After spending the last 4 seasons in North America, Marcus Högberg returns to Sweden to rejoin his former team, the Linköping Hockey Club.
Högberg
The past few seasons have been a struggle for Linköping, finishing outside of the top ten three years in a row now, but they're hoping their new aqcuisition between the pipes will help pull them out of the bottom of the standings.
Originally from Örebro, Högberg joined Linköpings organization back in 2010 stepping into a role with their J18 team. From there he progressed through the club and eventually made his SHL debut back in 2014. In 95 SHL games, all with LHC, he has posted an impressive stat line with a .922 SV%, 2.11 GAA, a record of 51-39 and has posted 9 shutouts. For the past four seasons he has bounced between being a goaltender for the Ottawa Senators as well as their AHL affiliate the Belleville Senators.
Although goaltending has been an uncertain situation for Linköping since the departure of Jonas Gustafsson the duo of Högberg and the veteran David Rautio, who joined LHC late this season, will arguably be one of the best goaltender duos heading into the new season.
Retirements
A pair of players announced they would be hanging up their skates this week.
John Persson announced that, unfortunately, he has been forced into early retirement due to a concussion he sustained this past season. He suffered the concussion on November 14th in a game against the Malmö Redhawks and says it has affected him since then and continues to affect him, forcing him to make the tough decision that his hockey career must come to an end. The 29 year old played 208 games in the SHL, scoring 45 goals and adding 22 assists. He also had 39 games played in Liiga, 177 games played in the AHL and 10 NHL appearences.
Another unfortunate end to a career comes from the announcement that Anton Hedman will be retiring. Hedman suffered a concussion on March 5th 2020 and was unable to return to the ice for Djurgården this past season. "It was not the end I had hoped for" says Hedman who had a total of 468 games played over 11 seasons in Swedens top league. He finished with 64 goals and 90 assists over that period.
Other Moves
One of the biggest names to be signed in the off season is Carl Söderberg, who will be returning to his hometown of Malmö to play with the Redhawks in the upcoming season. The 35 year old has spent the last 8 season in the NHL playing with Boston, Colorado, Arizona and Chicago. In 597 NHL games he scored 110 goals and added 187 assists.
Another North American veteran will be coming to Sweden as Paul Carey will be joining Djurgården. Having spent his entire professional career bouncing around the NHL and AHL this will be the 32 year olds first taste of European hockey.
Jesper Frödén will be leaving the SHL as he has a signed a contract with the Boston Bruins. Jonathan Dahlén will also be heading to North America to rejoin the San José Sharks. And Peter Cehlarik will be leaving a big offensive gap in Leksands roster as he heads to the KHL to play with Avangard Omsk.