This morning, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff discusses and Aftonbladet article that pissed me off enough that I almost closed the laptop lid when I read it.
As Andreas Kack reports, Linkopings HC player Jonas Junland told a hockey betting podcast that he believes that Red Wings prospect Anton Johansson is only earning ice time with Leksands IF because Anton’s dad, Thomas, is the team’s general manger.
Junland bullshitted that an injury on Leksand’s blueline means that Anton will receive a bigger opportunity after teammate Anton Lindholm was suspended for five games only because Anton is “Tjomme’s” son:
“Tjomme’s son will soon be playing 40 minutes per game and he might not have a SHL job if dad wasn’t sports director,” Junland said during an appearance on the Swedish show Hockey Thursday.
That’s horseshit. And “Tjomme” Johansson knows it:
“Haha… We are quite used to different people having opinions and thinking things about our children,” Tjomme Johansson wrote in a text to Swedish website Aftonbladet.se. “Otherwise, I have no comments.”
In other words, the bologna being spouted by Junland is baseless. Anton’s playing because he’s earned the ice time.
Anybody who’s seen him play away from Leskand knows he’s a talented middle-pair defenseman with a strong all-round skill set and a right shot–the 20-year-old has the tools that the Red Wings need in terms of building the right side of their defensive prospect pool.
Junland won’t be the last person to accuse “Tjomme” of nepotism as his son continues to build upon his performances with Leksand. But it’s a bunch of crap.
