The Free Press’s Helene St. James breaks down the “battle” between Axel Sandin Pellikka, William Wallinder, Anton Johansson, Jacob Bernard-Docker and Jacob Bryson for the 6th, 7th and 8th spots on the Wings’ blueline.
St. James spotlights the three Swedes battling the established Bernard-Docker and small but plucky Bryson for places in the opening-night lineup; as you’re probably familiar with ASP’s body of work, we’ll look at Detroit’s younger Johansson and Wallinder here:
Anton Johansson
Johansson, 22, was drafted at No. 105 in the 2022 NHL Draft. A rangy 6-foot-4, 203-pound right-shot defender, he’s steadily made strides to improve his overall game. He showed off his offensive skills to great effect in the Wings’ 7-4 exhibition victory over a Pittsburgh Penguins lineup that included Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, recording four assists. Combine that with what McLellan has heard from his colleagues in Grand Rapids, where Johansson played eight games in the regular season (after coming over from his Swedish club) and eight in the playoffs, and McLellan has been impressed.
“To me, he has joy for the game,” McLellan said. “When he’s out there, he loves being out there smiling. He brings an energy. That energy kind of rubs off on other people. And then he’s real direct with his play. He’s aggressive on killing plays, but he’s also aggressive with the puck in the offensive zone. You saw how he created his and other teammates scoring chances last night, just creating a lane and getting it there. There’s players on our team and on other teams that create lanes, and then they want to look and do something else. It’s pretty simple, and it worked. And that’s how he approaches it.”
Anton was on the ice for 4 “goals for” and 3 “goals against” against the Penguins, so he’s far from perfect as he comes over from the SHL, but his size, skating and all-round abilities (and mean streak) are intriguing…
William Wallinder
Among Wallinder’s assets are his size (6 feet 5, 210 pounds), his ability to skate, and poise with the puck. The 24-year-old left-shot defender from the 2020 draft (No. 32) has spent the past three seasons honing his game with the Griffins, which also means he’s now out of waiver exemptions. That gives him a leg up on being on the 23-man roster, as the Wings aren’t going to want to risk putting him on waivers and losing him for nothing, but it’s another thing to be in the lineup.
“He’s put his time in, the organization’s developed him, and we expect him to play on our club,” McLellan said. “But he’s going to dictate whether that happens or not.”
Wallinder said, “I’m in a good spot. I’ve just been taking this serious and working hard this summer. Hopefully, I get a shot at it this year.”
Continued (paywall); Wallinder isn’t as physical as his size would indicate, but he’s very “safe” on the ice, and his ability to simply play…simply…is a key. He’s a very safe pick for a the 7th/8th spot.
