I hope and believe that they are also satisfied with us,” says Fredrik Sjostrom.
Take that for what you will. It’s still possible, but not that probable, that Edvinsson, Elmer Soderblom and Theodor Niederbach might take part in the prospect tournament, but given that the SHL’s regular season starts on September 11th, and the prospect tournament doesn’t start until September 16th…I don’t see it happening.
