Checking in with Anton Johansson from the World Junior Summer Showcase

Anton Johansson provides an update on his off-season from the 2023 World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth

Anton Johansson's World Junior Summer Showcase got off to a fast start on Saturday when he scored the first goal of the event in what would become a 7-0 Swedish rout over the "Blue" American delegation.

Late in the first period of the event's opening game, Johansson activated and finished a pretty passing sequence with a clean wrister to beat American goaltender Andrew Oke.

Like his countryman and fellow Red Wing prospect Axel Sandin Pellikka, Johansson is back in Michigan just a few weeks after Detroit's development camp in the first week of the month.  Because of the Summer Showcase's unrelenting schedule, he won't check in with Red Wings staff this week, but he's got a clear idea of his off-season ambitions already.

When asked where he sees room for growth in his game, Johansson told The Hockey News that he wants to focus "mostly on the defensive plays.  I think I've got my offense pretty good, so I want to work on my defense and be tough there and just play hard."

On the difference between regular season hockey with Leksands IF versus international play, Johansson said "it's other players and other coaches, so you have to be your best and show yourself because it's a small time you're here, and you've got to show yourself the best."

"It's a big, big honor to play [at the World Junior], and of course everybody wants to play for the national team," Johansson continued.  "I'm looking forward to hopefully taking a spot there."

As he continues down the path toward the NHL, Johansson will have one of his favorite players to watch in the league waiting for him.  "I always watch Mortiz Seider actually," Johansson says when asked about his favorite players.  "I'm a big defender, can skate the puck and can use the puck.  He's a big guy, and I look at him a lot."

Johansson hasn't met Seider yet, but if he keeps playing the way he did in Plymouth Saturday, that chance might just come before too long.