A busy weekend for Rangers prospects in Europe

The New York Rangers drafted two Swedish players last week and they had strong performances this weekend

Most New York Rangers fans had never heard of Oliver Tärnström or Hugo Ollas when they were picked in the third and seventh rounds of the NHL Entry Draft.  They are both doing their best ot make sure we will hear a lot about them. Both were in action in Swedish junior leagues and they had strong outings.

Oliver Tärnström, center – 3rd round 2020 Draft

Oliver Tärnström  is playing for AIK J20 in the J20 Nationell Norra League and saw action in two games this weekend and scored in both.

Saturday, AIK J20 won 5-4 in overtime  over Brynäs IF.  Tärnström was the hero when he scored the game winning goal on m overtime power play.  He won 53% of his draws and had two shots on goal.   He finished the game with a plus/minus of -1.

Sunday,  AIKJ20 beat Västerås IK 4-3 and Tarnstrom scored again.  His was the fourth, an empty net goal that turned into the  game winner when Västerås IK scored with the goalie pulled and two seconds left in the game.

The two wins improved AIKJ20’s record to  2-2-2, good for sixth place in the Nationell Norra League.  In four games for AIKJ20, Tanrnstrom has three goals including two game winner.

Hugo Ollas, goaltender – 7th round, 2020 Draft

When he was drafted, all of the chatter was about his size and he is 6’8″ and would be the tallest NHL netminder, even taller than Ben Bishop.  He’s a long way to the NHL, but the 18 year old is making his mark in the Nationell Södra  J20 junior league.

Ollas is playing for Linköping HC and he started the second of their two games this weekend.  After they won over  Rögle BK on Saturday, Ollas was in net on Sunday for Linkoping’s 5-1 win over Frölunda HC.   He stopped 27 of 28 shots as Linköping improved to a record of 9-2-1.

Ollas is off to a great start with a 6-1-1 record and a 2.57 Goals Against Average.  He has allowed only five goals in his last four starts.

Nils Lundkvist, right defense – 1st round, 2018 Draft

Top defense prospect Lundkvist was on the ice Saturday for Luleå’s shootout loss to Brynäs.

Luleå was upset at home, losing 3-2,  dropping their record to 4-0-2 and second place behind Rögle .

The Ranger prospect scored a second period goal to tied the score 1-1.   It was a blast from the left point.

For the game, Lundkvist had four shots with three on goal.  He played 23:56, second most on the team.
After six games Lundkvist is tied for third in goals and 11th in points among defensemen in the SHL with two goals and one assist.

Calle Själin, left defense – 5th round, 2017 Draft

Defenseman is playing regularly for Leksand who took on Linköping on Saturday. The result was a 4-1 road win.  Själin played 18:44 and had two shots, one on goal.  He also had two assists.

This season Själi, 21,  has one assist in six games. He is averaging 14:03 minutes of ice time per game.  Leksand improved their record to 2-3-1, ninth place in the SHL.

Adam Edström, center/left wing – 6th round, 2019 Draft

This was Adam Edström’s second game of the season as he had been suspended for an illegal hit in Rögle’s season opener.  Rögle moved into first place with a 3-1 win over Örebro on home ice.  They eased him back into the lineup with 8:49 TOI, finished with three shots, one on goal.

Leevi Aaltonen, left winger – 5th round, 2019 Draft

Leevi Aaltonen is a winger playing for KalPa in the Finnish Liiga.   Saturday, KalPa defeated JYP 3-0 to improve their record to a ninth place 2-1-0 record.

Aaltonen played 6:18 and had one shot on goal.  He is still looking for his first point of the eason.

In other Liiga action, TPS lost their first game of the season to Jukurit, 4-1.  Ranger prospect Lauri Pajuniemi missed his second straight game with a leg injury that will keep him out for about a month.

Tarmo Reuanen, left defense – 4th round, 2016 Draft

It was announced last week that the Rangers would be loaning  Tarmo Reunanen to TUTO Hockey of the Mestis League, the second tier league in Finland.  He made his debut on Saturday when TUTO lost to KOOVEE 5-1 at home.

While it was a bad game for TUTO, Reunanen had a solid game, scoring their onlyi goal, breaking up the shutout at 7:41 of the third period.  He played 24:33 minutes, the most of any TUTO player and he had 11 shots on goal. Reunanen was not on goal for any opposition goal.

TUTO is in 13th place in the 14 team Mestis League with a record of 1-4-1.

Ygor Rykov, left defense – Acquired by trade from New Jersey in 2018.

Yegor Rykov notched his third assist of the season on Saturday as CSKA beat Salavat Yulaev 4-2 .  Rykov got the assist on a third period goal.  Rykov played  22 shifts for 17:06  TOI and blocked one shot.

Rykov has played in 12 games and has a plus/minus mark of +8.   He has been on ice for only two opposition goals. He is averaging 20 shifts per game for average ice time of 15:45.  His three assists are tied for second most on CSKA.

CSKA sits atop the Western Conference in the KHL with a 12-1-1 record.

In other KHL action, Traktor lost 3-1 to Avtomobilist on Sunday as Vitali Kravtsov missed another game with a lower body injury.  Traktor dropped to fourth place in the Kharlamov Division with a 7-5-2 record for 16 points,  seven points out of first place.

Adam Huska, goaltender – 7th round, 2015 Draft

Ranger goalie prospect Adam Huska has been loaned to HKM a.s. Zvolen in the Slovakian Elite League.  He got his first start of the season on Sunday as HKM a.s. Zvolen defeated HK DUKLA Trenčín 3-2 . Huska stopped 23 of 25 shots, a .920 save percentage.

Huska, a Slovakian native is 23 years old and is expected to be one of the top starters for the Wolf Pack.

It’s a quiet Monday with more games later this week.