The Sabers expect Noah Ostlund to turn heads in Sweden and score special goals
The night before Djurgarden’s last exhibition game, Sabers prospect Noah Ostlund and his teammate, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, bet each other on who would score the first “Michigan,” a lacrosse-style goal, this season.
The goal made famous by the Wolverines’ Mike Legg in the 1996 NCAA Tournament involves skill, timing and a bit of luck. A player must lift the puck off the ice behind the net and quickly hit it over the shoulder of an unsuspecting goaltender.
“(Ostlund) went out and did it like nothing,” says Djurgården’s general manager KG Stoppel to the Times Herald.
That’s right, five minutes into Djurgarden’s contest against Tingsryd last week, Ostlund lifted the puck behind the net and deposited it at the top of the cage.
The GM said that Östlund’s neat goal made the bench laugh.
“Right now he’s playing with such confidence, and I think that’s been good,” said Stoppel, who wasn’t sure what Östlund got to win the bet. “He’s been focused for this start of the season.”
In his first few days as a regular with the Djurgardens, Ostlund, the 16th overall pick by Buffalo on July 7, has already racked up a flurry of reel highlights while skating on the top line. The regular season doesn’t start until September 23rd.
Ostlund, 18, scored three goals in the pre-season opener, a hat-trick Stoppel said the Swede was given “so easily”.
“The way he acted on the ice, he never put himself in difficult situations, and that’s quite abnormal with young players, because they think they can play like they do against guys who are the same age (group) that they played against when they were growing up up,” he said. “But he’s so smart (he can) find and handle every situation on the ice. So he’s never short of time.”
Ostlund spent most of last season with Djurgården’s top junior team, recording nine goals and 42 points in 32 games. He also made an 11-game appearance in the Swedish Hockey League and collected zero points in his first professional experience.
“He makes the players around him better,” said Buffalo native Barry Smith, a former NHL assistant who coached Djurgardens for part of last season. “He could come up and play in the SHL. He couldn’t play the whole season, 40-some games, because it’s too physical. But he can come up and play and he wasn’t out of place.”
Djurgårdens was relegated after last season, so the organization’s best professional team now competes in the HockeyAllsvenskan, the second division.
So far, the Djurgardens have eased the 5-foot-10, 164-pound Ostlund into pro hockey. Instead of skating at center, he has been playing right wing, a spot Stoppel said the team plans to keep him.
“He’s skilled, but right now he’s not that strong — hockey strong,” Stoppel said. “So we want to focus on his skills.”
He added: “He’s a really smart hockey player with good hockey sense and also has the skills, (a) really good shot.”
Ostlund also has a notable mentor in NHL veteran Marcus Kruger, who won two Stanley Cups with the Chicago Blackhawks. Kruger, who came up in Djurgarden’s organization, returned this season and plays alongside him.
“Marcus Kruger is an incredible leader for the team,” Stoppel said. “He works (it) the hardest out of everybody. He’s the first one in the locker room in the morning, he’s the last one out of the locker room. He also sends the right message to every player on the team (to) follow me.”
Stoppel said Ostlund’s ability to stay in the moment has also benefited his development. Ostlund, who signed his entry-level contract with the Sabers in July, is not thinking about the NHL.
“He’s in the here and now, working on his progress,” Stoppel said. “A lot of talented players, they’re a bit too far in the progression of what’s going to happen instead of what’s going to happen now. He’s really good to work (with) day to day, this is my focus to be a better hockey player.”
When Ostlund visited Buffalo in July for development camp, he said he hopes to come and play in North America in a year or two.
“But maybe two years will be the best for me to take a year in the second division in Sweden and a second year in the best division in Sweden,” he said.
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The Sabers hired Matt Smith as video coordinator on Monday. Video coach Myles Fee left earlier in the offseason to take a position with the Florida Panthers.
Smith coached St. Ignatius to the high school’s first-ever Chicago Catholic Hockey League championship last season.
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Former Sabers center Cody Eakin has signed a pro tryout to attend training camp with the Calgary Flames.
Watch out Zegras, Noah Ostlund just made Michigan and international sensation! pic.twitter.com/SheUnd9u84
— Where The Buffalo Roam (@2G1Mbuffaloroam) September 8, 2022
Noah Östlund 🚨🚨🚨 #training match #DIFhockey #Sabre
🎥SportExpressen Play pic.twitter.com/l0pdobGkBU— SwehockeyGIFs (@swehockeygifs) August 11, 2022