It was announced today by the Swedish Hockey League Växjö Lakers that a list of their players will not be returning to the team next year. The one name of note for Oilers fans all over is Joel Persson.
"Players leaving" pic.twitter.com/41y9ZCIaeL
— Christofer Cardelli (@puckardelli) April 4, 2019
Alright, well maybe I was a little disingenuous in my comment of “the one player of note” as both former Oilers PTO, and turncoat traitor, Kris Versteeg, and Oilers legend Liam Reddox are also on that list. The main focus is and should be on Joel Persson.
Persson will no doubt be making his way over to Edmonton and attempting to find his way into an everyday NHL roster with the Oil. His progress has been steady and he has been consistently putting up numbers in the SHL.
Our very own BaggedMilk, just four months ago had a little look-see at what Persson had been up to:
As well as myself, every week I have a statistical piece where I break down the week for each of the Oilers prospects:
Joel Persson’s career numbers at a glance:
| Regular Season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 2017-18 | Vaxjo HC | SweHL | 51 | 6 | 28 | 34 | 8 | 17 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| 2018-19 | Vaxjo HC | SweHL | 50 | 6 | 25 | 31 | 8 | 6 | |||||
Source: Vaxjo Lakers, Official Twitter Account, 4/4/2019 – 12:00 pm MT
Fist
Come on down Joel, you’re the next contestant on ruin the defenceman. Oilers style…
No real surprise here as we know he was coming over for camp.
I’ve always had a bit of trepidation regarding what he would (will) do if the organisation wants him to spend some time in the minors and if he’d maybe head back home. Getting the one-way contract was important and a good thing because, now that he’d make his full NHL salary while in Bakersfield, I think this is less of an issue ($1M would be much greater than he’d make back home I believe).