Markus Soberg’s season could not be off to a worse start. He has a hernia and will be out 4 to 6 weeks.
Spit Notes; O/A & import Markus Soberg out 4-6 weeks with a hernia. Difficult situation to be sure...
— SpitsBlog Uncensored (@SpitsBlog1) September 1, 2015Soberg was a 6th round pick of the Blue Jackets back in 2013. In his first season in North America, Soberg had 13 goals and 17 assists in 61 games for the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL. This is a very difficult situation for Soberg who missed Blue Jackets development camp hoping to recover and be ready in time for Windsor’s season. This injury does not bode well for Soberg’s chances of remaining on the Spitfires roster.
Soberg will be 20 years old this season making him an overage player. OHL teams are only allowed three overage players each season. Right away Soberg was already in tight to make the team. He is also an import player and OHL teams are only allowed two imports on a roster. So of the five spots Windsor has for overagers and imports Soberg as one person would be taking up two spots. That really limits the flexibility for GM Warren Rychel.
In the off-season it looked like Windsor was already planning to move on from Soberg as they made two selections in the 2015 CHL import draft. They selected defencemen Mikhail Sergachev sixth overall and centre Christof Kromp at 66. Both players are at Spitfires training camp and I’d expect both to make the team.
Once Soberg recovers from this injury I think the best spot for him would be to play for the Blue Jackets ECHL affiliate the Kalamazoo Wings. This will give him a chance to see regular playing time at a level that is higher than the OHL. This allows him to stay in the system and his development can be monitored closely by the front office. If not I could see him returning to Europe. Before coming to North America he played in Sweden for Frölunda HC J20. I don’t think Soberg is good enough to play in the SHL right now, but he could be loaned to the Allsvenskan or explore playing professionally in his home country of Norway.
I wish all the best to Markus Soberg in hopes of a quick recovery. It’s going to be a very interesting situation to follow when he's back and healthy again.
You can follow me on twitter @PaulBerthelot