Nashville. It will probably take some time, but rest assured.
Sooner or later Leo Carlson’s duck squadron is very exciting to join and lead into the future will be one of the great attractions of the NHL.
This wasn’t the column I thought I’d be sitting in in the sweltering Nashville heat writing about Leo Carlson right now.
In my mind when the first round of the draft broke out at Bridgestone Arena, I had explanations for how to make a toxic radar pair with Johnny Goudreau in Columbus in a few years — or become Montreal’s biggest Swede star since Mats Näslund.
But we got a real surprise right away when the Anaheim Ducks picked the 18-year-old Warmlander as their number two already.
At the last minute, they clearly decided that midfielder from Karlstad would be able to contribute more than expected option Adam Fantelli.
And not against me.
future team
The Ducks are a pretty scary team right now — they played last season in parts as if they belonged in a farm league rather than the NHL — but they have sheds full of hope for the future.
Trevor Zegrass, Mason McTavish and Jimmy Drysdale are extreme talents and when General Manager Pat Verbeek finally finishes building his squad, they will be the cornerstone of what is almost guaranteed to be a true contender.
Of course, in such a team, a team with really good future prospects, the greatest attacking talent of Sweden for several years will play – the new Mats Sundin, Evgeni Malkin and Miko Rantanen at once.
It’s still not clear if he’ll actually become a duck in the fall, and a decision hasn’t been made yet. Maybe it’s a good idea to stay at home in Sweden and play another season with Örebro in the SHL, so will You guessed it — but if he decides he wants to settle down in sunny California right away, we’ll see you in Las Vegas on Oct. 14, when the Ducks commit to their season-opener against the defending champion Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.
I can not wait…
Incidentally, tonight’s rally was another resounding denial of the image that some kind of crisis reigns supreme in Swedish hockey.
In addition to Leo, five other blue and yellow talents have been selected in the prestigious first round:
Tom Wilander as No. 11 of the Vancouver Canucks, Axel Sandin-Belica as No. 17 of the Detroit Red Wings, Otto Steinberg as No. 25 of the St. Louis Blues, Theo Lindstein as No. 29 of the same St. Louis and David Edstrom as No. 32 of the Vegas Golden Knights (additionally Slovakian Swede Dalibor Dvorski was ranked 10th, also by the St. Louis Blues).
It is not a draft conclusion for a country in crisis, we can say that quite calmly.
How big it is that Leo Carlsson has already been named number one can be seen, if nothing else, from how many Swedes have become number one or two before.
There are only five: Mats Sundin, Henrik Sedan, Victor Hedmann, Gabriel Landeskoog and Rasmus Dahlin.
Niklas Lidstrom? Went #53 in 1989. Foppa? Number six in 1991. Buckeyes? four in 2006.
He really has a reason to extend himself today, soft-spoken Warmlander.