New York Islanders 2017 Blue And White Scrimmage

Linus Soderstrom

Everyone always focuses’ on what they don’t have rather then what’s in front of them. When Ilya Sorokin’s name wasn’t on the roster fans started asking: “why not”? Even though equally exciting goaltending prospect Linus Soderstrom was going to be there.

Linus had a great season in the Swedish Hockey League. He beat Henrik Lundqvist’s single-season record for goals against average with a 1.34 GAA. He also had a .934 SV% in his 22 games played for his club HV71.

Oh, he also posted a 2.11 GAA and .911 SV% in 22 playoff games as HV71 won the SHL’s Le Mat Trophy. Think of it as Sweden’s Stanley Cup. It’s a big deal.

After signing his ELC with the New York Islanders just this past offseason the path seems to be clearing for Soderstrom to make his way to North America once his deal with HV71 expires at the end of the season.

He’s already one of the Isles standout players at camp. A strong scrimmage will go a long way to validate the hype surrounding this young Swedish netminder.

Next: Hanzal Is So Not Hot Right Now

It’s just a mini-camp, I know. But we’re all going to be looking at these players and projecting what their careers are going to be like. Now you know who I’m going to be watching and why.