After not playing competitively since Jan 2023 due to a shoulder injury, it was a dream come true for 22-year-old defenseman Viktor Persson to get invited to the training camp of Brynäs IF – the club where he played from age 13 to 19 and got his first taste of pro hockey. Brynäs IF had just been promoted back to the SHL and was building a competitive lineup, but some injuries to key defensemen Christian Djoos and Charles-Édouard D’Astous presented Persson with the chance to sign a short-term contract with the big club.
Persson played in Brynäs’ first 11 games of the season but logged over 15 minutes in only four of them. Otherwise, he dressed as the team’s seventh defenseman and saw limited action. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound, right-shot defenseman didn’t record any points, had six shots on goal, one minor penalty and was a minus-1. With the team back to full strength on defense, he’s been a healthy scratch the last two games.
“It was really not an easy decision to make, as I have always had a dream to come back to Gävle and Brynäs,” Persson is quoted on the club’s website. “But I feel that I need more playing time to be able to take the next step, as I’ve just had two seasons where I barely played.”
Persson left Brynäs for the first time in 2021, a year after he was the Vancouver Canucks’ seventh-round draft pick. Getting picked that low doesn’t usually result in high expectations to play in the NHL, but after a strong season with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers where he recorded 29 points in 65 regular-season games and helped the team reach the Western Conference final, he was on the radar.
He signed with the Lahti Pelicans in Finland, but to follow was an injury-plagued season that saw him play only 24 games – the last on Jan 14, 2023. Over the next year and a half, Persson was slow to recover from his shoulder injury.
Now he appears to be healthy and, just a couple weeks shy of his 23rd birthday, he’s not ready to give up on his career. Leaving Brynäs is hard, especially with the team surprisingly in first place, but what he needs more than anything else is to play.
“We are grateful that Viktor joined the team when we were short of people,” said Brynäs sports manager Johan Alcén. “He did very well under the circumstances and was a well-liked person in the dressing room. We respect Viktor’s decision and wish him the best of luck in the future.”
“I only feel great gratitude for my time in Brynäs,” said Persson. “The players, management and everyone around gave me a good welcome from day one. I also want to take the opportunity to say a big thank you to all the fans around the country who made these weeks unforgettable.”
UPDATE: Shortly after this article's publication, Finnish club JYP Jyväskylä announced that it had signed Persson through to the end of the current season.
“Viktor is a good-sized and very mobile all-around defenseman,” said JYP sports director Simo Mälkiä. “Persson has had some challenges with injuries, but now he has been able to train and play intact since last spring. Persson brings much-needed depth to our defense and good two-way play.”
The club further said that Persson is expected to arrive in Jyväskylä early this week and join the team immediately. He could be in the lineup for this Friday's home game against KalPa Kuopio.