Last Friday, hockeysverige.se reported that Red Wings prospect Anton Johansson will remain with his club team in Sweden, Leksands IF of the SHL, for one more season before he makes the jump to North America.
This morning, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff takes note of the comments made by Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman regarding the lanky defenseman’s situation:
“To be honest, it was Anton’s decision,” Yzerman said.
Secondly, due to Johansson’s contract situation, the Red Wings were really going to be left with no option but to reassign Johansson to Leksand next fall. When the Red Wings were signing Johansson to an entry-level contract last fall, he still had one year remaining on his SHL pact with Leksand.
“Our obligation in signing him is if he were to come to camp next (fall) and not make the Red Wings, we would first have to offer him back to his Swedish club Leksand (on loan),” Yzerman explained.
Johansson spent the latter part of last season in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins and was showing well in that brief trial.
“Based on what we saw in the end of the season and playoffs in GR, he would be more than fine here,” Yzerman said. “Ultimately we wanted him, much like Albert Johansson made this decision four years ago now that he wanted to play one more year in Sweden.
“We’re okay with it. We want these boys, or these young men, to be mentally ready when they come over and prepared. He’s in a good situation. He ultimately decided that he wanted to start the season, he wanted to get off to a good start in Leksand.”
Continued; Anton wants to play one more season for a rebuilding Leksand team, and that’s all right. He should be earning top-four minutes, and he’s helping the Wings avoid a logjam at right defense in Grand Rapids. It’s a situation that works for all parties involved.
