(Brynäs – Färjestad 2-5) One of Norway’s greatest ice hockey talents, 17-and-a-half-year-old Martin Johnson (17), made his senior level debut in Swedish ice hockey.
He was in the squad for the first time in the first leg against Frolonda, two days ago with about 10,000 spectators.
– I was a little shocked. I wasn’t expecting it, but I was very happy and feeling a little nervous before the match,” Johnson told VG. Then he did not leave him.
But against Prenas he got a chance. Johnson was on the ice for eight minutes, without scoring a goal, but he finished with a “+2” in his own snowboard stats and immediately impressed him. Referred to as the “Million Round” on the club’s own Twitter account:
Aftonbladet expert Hans Abrahamson also liked:
Former national team player and long-time hockey expert on TV 2 and Viasat, Ole-Eskild Dahlstrøm, said it’s hard to gauge Johnson’s performance against Mats Zuccarello and Espen “Shampoo” Knutsen, who were both youngsters in Norway but says:
– That it has an undoubted share in it. There are many hours in the strength room and hard work left, but he is absolutely “on top” considering how far he has come relative to his age. There will be bloodshed for a few more years to build muscle and speed, Dahlstrøm tells VG.
Johnsen could be selected next summer in the NHL draft for the first time and tells VG he is an obvious target for him. When he was aged 15 and 16 he ruined the U21 squad to Storhamar and before the 2020/21 season he went to Karlstad and Färjestad. He had 14 points in 14 U18 games last season, while so far this season he stands with ten points in ten U20 games.
– It’s way ahead of me, says my father and the legend of Storhamar Pål “Magic” Johnsen (45).
– He is far ahead in understanding the game. When I joined Team A at Storhamar, I didn’t know what to do. I had to evolve in it, while I had many years ahead of me. It’s tougher in gameplay than I was, and probably has more strings to play with than I had.
National team coach Peter Thorissen thinks it’s “cool” that the 17-year-old makes his SHL debut and sees great similarities between father and son Johnson.
Martin isn’t that big yet, but he’s strong for his size. They both had an understanding of the game and were good at orienting themselves. There’s a lot of similarities out there, but I think Martin is probably a horse’s head, says Thoresen.
– I think Martin could be very good. I can tell that 14 days ago too, so it’s not because he made his SHL debut. The debut is an admission that he did and did so well the things Färjestad wanted him to do something about, TV 2 hockey expert Bjørn Erevik tells VG.
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