Axel Jonsson-Fjallby is a name for Bears fans to remember this season. Photo via Hershey Bears on Twitter.
He’s got hockey flow and blazing speed on the ice. Those are two standout traits of Capitals prospect Axel Jonsson-Fjallby. The 20 year-old left winger hails from Stockholm, Sweden as a fifth round draft choice (147 overall) of the Capitals from 2016. He stands at 6′ flat, and weighs 185 pounds. Capitals development brass prefer to discuss his on-ice talent, where he scored the game winning goal and had four points to help Sweden advance to the final of the World Junior Championship, where they lost to Canada.He stands out with his hockey flow, which is sure to draw him fans and attention in Hershey, but the left winger comes into this season with much to prove. His two areas of improvement he wants to work on (per the Washington Post) were physical play on the boards, and puck control as a whole. Although he has the best skating legs perhaps out of any prospect Washington had at Development Camp, it seems as though his stickhandling skills may be taking time to catch up to the speedy skates of the young forward.
There was, initially, some fear that Jonsson-Fjallby might head back to Europe, as there’s a clause for a European assignment in his contract. However, that will likely not be the case as the Capitals seem to be dangling the possibility of making the NHL team out of training camp a real possibility for a number of players, and that no one is guaranteed a spot. The Caps believe he is possibly a fourth line winger who may be able to sneak further up the lineup, so there will be some development time spent in Hershey.
Jonsson-Fjallby has spent most of his career in different levels of Djurgårdens IF in Sweden, spending the last two seasons playing for their SHL club, where he posted seven goals and nine assists for 16 points in 42 games played last season. He has earned two silver medals with Sweden in the World Juniors.
Fjallby scored a shorthanded goal against the United States (shown above) that sealed the deal for Sweden, and if his speed translates to the AHL level well, it would be an excellent tool in the arsenal for the Bears to have. With the departure of Dustin Gazley made official recently, having a speedy penalty killer will pay dividends for the Bears this coming season. Fjallby has a good shot to work the special teams for Hershey and become a big part of the team this season, and hopefully his game translates well to the AHL level.
Like most of the new players on the roster this year, the biggest unknown about Fjallby is simply that he has no professional experience in the AHL quite yet, which makes it hard to do much other that speculate how head coach Spencer Carbery and staff will use him. However, he has the tools to become an excellent player for the Bears, and eventually the Capitals.
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