In general my questions about Lulea would be: do they have a shot at making it past quarterfinals this year?
It would be a HUGE upset, but it’s not impossible. Luleå made the playoffs as the 10th and very last seed, and will be up against Växjö in the quarterfinals who not only won the regular season, but also went undefeated through four games against them. It’s going to be tough. Unlike the NHL, major upsets are not common in the SHL playoffs. HV71 in 1995 is the only team to win the championship as an 8th seed. Färjestad won last season (game 7 against Luleå
() despite finishing 6th, which is unusually low, but I’d argue it wasn’t that big of an upset all things considered. Färjestad had the most expensive roster and were regarded among the contenders prior to the season, but stumbled out of the gate and fired their coach at some point. They got their stuff together during spring and were truly better than their place in the standings.
For Luleå, this has been a super disappointing season following our awesome run last year. Omark, Andreasson and Lepistö were 1st, 2nd and 3rd in playoff points for us, and the front office failed to replace their scoring. The GMs seem to have placed their bets on acquiring firepower from the KHL following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the NLA expanded their quotas on foreign players which meant the coveted star players went to Switzerland instead.
I realize I’m able to get really long winded on the ins and outs of why this season’s been rough for Luleå, but to keep things somewhat short: we failed to replace our top offensive players from last year, but nevertheless kept the remaining core. Lepistö wasn’t retained — which in hindsight might have been a mistake — but most agreed Jesper Sellgren was a solid replacement, and that we’ll continue having one of the best defensive cores in the league (which we’ve had: Luleå finished behind only the dominant Växjö and Skellefteå in goals allowed). While Omark especially is incomparable, hopes were up that others would take a step forward in production in his absence, and that Luleå would have a consistent trickle of goals-by-committee (which we haven’t: Luleå finished dead-last in goals scored, with 14 less than second-worst Leksand).
Despite the season, I’ve still felt like we’re a team no one will want to have to face in the playoffs. There’s a ton of playoff routine, grind and grit on the roster. This is a very hard working team, and the players are well-versed in the system. Defensively, when everyone’s playing up to par, Luleå’s super stingy. Lassinantti hasn’t had his most consistent season in net, but he’s proven doubters before by stepping up in the playoffs.
Furthermore, some forwards have really stepped up their play as of late. Shinnimin’s been great (and stayed on his feet), and Komarek looks like he’s ended a two-year cold streak and is fighting for pucks and dishing out great passes like nobody’s business. And Honka’s a sublime two-way defenseman.
We need Erik Gustafsson back to 100%, and Sellgren back from whatever his injury, and Komarov would be really useful as well, but then I think Luleå should be able to make it awfully troublesome for Växjö to advance.
In the near future, say, next 2-3 years, is there room for optimism about how the club is run, players, prospects etc?
Yes! I think definitely so.
The GMs and especially Stefan “Skuggan” Nilsson, being part of Luleå’s “old boys’ club” and all, have been extremely harshly questioned by fans this season, which I feel is very much overstated. Not completely undeserved, perhaps: they failed to build on last year’s success, but from the longer perspective I argue it’s unfair to blame them for their continuous work. I think Luleå is tied or just behind Skellefteå for wins since Nilsson became GM, and they’ve been very consistent with their signings and trying to bring on players who works within coach Thomas “Bulan” Berglund’s system and preferably long-term. They’ve done far more rights than wrongs through their tenure.
“Bulan” is also one of the best coaches in the SHL, in my opinion. I think his system brings very entertaining hockey, despite being known as a defensive minded coach: Luleå’s system focuses on puck possession, and when it clicks (like it hasn’t done much this season, but for example has been against Oskarshamn in the play-in), then the team’s parked in the offensive zone for minutes at a time. “Bulan” has also proven able to adapt when his system’s been “figured out”, and made tweaks to get the team going again.
Based on the rumors, Luleå should make a push upwards in the standings next season, but there will be a lot of turnaround in the roster and new faces making it hard to predict. All of Omark, Andreasson and Lepistö has been rumored for a return. Omark and Lepistö are both getting up there in age, but at least Omark seems to age like fine wine and should help our offense tremendously.
Here’s my current projection for next year’s roster:
Omark* - Kempe - Andreasson*
Komarek? - Connolly - Shinnimin
Patrik Zdrahal* - David Lilja* - Nikola Pasic*
Nikupeteri - Berglund - Einar Emanuelsson
Olausson?
Gustafsson - Ludvig Jansson*
Sellgren - Lepistö**
Själin - Hardegård*
Lassinantti
Ward
* = Probable rumor
** = Questionable rumor
? = Possible extension
It’s known that Luleå wants to extend Julius Honka, but he’ll most likely leave. Tyrväinen is expected to leave as well.
I placed Ludvig Jansson, who’s only 19 atm, next to Erik Gustafsson because Luleå has paired junior defenseman (Sellgren, Lundkvist, Victor Berglund, Kim Johansson) next to him in a mentor capacity before, and will likely want to do it again.
You also asked about prospects. The U20 team is strong and we can hope some of them will get called up and do well with the pro team next year. The standout this year is Dans Locmelis, who we haven’t been able to see with the pro team due to him leaving to play college hockey next year, barring him from “going pro”.
Otherwise, I don’t know too much about our prospects. A few years down the road there’s hope that kids like Lowe Härenstam (goalie) and Jakob Ihs Wozniak (scoring forward) will turn out for us.
Specifically about Lulea, I would be happy to find out what fans expect from the team this year and in the near future just to get an idea.
We hope Luleå will be a pain in the ass for Växjö and at least go out on a somewhat high note following a down year. I hope that Erik Gustafsson will finally captain the team to a championship next year, which is likely his last in Luleå. Too much player turnaround next season for me to be able to really set my expectations that high again, compared to the offseason prior to last year when Luleå added quality to an already promising roster. Tyrväinen, Brännström, Honka, and Engsund are losses that will sting. The goal is on gold, nevertheless.
Surprisingly, in last few weeks I'm somehow able to watch the SHL... Yet my fate is in the hands of a pirate guy it seems. I'll keep my fingers crossed and try to catch playoff games this time around because to be fair, solely based on stats and the few games I've been able to see towards the end of the season (and G2 against Oskarshamn) I don't think we have a lot of playoff to watch this year.
Where are you from, and where do you live?
I’ve shared Cmore and Telia Play accounts with friends for the last years, but I used to resort to less legit sources prior, so I feel you.
Cmore used to produce streams of at least one game per round with English language commentary for foreign broadcasters, but I’m not sure that they do still. My brother said he watched a German language broadcast of one of the playoff games. I recall often watching games without commentary, which I think are available in some countries.
@hansomreiste Are you actually from/located in Turkey, per your profile?