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Swedish 2004 prospects, March update
Written by: Johan Nilsson on 03/31/2004 
Luleå's young star Johan Fransson is still ranked No.
1 ahead of MODO's Oscar Hedman. Fransson finished the regular
season in a very impressive way and was actually among the very best players
on the team. Unfortunately he suffered a concussion early in the playoffs which
made him miss four of the five games in the quarter final series against Färjestad.
Djurgården's Johannes Salmonsson has slipped down to
the fourth spot. He will miss the U18 World Junior Championships in April because
of his shoulder but is expected to be fit and playing at the start of next season.
One of Sweden's most important players in the above mentioned tournament will
without a doubt be goalie Magnus Åkerlund. Åkerlund
saw some ice-time in the U20 WJC this winter and must play well in order for
the Swedish team to have any success as there are so many good teams.
Brynäs-defenseman Niklas Andersson has had a very strong
season and slowly been climbing up our ranking. He is currently No. 8 after
a strong finish and will likely get some SEL ice time next season. Further down
the list an interesting player is Luleå's powerful forward Johan
Harju. Harju has good size, is very strong and has a good nose for
the net. In our opinion he has surpassed the more hyped Luleå forward
Viktor Lindgren. Both of them are likely to get some shifts
in the SEL next season.
Two rankings are now remaining. In late April after the U18 WJC we will post
another top 25 ranking and in June, approximately a week before the NHL Entry
Draft, a top 30 ranking will be released with in-depth information on the top
ranked players.
| # | Player | Pos | Born | Team |
| 1. | Johan Fransson | D | 1985-02-18 | Luleå |
| 2. | Oscar Hedman | D | 1986-04-21 | MODO |
| 3. | Carl Söderberg | F | 1985-10-12 | MIF Redhawks |
| 4. | Johannes Salmonsson | F | 1986-02-07 | Djurgården |
| 5. | Magnus Åkerlund | G | 1986-04-25 | HV 71 |
| 6. | Mattias Hellström | F | 1986-06-18 | MODO |
| 7. | Richard Demén-Willaume | D | 1986-01-28 | Frölunda |
| 8. | Niklas Andersson | D | 1986-03-05 | Brynäs |
| 9. | Linus Persson | F | 1985-12-29 | Frölunda |
| 10. | Emil Axelsson | D | 1986-03-19 | Örebro |
| . | . | . | . | . |
| 11. | Fredrik Näslund | F | 1986-02-11 | Västerås |
| 12. | Alexander Täng | D | 1985-06-27 | Frölunda |
| 13. | Fred Wikner | F | 1986-01-01 | Frölunda |
| 14. | Tobias Viklund | D | 1986-05-08 | MODO |
| 15. | Johan Harju | F | 1986-05-15 | Luleå |
| 16. | Marcus Nyberg | D | 1986-01-16 | Luleå |
| 17. | Alexander Bergström | F | 1986-01-18 | Rögle |
| 18. | Tommy Enström | F | 1986-07-30 | MODO |
| 19. | Jesper Andersson | F | 1986-04-30 | MODO |
| 20. | Niklas Olausson | F | 1986-05-12 | Tingsryd |
| . | . | . | . | . |
| 21. | Viktor Lindgren | F | 1986-03-16 | Luleå |
| 22. | Albin Lorentzon | D | 1986-01-07 | Linköping |
| 23. | Anton Axelsson | F | 1986-01-16 | Frölunda |
| 24. | Anton Strålman | D | 1986-08-01 | Skövde |
| 25. | Nicklas Grossman | D | 1985-01-22 | Södertälje |
Copyright 2004 Hockey’s Future. Do not reprint or otherwise duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.
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