SHL premiere on Thursday.
Now Håkan Loob points out the player he thinks will be the most valuable in the league – and the vote falls on a new acquisition.
– He is a complete player, says the icon.
Right now, all Swedish hockey supporters are on full alert, with great anticipation for the upcoming SHL season. After months of preparation, the puck is finally dropped again on Thursday, and this year it feels perhaps more uncertain than ever. For the first time in a very long time, there will be an SHL season without Joel Lundqvist, but Frölunda has geared up anyway.
Points out the new acquisition
Already last season, it was announced that they were signing star defender Henrik Tömmernes, who had close to ridiculous numbers in Switzerland in recent seasons. Tömmernes has spent the last two seasons playing with “C” on his chest in Geneve-Servette, and is coming off a season where he scored an impressive 43 points in 52 games. Tömmernes has also been featured in Tre Kronor in recent seasons, and among other things he scored ten points in eight games in the WC last spring.
And if Håkan Loob is to be believed, Tömmernes will be the most important player in the entire league this coming season. In SVT’s Hockey evening, Loob discussed the whole thing, and then had to give his verdict for the season – and then came with a real tribute to Frölunda’s new acquisition.
– For me, it is a complete player. He is a player who alone can make a team very good, he says in the program.
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The tribute to Omark
However, he does not get the support of his colleague Jonas Andersson, also an expert on SVT. He instead points out another new acquisition, who has significantly more experience in the SHL, namely Linus Omark. Omark is back in the SHL and Luleå after a season in Switzerland. The last time he played in the SHL, in the 2021/2022 season, it was a total of 58 points in 52 games, and the scoring average also held up last year in Switzerland.
Jonas Andersson calls Omark’s numbers “absurd”.
– Yes, I know that he has become a year older just like everyone else. But he has shown that he delivers year after year after year. If you look at the last ten seasons in Europe, the fact is that he averages 56 points. It’s absurd. It’s such numbers that no one else does it, he says.
READ MORE: Rock-hard verdict ahead of the new SHL season – big star singled out as this year’s flop: “Will not deliver”