Hedstrom

Duck Fans,

I was just wondering about the status of this guy, Johnathon Hedstrom. Is he playing this year (I know he missed the end of last season for personal reasons), what are you guys expecting from this season? And any idea what line he will be playing on?

Thanks for any answers you can dig up for me.

He's no longer on the team. Apparently his wife couldn't adjust to the lifestyle in North America, so they went back to Sweden after the season ended.

officially retired from the NHL. will play out his career in Sweden.

He was the sacrificial Swede. Watch out, Petteri Wirtanen.

He was the sacrificial Swede. Watch out, Petteri Wirtanen.

He's Finnish. So watch out Bjorn Melin.

Hedstrom signed with Timra...

He's Finnish. So watch out Bjorn Melin.
Stop bothering me with details.

http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/sport/story/0,2789,886202,00.html

"In the middle of burning Stanley Cup playoffs Jonathan Hedström left Anaheim. Now he tells why.
- I lost almost 10 kg (22 pounds) during my time in NHL. I felt miserable. It was an awful time.

Jonathan Hedström is back in Swedish hockey and SEL has become one attraction richer. The biggest warrior has returned.
- I'm not exactly a craftsman of fine art, says Hedström and laughs.
- I live on my mentality. I have to be a little bit pissed off when I play hockey and it lucky that guys like Ledin and Kåberg is there (Swedish agitators)?..

Jonathan Hedström never got the chance in TV-puck (national competition among Sweden's best 15 year olds) and he wasn't close playing in any junior national team.

One season enough
- I have walked the long road and is that journey that has shaped me. To fight (give 100%) is all I can.

He went to NHL - and Three Crowns (Swedish national team) at last. But one season in Anaheim was enough.
What happened?
Hockey-wise it went very good. I got to play over 16 minutes a game, which is fantastic. But, it was other things that mattered. As human being I am very social. Me and my family felt very, very isolated in Anaheim. We had a hard time finding friends and it was incredibly hard.

January the 3rd, pregnant wife Helene and daughter Tilly went home to Sweden.
- It was a good solution. Why should we both suffer?

Jonathan Hedström forced himself to stay, but during the Stanley Cup playoffs he didn't have any energy left.

He contacted Anaheim GM Brian Burk.
- I told him how it was. I practically cried because I was so sad. He understood and told me: "take a weekend off and then come back?"
- Over the weekend? I said to him. How am I going to get home to Sweden during a weekend and then back? It was impossible.

Finally Brian Burke realized the seriousness in the matter and asked to return later.
- He looked at me and realized how bad it was and after speaking with the coaches and the rest of the staff I got the message that I could go home for good.

The chock after the Olympics
- I became superhappy.
Jonathan Hedström himself didn't realize for a start how bad he really felt. The chock came after the Olympics in february.
- When I got back to Anaheim, mom had sent a picture of me from some Swedish newspaper. She asked for the reason why I looked how I looked?
- Then it came clear for me.
Jonathan measured his weight and with big eyes he stared at the result.
- Oh my god, when I went to NHL last autumn I weighed 88 kg (195 pounds). Now I weighed 79 kg (175 pounds) all of a sudden. To me it was a wakeup call.
Didn't you notice anything before?
- Not then, but now afterwards I realize why I felt like a feather in the fight along the boards. There was no power, no weight behind the checks.

Jonathan Hedström chose to leave NHL - despite making his best season in his entire career.
- It was an incredibly hard decision to take. To play in NHL was fantastic, but health and feeling well stands over everything else. My goodness, it is only sports.

Back home in Sweden speculations started about Hedström's new club. Everyone thought he would pick Skellefteå - where he was raised as a hockey player - but Jonte chose in the end to play for Timrå

- It was a damn circus in the media. It has been rumours about millions there and millions here, like I should be some greedy *******. But I can tell you money had very little to do with my decision to play for Timrå. If my priority was to make money, I would have stayed in Anaheim, of course.

What put the tip on the scale?
- The social, without doubt. Me and my family liked it incredibly well last time I played for Timrå. We knew what we were going to get.
Can you understand the disappointment in Skellefteå?
- Absolutely, no question about it.
You will play an exhibition game in Skellefteå this thursday, what reception do you think you will get?
- Well, this is just as good time as any to grab the bull by it horns. It will be loud. I guess no one will cheer for me?... (laughter)

Has the preseasion been well?
- That would be wrong to say. Honestly, I've been frigging worthless. On the other hand, I usually don't play on my top from the start.

To overcome the troublesome year in NHL - and moving on - Jonathan Hedström has had some help from sports psychiatrist Åke Fjellström.
- Alot of people probably think I have something wrong in my head, but that's not the case. I've just found someone to talk to and who will help me become a better player.

Jonathan Hedström chose family and social life before the glamour in NHL. SEL is one profile richer.

I discussed this during the lockout season when DucksZone asked me to write a column:
The European Experience
Antti-Jussi Niemi, Timo Parssinen, Petr Tenkrat, Jonathan Hedstrom, Jonas Ronnqvist, Johan Davidsson, Antti Aalto, Peter Podhradsky...the list goes on and on.

For any Ducks fan, these are the broken promises, the future that never came. Over the years, Anaheim has had a distinct problem in convincing players like Tony Martensson to leave their homeland and come to North America and compete for an NHL job.

One of the problems is the fact that they do have to compete for a job. No one wants to play in the AHL when they feel they have a legitimate shot at the NHL. Especially when the AHL is often considered a step down from the skill level that can be found on display in most European leagues on any given night. Besides, the European leagues have superior pay from the North American minors and other perks. Often the players coming to try their hand at the NHL head home after a season or two in the minors, rejoining their hometown team and playing just as well as when they left.

But is it simply just lack of opportunity and unwillingness to offer one-way contracts and roster spots to relatively unknown Europeans that causes this cycle?

In January, the Hockey News talked with New Jersey's John Madden about his experiences in the Finnish Elite League. Madden was held scoreless in 3 games with HIFK Helsinki this year before returning to North America. He was contracted to stay much longer, but homesickness and culture shock led to a shortened visit.

Madden pinpointed things such as language problems and even dealing with the time change as being major factors in his return to North America. Even things like where to eat and how to get around town were obstacles that had to be overcome.

If nothing else, this opened Madden's eyes to how much New Jersey and Albany (New Jersey's AHL farm team) players didn't accommodate new Europeans into their dressing room. The lack of English comprehension would leave them on the outside of most dressing room jokes, and being left on your own for food would only add to the feeling of being an outsider.

Naturally, while reading this, I thought of the "lost prospects" of Anaheim: Those who spent a year or two in North America before returning to Europe. Is there a problem with Anaheim's organization in terms of making new players feel welcome and overcoming barriers that may be in place? Often teams will pair a younger player with a veteran player who hails from the same country to make things easier. But what about on a young team like Cincinnati?

It's hard to say what impact the nine players I listed would have on the NHL level, some such as Tony Martensson and if the rumours are true, Jonathan Hedstrom, might see a second swing at the plate with Anaheim. Either way, the fact that it happens so frequently seems to point to a major problem of integrating these young players into the organization and the country and accounting for culture shock.

Hedstrom was 'ok' but he was no Konopka.

Damn Russia!

OMG :O I think I saw Hedström's name in the same sentence as in Warrior :sarcasm:

So he bailed out in the middle of the playoffs because he was homesick? What a friggin girl.

So he bailed out in the middle of the playoffs because he was homesick? What a friggin girl.
I think it was a little bit more than a tiny bit of homesickness. As for the girl statement: low. If you lose 22 pounds you don't feel homesick, you feel like ****.

So he bailed out in the middle of the playoffs because he was homesick? What a friggin girl.

Agree, especially seeing many of my buddies go into the armed forces and the crap they have to live with. "oh, I play in the NHL... poor me!!!"

Agree, especially seeing many of my buddies go into the armed forces and the crap they have to live with. "oh, I play in the NHL... poor me!!!"

Going overseas to serve in the military and playing abroad on a professional sports team are not comparable. You serve in the military because you feel you have a civic duty to do so, not to have fun. Hockey players and all other athletes play this game because it's fun. I can't imagine how it is to be in a foreign country where you don't really speak the language and everything is different. Family, health and happiness comes before anything and if the guy wasn't happy and he was losing weight because of it than it's just not worth it. Besides, it's not like he quit on his team. He wasn't playing well and was replaced on the roster. No reason to stick around at that point. But he put in a lot of great games and was crucile in two of our biggest regular season wins against the Kings and Avs. I wish Jonathan well and hope he does well in Sweden.

Going overseas to serve in the military and playing abroad on a professional sports team are not comparable. You serve in the military because you feel you have a civic duty to do so, not to have fun. Hockey players and all other athletes play this game because it's fun. I can't imagine how it is to be in a foreign country where you don't really speak the language and everything is different. Family, health and happiness comes before anything and if the guy wasn't happy and he was losing weight because of it than it's just not worth it. Besides, it's not like he quit on his team. He wasn't playing well and was replaced on the roster. No reason to stick around at that point. But he put in a lot of great games and was crucile in two of our biggest regular season wins against the Kings and Avs. I wish Jonathan well and hope he does well in Sweden.

Obviously they aren't, but the point is after reading that interview thing he just seems like a big wimp. If only we all could go through life perfect and not have anything go the least bit wrong. My point was that (even though it's the entertainment industry) it's his job and he left it when the team needed him the most. Not literally "gee we could've beaten Edmonton with jonathan..." Again I'm not being completely literal. What I mean is the playoffs are the most important time for players to play.

Playing in the NHL is a dream that many guys try so hard to achieve and don't. (jordan smith lost his eye for instance) It just seems funny to me that someone could be so miserable when his job is one other guys would kill for. (even if it is in another country) OC might be too corporate for JH, but he doesn't have to lose weight over it.

I get what your saying but some people can adapt to foreign countries and some can't. My father for instance wouldn't last a day outside of this country and especially away from my mother. To each his own I guess but it must be tough basically being an alien in a foreign place.

His breakdown didn't exactly happen overnight. It was a continous process that probably started the day he and his family got to Anaheim.

Do you think it helped that his wife and daughter went back to Sweden in january because they couldn't take it anymore, practically leaving him all alone (without his family) for the remaining season? And he let them because he didn't want them to suffer as well, he stayed because it was his obligation and his job (and that he loves hockey).

The fact that he loved playing in NHL and that it was his dream, says alot about how serious the situation was. He says hockey was great, but the life outside the rink was miserable. Don't you think he wanted to stay and play? Of course he wanted to, but he was broken.

For all of you who call him a wimp, try living away from your country and family for as little as six months (or try the light version and live in a hotel in your own country for a month or so). Different culture, different language, different everything (although Swedes have little to none trouble with the language). It's tougher than you think. Something as trivial as going to the grocery store can be a real challenge, you don't understand what everything is or contains - especially hard if you're allergic to something common. Your old friends aren't there anymore, so you can't go bowling with them every sunday as you used to. If you was close to your parents and visited them alot, they're also gone. Your wife has to find a new job or at least something meaningful to do (without old friends), your daughter has to adapt to a new country, a new language and a new school. You miss your favourite food you ate back home that isn't there anymore, you miss your favourite chocolate, what's on TV is different (your favourite show is gone), the newspapers are different; - everything - is - different. All these small rivers gather up to a big lake.

Some are good at adapting to the new enviroment, some aren't. It didn't help that Hedström and his family felt totally isolated without friends when they themselves are very social people.

This should be less about flaming Hedström and more about how the Ducks organisation can prevent this thing from happening again. Perhaps the whole situation could have been avoided if they had put more effort into helping Hedström and his family to adapt to the new life. If you say Hedström failed the Ducks, I would say the Ducks - at least - equally failed Hedström. The fact that his family left in january was a wakeup alarm that the Ducks organization should have responded to. Something was obviously not right. European players - especially those who are generally bad at english, like russians, czechs and slovaks - need alot more help outside the rink than an american or canadian AHL player.

Many NHL players know all this. During the lockout season, many transatlantic players went overseas to Europe to play hockey (as you may know). For some it went fine, for some the cultural shock was so big that they left after a week.

Some are good at adapting to the new enviroment, some aren't. It didn't help that Hedström and his family felt totally isolated without friends when they themselves are very social people.


Many NHL players know all this. During the lockout season, many transatlantic players went overseas to Europe to play hockey (as you may know). For some it went fine, for some the cultural shock was so big that they left after a week.

I don't see what the big deal is, he had a fellow countryman in the lineup who could help him adjust and since Hedstrom and family are so social this should have solved the problem.

Geez, this is Orange County, not Edmonton!!:sarcasm:

Geez, this is Orange County, not Edmonton!!:sarcasm:

Considering that Hedström is from the north of sweden where most people are into snowmobiles, booze and hockey I wouldn't be surprised if Hedström had felt much more at home in BC or Alberta.