As per reports over the past 24 hours, news has surfaced that defenseman Philip Broberg is leaving Sweden now that his club team Skelleftea is out of the playoffs. He will be making an attempt to return to North America and will try to join the Edmonton Oilers, supposedly as soon as the team can facilitate his travel. A tweet, from Rasmus Kagstrom (translated to English) reads: “A number of players are now leaving Skellefteå AIK – including Philip Broberg (no direct bang, perhaps). What I hear is that Oilers wants him over as soon as possible to North America – and it’s not to play AHL hockey.”
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Broberg hasn’t been talked about much from an Oilers perspective this season, but at one time, he was thought to be one of the organization’s most promising blue line prospects. A not-so great season has a few people concerned that he’s not everything insiders figured he’d be, but despite a concerning trajectory, injuries and other factors should be taken into consideration. Many smart hockey analysts believe he’s still got a bright future in the NHL.
Injuries Are a Concern
Yes, the second half of his season saw him receive lower ice time than the first half, leading to even less ice time in the playoffs. That is a bit worrisome. Others will point his a disappointing World Junior tournament, but that was all injury related. Oilers GM Ken Holland said at the time that Broberg played with a slight tear above the knee and had a partial shoulder separation in the medal round. Holland added: “I liked it that he dug in. He was the captain. He wanted to play…,” “We knew he was playing hurt. I like that trait. You can’t be 100 per cent all the time. You got to dig in.”
Broberg put up 13 points in 44 games with Skelleftea AIK which is five points more than he had in his first season with the team. It sounds like the Oilers just want to get him over here so they can start working with him on his game and seeing if he’s truly the prospect they believe they drafted or if he’s not going to pan out as hoped.
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