P-Bruin Emil Johansson returns to Sweden

While the Stanley Cup and Calder Cup Playoffs have reached their conference finals, teams out on the outside have begun to make their moves. One such player is Left-Handed Defender Emil Johansson, who will be leaving North America to return to his longtime junior and one-time main club HV71 per the swedish blog (brought to our attention by SBNation’s senior sweden expert Patrik Bexell) Rakapuckar. Their scoop, lightly translated and paraphrased:

Defender Emil Johansson, the 23-year-old for the Boston Bruins who - as I heard - agreed to a release even though one year remains on his contract.

It’s unknown at this time whether or not it’s merely a loan, or that his contract has been terminated.

For most of his career, Johansson played on HV71’s junior team, from 2012 until 2016-17, when he joined the Providence Bruins, two years after being drafted 206th overall in 2014. He played and served primarily as an unspectacular but also responsible defensive defenseman, finishing his time in North America with 20 points in 118 games.

As for who takes his place? Maybe a draft pick, maybe Cooper Zech, who was signed earlier this year, will be his full-time replacement, or maybe the Bruins assign one of their more recent D prospects like Axel Andersson or Dustyn McFaul to the P-B’s.

Regardless, we wish Johansson all the luck in the world with HV71 this upcoming year in the SHL.