The Ottawa Senators put up a valiant fight last not but were not able to solve Henrik Lundqvist in a 1-0 loss in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series with the New York Rangers. The Blueshirts now lead the series, two games to one.
Meanwhile, at 1 p.m. Eastern US/Canada time today, Senators prospect Jakob Silfverberg will try to close out a magical season with his Brynas team by winning Sweden's Elitserien championship. The team leads its best-of-seven series with Skelleftea, three games to one.
If you have never heard of Silfverberg, learn the name because you're probably going to be hearing a lot about him very soon -- possibly within the week. Scouts across the NHL and observers in Europe now consider the 21-year-old Swede to be a potential impact player in the NHL in the very near future.
Silfverberg won regular season MVP honors in Sweden's Elitserien this year and he's also a virtual lock to become the playoff MVP as well (11 goals, 7 assists, 18 points in 15 playoff games heading into today). Here is where it gets really interesting for the Senators:
The player was signed to an entry-level contract LAST YEAR, and was loaned back to Brynas this season by the Sens. From an NHL playoff eligibility perspective, that is the same as if he had spent the current season in the AHL with Binghamton. Silfverberg IS eligible to play for the Senators in the playoffs this year.
Given the difficulties of scoring against the Rangers and the rare chance of being able to debut a "secret weapon" (at least one on whom the opposition has little first-hand scouting knowledge of), I would think it has to be very tempting for Ottawa to bring the young player over for the rest of the series once his season in Sweden is finished.
The Senators tend to be a secretive organization. They've said nothing about whether they'll have Silfverberg report now or just let him play in the World Championships and make his NHL debut next year. The player himself has reportedly said in interviews he has not heard from Ottawa but would do whatever is asked, forgoing the Worlds if that's what the Senators want.
According to HockeyBuzz's Bill Meltzer, who covers European hockey over at NHL.com in addition to his Flyers and Stars blogging duties here, Silfverberg has "dominated the Swedish league this season to a degree not seen since a young Daniel Sedin was doing similar things with Modo before coming to the NHL. Silfverberg has a world-class righthanded shot, breakaway speed and a lot of creativity. Of course, it remains to be seen how long it would take him to adapt to the physicality of the North American game. His main weakness is that he isn't a real physical player. He's been accused of diving by opponents in Sweden. It's never really rattled him, but perhaps he can be taken off his game by a real physical opponent.
"Over here, he wouldn't get the benefit of many calls right away from the referees, and he'll have to adapt to the Senators' system. Skill-wise and development-wise, though, there's little question he's NHL-ready. I think he'll debut next season. It's fun to toss around the idea of whether he could make a difference in a playoff series now, but that would be a tall order for him."
However, Bill also said that Peter Forsberg just did an interview with the Expressen newspaper where the retired NHL superstar called Silfverberg a virtual can't-miss star in the NHL, because his shoot-first game is actually better suited to the way the game is played over here. Foppa compared Silfverberg's shooting ability to be of similar caliber to Steven Stamkos', and said that he thinks it won't take very long at all for Silfverberg to adapt to the NHL and start to shine.
The biggest question for now, is whether the Sens ought to try to make their future start right now while they are locked in a tough playoff series with a favored opponent.
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