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The Boston Bruins recent influx of Swedish talents, headlined by names like
Loui Eriksson and
Carl Soderberg brought into the organization within the past a year plus, doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Just one year after being taken by the Bruins with their first pick of the 2013 NHL Draft, the signing of defenseman
Linus Arnesson to a three-year entry level deal was finally made official by Boston general manager
Peter Chiarelli earlier today.
Arnesson announced the signing two days prior though, via Twitter/Instagram.
A 6-foot-1 defender, Arnesson skated in his second season with Djurgarden in the Allsvenskan League (Sweden-1) this year, recording one goal, six points, and a plus-2 rating in 44 games. The 19-year-old also skated in seven games for Sweden during the World Junior Championships, tallying two assists for his home country in their Silver showing.
In total, Arnesson has skated in 75 games in the Allsvenskan league, and had a three-game stint with Djurgarden’s Swedish Elite League two years ago.
“He’s a versatile defenseman -- good skater, good defender, but not elite offensively,” Chiarelli noted of Arnesson’s game at last year’s draft in Newark, NJ. “Defends well, not a banger, just a solid two-way defender -- I don’t really have a good [NHL] comparable.”
During a post-draft phone interview with the media last summer, Arnesson said that he tries to model his game after Chicago shutdown d-man
Niklas Hjarmalsson, though the club’s top European scout (Jukka Holtari) compared him to the likes of an
Andrew Ference or
Dennis Seidenberg.
Set to turn 20 in September, Arnesson will likely join a Providence cast that’s churned out one NHL-capable defender after another in recent years, with obvious success stories coming with names like
Torey Krug,
Kevan Miller, and
Matt Bartkowski.
Down on the farm, Arnesson will bring a steadying presence to a Providence lineup with their share of puck-movers as of late (
Joe Morrow,
Zach Trotman,
David Warsofsky), and likely projects into the B’s future as a two-way, mid-pairing defender.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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