Our look at the SDHL Off Season continues with Linköping and MoDo, two teams with exciting youngsters signed to long term deals and big name imports leaving for greener pastures
Linköping
Linköping’s management has the luxury of patience this off season. Unlike a number of other teams in the league, their number one goalie is signed long term. Ebba Svensson Träff, still only 20-years-old, has earned the club’s confidence with a second straight stellar season, one which saw her record an obscene eight shutouts in 31 starts. Signed too are many of their core skaters including Lova Blom, Lindsay Agnew, and sisters Haruka Toko and Ayaka Hitosato. There remain some interesting decisions to be made, of course.
Will the team attempt to re-sign American forward Naomi Rogge, or will they let her test the free agent market? What of captain and spiritual leader Sara Hjalmarsson? She led the team in points, with 23, and was often the squad’s best player, but also saw a massive drop off in production from the year before when she tallied 41. Rumours are rife that Ann-Frédérique Guay, who joined the club to great fanfare at the start of the season but was hobbled by injuries, will depart for Switzerland. In February, management wisely extended young defender Olivia Sohrner. The hard-nosed 20-year-old showed flashes of brilliance this season and has not yet met her ceiling.
LHC’s roster will not change as drastically as those of Djurgården or HV71 this off season, but does leave room for some tweaks. Adding or re-signing a pair of Top 6 defenders with offensive upside, locking in Hjalmarsson and grabbing a productive import forward should make this squad more competitive and entertaining in the year to come.
MoDo
This off season could be a very interesting one for MoDo. After being unceremoniously and unexpectedly eliminated from the playoffs by SDE in the first round, the team’s management has some work ahead of them.
Star goaltender Andrea Brändli, who finished third in the league in GAA (1.56), second in save percentage (.941) and tied for first in wins (18), is rumoured to be entering the PWHL draft and therefore has not re-signed with her Swedish club. MoDo and Canadian defender Alexie Guay, who signed a two-year contract in May of 2024, agreed to part ways recently so that Guay could sign as a reserve player with the PWHL’s New York Sirens. Electric talent and top scorer Adela Sapovalivová will depart to begin her collegiate career at the University of Wisconsin. Young Swedish dynamo Mira Hallin, unmistakably talented but still inconsistent, remains unsigned, while another of Sweden’s Next Generation, Wilma Sundin, received a one-year contract extension last month.
Homegrown defender Sanna Halsius signed a three-season extension to 2028, a strong vote of confidence in the youngster who has as yet played only one full season in the SDHL. Imports AJ Weiss and Alexa Gruschow have been let go after disappointing performances that saw them register only two points each during their brief Swedish sojourns. While emerging stud forward Ebba Hedqvist is signed long-term, questions remain around imports Emma Seitz and Lauren Bellefontaine. Any team needs a defender that can generate offense, and Seitz averaged nearly three shots on goal per game to become the team’s third leading scorer, so re-signing her would appear to be a priority. Bellefontaine added ten goals and 16 points in 35 games, but also brought the intangibles and grit that winning teams need.
One thing is for certain: MoDo has spots to fill and the resources to fill them with game-changing players. It will be exciting to see their opening day roster after all the dust has settled.