Bruins Top 25 Under 25: #4 Niklas Svedberg

Niklas Svedberg

G / Boston Bruins

Height: 6-2
Weight: 176
Born: September 4, 1989
2012-2013 Numbers: P-Bruins 48GP, 2.17 GAA, 0.925 sv%;  Playoffs 13GP, 1.70 GAA, 0.947 sv%

After winning the Swedish Elite League championship in 2011-2012, Niklas Svedberg signed a contract with the Bruins and headed over for his first season playing North American pro hockey. In doing so, he was able to help the P-Bruins to their first playoff run since 2009. He finished the season with a 37-8-2 record, which contributed hugely to Providence finishing with 105 points overall.

You can read more about his season last year in Steph's report card, but here's a summation of all the awards he won:

He was the starting goaltender for the Eastern Conference team at the AHL All-Star Classic in January. He was named the CCM/AHL Rookie of the Month for the month of March. He finished the season on a winning streak that brought his win total to 37 wins, which tied him with John Grahame for the Providence club record for most wins in a season. He was also awarded the AHL award for Outstanding Goaltender in the league - the Baz Bastien Award.

Impressive. He'll be battling with Chad Johnson for the backup spot in the NHL this year. Not bad for an undrafted guy signed on a whim.

Our Rankings:

Only one person had him ranked outside of the top 5, which makes sense - of all our goaltending prospects, Svedberg easily is in the best position to step in and be NHL ready NOW. Can he follow in Tuukka Rask's footsteps and translate AHL success to a break in to the NHL? Survey says yes, but in just a few short weeks, we'll know for sure. If Chad Johnson ends up taking that spot, a tandem of Svedberg and Subban in the AHL should scare the pants off just about any other team in that league.