Jonas Junland
www.eliteprospects.com

Jonas Junland

Hometown:

Linkoping Sweden

Currently Playing In:

Europe

Birthday:

1987-11-15
Position:

D
Eligible for draft:

2006
Shoots:

Left
Drafted:

2006
Height:

6-2
Acquired:

3rd round (64th overall), 2006
Weight:

198 lbs.
Prospect Talent Score
7.0

About Prospect Talent Score and Probability of Success»

Probability of Success
  • C

History

2005-06: Junland had incredible development this past season, being the highest scoring defenseman in the Swedish juniors. His numbers, 40 points including 17 goals in 32 games, are quite remarkable for a defenseman. He added about 16 pounds of muscle before this past season and it had a very good affect on his play.

2006-07: Junland played most of his season with SEL finalist Linkopings. He fared well, despite his youth, and enjoyed an excellent playoff run, which saw him net five points in 15 games. He also played briefly with the junior team and in Allsvenskan league in preparation for the World Juniors, a tournament where he was one of Team Sweden’s top players.

2007-08: Junland played in a career-high 52 games for Linkopings HC (SWE) this season. The blueliner recorded three goals and 17 assists, and added another seven points (4g+3a) in 16 postseason games.

2008-09: In his first taste of North American hockey, Junland was a potent offensive defenseman for the AHL's Peoria Rivermen. He scored 13 goals, 18 assists for 31 points in 70 games, earning a spot in the AHL All-Star game. He skated in 5 playoff games with Peoria, scoring 1 assists and 6 PIMs. He also made his NHL debut with St. Louis, but did not score in 1 game.

2009-10: Junland again spent much of the season with Peoria, scoring 14 goals, 30 assists in 74 games. His 44 points led the team's defensemen and his 11 power play goals led the entire team. He played in the AHL All-Star game for the second consecutive year and got a little longer look in St. Louis, appearing in 3 NHL games and notching 2 assists.

2010-11: Junland was tendered a qualifying offer by the Blues in June 2010 but chose to sign a one-year contract with Farjestads BK in Sweden's Elitserien. He scored 5 goals with 17 assists and was +7 with 18 PMs in 41 regular season games. Farjestads finished tied with HV71 and Skelleftea atop the league standings with 96 points and won the playoff title. In 14 playoff games Junland scored 3 goals with 3 assists and was +8 with 12 PMs.
 

Talent Analysis

Junland is a good skater and has fine hands. Hockey sense is good and big strength of his is the way he gets the puck on the target. Junland has a good shot that is very accurate. Looking at the parts of his game that Junland should improve, his defensive awareness could still use some fine tuning. He could also play more determined and more physical at times. Also, sometimes Junland tends to overwork easy situations.

Future

Junland is now playing for Astana Barys in the KHL.

Spezza’s OHL Career Off To A Great Start

by pbadmin
on

Born: June 13, 1983
Hometown: Brampton, Ontario
Position: Centre
Number: 9
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 188 lbs
Shoots: Right

Although he’s only 16-years-old Jason Spezza already has one OHL season under his belt and most NHL scouts drooling. Spezza spent last season with the OHL’s Brampton Battalion as a 15-year-old underage player.

Spezza, a Brampton native, had a tremendous season in bantam with the Toronto Marlboros bantam team in 1997-98, which probably attributed to his playing in the OHL as an underage. Spezza posted 53 goals and 114 points in 54 games, which turns out to be just over 2 points per game. You have to admit, that is impressive.

Spezza had an impressive season with the Battalion in 1998-99 considering they were an expansion team and had such a bad season. Spezza finished the season with 22 goals and 71 points. That put him in third place in the rookie scoring race behind Sheldon Keefe (116 points) and Denis Shvidki (94 points). Both Keefe and Shvidki spent the season in Barrie, although Keefe spent a portion of the season playing with Toronto St. Mike’s.

Despite playing in the OHL as a 15-year-old Spezza was already catching the attention of NHL scouts. Spezza was eligible for last month’s OHL priority draft where, as expected, he was drafted 1st overall by the Missisauga IceDogs. Spezza was the first of seven straight 16-year-olds drafted in the first round.
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Capitals Have the Future Makings of a Strong Defensive Corp

by pbadmin
on

The Washington Capitals may not have the best group of prospects in hockey anymore, but how can you blame them? The team has graduated some awful good talent in the past few years: Jan Bulis, Jaroslav Svejkowsky, Richard Zednik, and Brendan Witt. This past June, the Capital lost their top overall prospect in defensemen Nick Boynton to draft re-entry, however, the loss hasn’t been all that difficult to absorb, as the Capitals still have a very impressive group of prospects, especially on defense.

The Capitals were able to overcome the loss of Boynton when they were able to select five of the top thirty-seven players available in the 1999 draft. Drafting quality players like Kris Beech, Michal Sivek and Charlie Stephens certainly helped refresh the pool quickly, though none of the five players picked represent the defensive power they have.

The teams real quality though lies on the blueline. Prior to the 1999 draft, the group is so strong, and well rounded, that Washington decided not to over pay rookie 1997 first round pick, Nick Boynton. The two sides argued back and fourth before Washington gave up, trying to trade him just prior to the re-entry date. The ploy failed and Washington had to settle for a second round compensation pick.

Let’s look at Washington’s top six defensive prospects.
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Brampton Battalion Report

by pbadmin
on

Troops host Barrie to open 1999-2000 campaign
The Battalion will kick off their second season on September 24 with a home game against the powerful Barrie Colts. The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds will come to the Bunker on September 30 and the next night will see Brampton’s first road game of the year, against Jason Spezza and the Mississauga IceDogs at the Hershey Centre.
Other notable dates on the schedule include:
October 1 – first inter-divisional game of the year, against the Erie Otters;
October 11 – Brampton will once again host the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors on Thanksgiving Monday (game time: 2:00 p.m.);
October 14 – Jason Spezza makes his first visit to the Bunker as a member of the Mississauga IceDogs;
October 22 and 24 – the team’s first road trip of the season, featuring games in Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie;
November 6 – the Battalion visit Maple Leaf Gardens to take on St. Mike’s;
November 26 – Brampton journeys to Ottawa for their first meeting of the season with the defending Memorial Cup champions;
December 5 – the team plays host to the Belleville Bulls, defending OHL Champions;
December 31 – Mississauga comes to the Bunker for their traditional New Year’s Eve clash (game time: 3:30 p.m.) with the Battalion. This will be the final OHL game of the century;
January 2 – Brampton plays its first game in the year 2000, at home against the Peterborough Petes;
January 6 – the Oshawa Generals visit the Bunker; Read more»

A Look At the Best Soo Greyhounds Of All-time

by pbadmin
on

A lot of people know about the Soo Greyhounds and their history of having good teams and being able to win games at just the right time. What people don’t realize is the fact that a lot of very good players got started in Sault Ste Marie. Wayne Gretzky and Charlie Simmer are both prime examples. Also, there were some players that didn’t quite make it into the NHL but still had tremendous junior careers (Ralph Intranuovo). I’m here to take a look at some of those former players and talk about their careers in the Sault.

Let’s start with Wayne Gretzky. “The Great One” spent one season with the Greyhounds and it was a magnificent one. Gretzky played with the Greyhounds as a 16-year-old and led the team in scoring with 70 goals and 182 points (holds OHL record for most assists, 112, and points, 182, by an OHL rookie). He was also the 1st Greyhound player to have his jersey retired.

Wayne Groulx was probably the second best Greyhound player ever behind Gretzky. Groulx spent 4 seasons with the Greyhounds and led the team in scoring in all 4 seasons. Groulx sits tied for second with Dale McCourt on the OHL’s all-time list for career points (477), just 2 points behind Stan Drulia.

Charlie Simmer, who was a member of the Los Angeles Kings Triple Crown Line, spent some time in the Sault also. He was a fan-favorite and was depended on to score during his only year with the team (1973-74). He scored 45 goals and 99 points in his only season in a Greyhounds uniform.
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Jamie Hodson: The Heir Apparent?

by pbadmin
on

With all due respect to Mats Sundin, Sergei Berezin, Steve Thomas and Dimitri Yushkevich, the Toronto Maple Leafs MVP this past season was goaltender Curtis Joseph, hands down. Cujo helped to give the team the confidence to play an up-tempo, hard-skating offensive game, knowing that he would be back in the nets to bail the team out. Cujo did bail the team out on numerous occasions, as his greatest asset seemed to be the ability to come up with the “big save” when the Leafs needed it most. Curtis Joseph will be 32 heading into the 99-00 season, and should have several good seasons left.

However, there is little question that the Leafs need to develop a young goaltender for “beyond the Cujo years”. The Leafs retain the rights to three young goaltenders, Marc Robitaille, Francis Larivee and Jamie Hodson. Robitaille played the 98-99 season with St. John’s, after being signed by the Leafs as a free-agent out of Northeastern University. Larivee started out the season in St. John’s but his stock has fallen somewhat. Jamie Hodson just may the goaltender that the Leafs are “grooming” to be that future #1 guy.
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