Saturday 21 December 2013

Dipsy-Doo... WOW!

The item to the left? A jockstrap. There has been a few players who have sent goaltenders to their local lost-and-found in search of their jockstraps after scoring in the shootout. For example, Pavel Datsyuk has some of the softest hands and slickest moves ever seen. Linus Omark was a YouTube sensation before hitting North America with his array of dazzling dekes. Robbie Schremp used to light up the scoreboards with his work in junior hockey as a puck magician. Today, we have a new name to add to the list as Linus Klasen of Sweden pulls a move off that is amazingly deceptive.

I know other sites have covered this move extensively, so I'm not going to go into great detail about the move. I first knew of Klasen when he was a member of the Milwaukee Admirals and appeared in the AHL All-Star Game in 2010 when I was covering the Manitoba Moose. But to see this move that he pulled off at the Channel One Cup against the Czech Republic and former AHL goalie Alexander Salak? Wow.
Let's not forget that Klasen was no slouch in the AHL. He suited up for 47 games with the Admirals, scoring 22 goals and adding 23 assists. After starting slow with Lulea of the Swedish Elite League last season, he's currently scoring at a 1.28 points-per-game pace this season. The kid can score!

To give you an idea of just how well he's playing, Lulea is third-place in the Swedish Hockey League with a 17-11-5 record. Of those five overtime or shootout losses, only one is a shootout loss. In Klasen's case, he leads the team in goals, assists, and points, and his 41 points are 17 points better than second-leading scorer Niklas Olausson! Think a lot of the offence runs through him?

Again, this is a kid who played very well, I thought, as an AHL player. Clearly, he made a few people sit up and notice when he pulled this move off in the AHL All-Star Skills Competition in Hershey.
Again, he scored 45 points in 47 AHL games, so it's not like he didn't have the talent to play in North America. Yes, I get that he was a little on the small side at 5'8", but the kid could dangle. He also didn't mind going to the high-traffic areas to score goals, seen here as he victimizes the Moose.
The fact that Linus Klasen is making it to highlight reels once more is proof that this kid, like Omark and Schremp before him, should have been given a better shot. He's 27 now, but he was 24 when he was lighting up the AHL. And if there is room in the NHL for Linus Omark, there has to be room for a player of Klasen's skill level.

All I know is that Alexander Salak has the cleaning crew at the arena still looking for his jockstrap after that move pulled on him by Klasen today.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

1 comment:

Tommy said...

Since Omarks return to Luleå it is easy to see how much better Klasen is in comparison. Both have good hands, but Klasen has much better speed, better defence and offence. Great shot, good vision. Pretty much a player who can do it all. He lost around 7kg in weight since he arrived in Luleå and that seems to have made a big difference. If Omark is a "borderline NHL player", Klasen should easily be a regular NHL player imo. Although I hope he stays in Luleå since they are my favourite team.