It’s safe to say that with news of Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson heading home to Sweden to play there next season, the Boston Bruins 2015 second round pick, is a bit of a bust.
Whilst it’s still early days, it doesn’t seem all that promising to see Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson heading back to play in his home country next season, especially since he’d seen a reasonable amount of time at the NHL level with the Boston Bruins, playing 28 games all-up.
You’d have to say that after two years in Omaha in the USHL, 2 years at Boston University and 1 and a half years with the Providence Bruins in the AHL; Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson should know how to play a game on the smaller North American ice. However, for whatever reason he hasn’t been able to make it stick.
Hence the recent news that he’d be headed back to his native Sweden, to play the next two years with the Växjö Lakers of the SHL not being hugely surprising. The official reasoning is cited as family reasons and in all honesty, we don’t care to pry into players’ personal lives to that great of an extent, so it could very well be very personal reasons.
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However, given his job is as a professional hockey player and he was drafted in the second round by the Boston Bruins, it’s a little surprising to see a 22 year-old turning his back on the NHL dream, even if it’s only a two-year hiatus he’s signed up for.
Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, selected at 45th overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, went before other guys that have established themselves in the NHL such as; Jordan Greenway, another Boston University alumnus, now of the Minnesota Wild, Roope Hintz who has almost made it stick with the Dallas Stars and Erik Cernak of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Hindsight is always near perfect when it comes to draft day regrets and there is still hope that Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson takes his hiatus, deals with whatever family concerns are going on, continues to work on his game and returns to the Boston Bruins in a couple of years as a late-bloomer.
If however that doesn’t happen to be the case, the Boston Bruins can at least look back on the 2015 NHL Entry Draft with less regret that they might have in other years. After all, they picked at 13th, 14th and 15th overall in the first round; their second round draft pick was actually their fourth pick of the weekend at that point!
So far out of that grouping, it’s Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson that has the second-most NHL appearances behind the 14th overall, Jake DeBrusk who of course has made it stick in the Boston Bruins line-up.
In itself, you wouldn’t yet classify that Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson is a bust, but he could be headed into that territory if he can’t maintain an NHL level these next two seasons in the Swedish Hockey League.
Right now, it’s going to be best that the Boston Bruins just wait and see.