For several seasons, Swedish defenseman Mikael Wikstrand was a compelling prospect for the Ottawa Senators.
Wikstrand was a late pick, round 7, in the 2012 NHL Draft, and after three years of progress back home in Sweden, including a fine performance at the 2013 World Juniors, he arrived in Ottawa with a legit shot at an NHL job in the fall of 2015.
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The plan was for Wikstrand to play in either Ottawa or with Binghamton in the AHL. In 2014-15, Wikstrand scored five goals and 20 points in 46 games with Sweden’s Frolunda HC, Daniel Alfredsson‘s old team.
But during training camp, Wikstrand left the Senators overnight without telling anyone.
According to Senators GM Bryan Murray, Wikstrand did call assistant GM Randy Lee from the airport. Murray says the player felt he wasn’t ready and wanted to go home and play in Sweden.
However, he was under contract with the Senators, who immediately suspended him. In speaking with the media, Murray says he told him he could be a grocery clerk back home or play for a Swedish beer league team.
Wikstrand, whose hockey career was now officially in limbo, then announced that the reason he wanted to play in Sweden was because his brother had been diagnosed with leukemia. Wikstrand says he didn’t know if or when he would be back in Ottawa because his brother’s situation “might take a month before everything is fine, or it might take three years.”
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“It was really bad of me (to not tell the Senators),” Wikstrand told Varmlands Folkblad’s Johan Ekberg several days after leaving Ottawa. “I should have told them why I wanted to play at home. But I’m a guy that keeps a lot of things for myself, keep it in the family. My agent did not know about it before either.”
Ottawa didn’t want his development to stall out completely so three months later, in January 2016, they finally relented and loaned him to Farjestad BK for the remainder of their 2015-16 season.
“In an effort to further monitor his development, we have agreed to loan Mikael to Färjestad for the remainder of the season,” Murray said in a club statement. “We will retain his North American rights and should he change his outlook on working towards playing in the National Hockey League, we will be open to discussing a potential return at an appropriate time in the future.”
After lifting his suspension, it wasn’t long before the Senators finally moved off their prospect completely, allowing him to get on with his career. In May of 2016, Wikstrand, who still had a year left on his ELC with the Senators, signed a four-year extension with Farjestad.
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It was the end of the line for a player projected to at least be an AHL regular in 2015-16, but he was also a player Murray thought could potentially stick with the big club that year.
Wikstrand only played six more years of pro hockey, including an Olympic appearance in 2018 in Pyeongchang. Two years ago, due to injuries, he officially announced his retirement at age 30.
Hopefully, he let his team know.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News
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