PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Leo Carlsson was a great success in the hockey World Cup.
Now comes a new future statement about the 18-year-old.
Who can choose between SHL and NHL for the coming season.
Last SHL season got the teenager Leo Carlsson his big breakthrough at Örebro Hockey. Which led to him getting the chance to make his debut for Tre Kronor in the spring.
Carlsson’s success
The 18-year-old really took the chance and showed off his great talent. When many Swedish NHL players turned down the hockey WC, Carlsson suddenly got a sensational place in the WC squad.
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The success didn’t end there either, Leo Carlsson became both Tre Kronor’s youngest World Cup player ever and the youngest in history to score a goal in the World Cup for Sweden. The big talent took it further in the tournament and finally landed on an impressive five points after seven games played.
READ MORE: Leif Boork’s clear criticism after the great promise Leo Carlsson did the “forbidden” in the hockey World Cup: “Damn nonsense”
The message about Leo
The summer’s NHL draft is also waiting for the successful kid and Carlsson is expected to go as one of the first when the NHL clubs settle all promises. Now comes new news for young Leo when Örebro’s sports manager Niklas Eriksson gives his view of the future.
– We cannot say that it will be one way or the other. We don’t know which team he will be drafted by. Then there are different scenarios that play out in the draft. It has happened before. We will have a good dialogue with Leo and his agent and we will meet them, myself and Johan (Hedberg), says Eriksson in the newspaper NA’s hockey podcast “Nedsläip Örebro”.
– We will give our view and they will give theirs. But we also know that Leo said he wants to stay for a year. At the same time, I think it’s important that they’re clear about that when they’re over there at the draft, that they have a good plan for it.
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Örebro obviously hopes to keep its golden nugget on Swedish soil for another SHL season. But the club also has a requirement that the forward then be with the entire pre-season and not arrive too late from North America.
– In my book, the worst thing that can happen is that he goes over and is in all the camps and plays nine games and comes back at the end of October, beginning of November. I’ve never seen that succeed. If Leo is to remain here, he must be fully there and make an Elias Pettersson and be with us throughout the pre-season. Then he gets the best imaginable development, I think, admits Niklas Eriksson in the interview.
READ MORE: Leo Carlsson reveals his big favorite team in the NHL – ahead of the summer draft: “I want to play with him”
But in the end, it is not Örebro that has the power in this situation. Except the NHL team that selects Leo Carlsson in the draft will have a say in the whole thing.
– They have the power, that’s how it is. Then one can hope that common sense prevails for what they want for players. They want a player who will come in and help them right away. That’s how they look at a player who might go number three in the draft. He will definitely be able to do that if he gets the development I describe. However, it will be tougher to do it this year, I think, says the Örebro sports director in the podcast.
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