Top 25 Under 25: #6 Niklas Svedberg

• Acquired: Signed as a free agent from Brynas in the SEL
• Position: G
• Hometown: Sollentuna, Sweden
• Vitals: 6'1/ 176  lbs
• Last year's  team: Providence Bruins (AHL)

What we said last year:

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.

Unfortunately, his performance in the playoffs did not hold up. He was pulled in the first game of the playoffs and ultimately the last game of the playoffs in which they lost in game seven to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Although the losses were not his fault, it was slightly disappointing that he was unable to steal games and raise his game to the same level as he did in the regular season the way he had previously. He stole a lot of games for the defensively weak team over the course of the regular season.

This year

Svedberg drops two places from 4 to 6 on our top-25 this year, likely on account of spending the whole of last season in Providence and the Bruins' glut of potential goalies in the system. He went 25-15-4 for Providence last season, and this year should have a very good chance of seeing more NHL time. He appeared in one game for Boston last year (a win). He's made a good showing in preseason so far, and with Malcolm Subban probably needing one more year of conditioning in Providence, his only significant competition should be Jeremy Smith. It'd be interesting to see them split time, but who knows what Julien would do.

Also, his godfather-themed mask remains awesome.

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