Jag kommer inte ihåg om jag har nämnt en artikel som tidningen The Journal Star hade om Junland för en månad sen. Här är den i alla fall.
Rivs defenseman on NHL fast track
Catch him while he's here, because Swede won't be for long
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By DAVE EMINIAN
of the Journal Star
Posted Nov 07, 2008 @ 11:48 PM
PEORIA —
Peoria Rivermen defenseman Jonas Junland had a late start to his rookie North American season because of an injury.
Now that he's healthy, the highly-touted St. Louis Blues prospect is showing why most observers think his stay with the Rivermen is day-to-day at best.
He'll be on a Rivermen blueline that faces a Grand Rapids offense that was No. 2 (4.13 goals per game) in the AHL heading into Friday action. But you better hurry if you want to see him. Because Junland looks like an NHLer, and very soon could be one.
"The style is different over here from Europe," Junland said. "I try to make it easier for myself to play. The rinks are smaller, so the tempo is faster, everything happens faster, and the game becomes more physical, too.
"Right now I'm really trying to work on my defensive play. I had a good start in camp, then got that shoulder hurt and that wasn't so great. But I think I'm doing pretty well now. I think I can play in the NHL, and I just want to get there with St. Louis."
Junland grew up in Linkoping, a city of about 140,000 in southern Sweden and home to Saab automobile and airplane factories, including production of fighter jets.
His parents, who still work in a chocolate factory there, had a home near an outdoor area the city would flood every winter as an ice surface. It was there he learned to skate as a toddler and later put down his playing roots.
Junland played for Sweden's national junior champions as a 16-year-old, and at age 18 he spent 41 games with Linkoping in Sweden's elite league, the country's version of the NHL.
He played for Linkoping the last two seasons, won a three-year contract, then gained permission to come to North America this fall on a mission to make it to the real NHL with the St. Louis Blues.
From all appearances, that won't be much longer. Junland had a shoulder injury during Blues training camp - in a preseason game against Los Angeles - that delayed his progress. Once healthy, he was sent to the Rivermen, and he's been impressive.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder, a third-round pick (64th overall) of the Blues in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, has one goal and one assist in his first five games with the Rivermen.
His +1 rating is tied for best among all Peoria defensemen on the roster, and he notched his first pro goal in North America in the second period of Wednesday's 3-1 win over Rockford.
"Finally," Junland answered, when asked what crossed his mind in the moments after that goal. "I got a good opportunity, it hit the defenseman's stick and deflected in there, and it was a relief to get that first goal."
Junland makes NHL-quick decisions with the puck, a superior puck mover who can break his team out of its zone. He stands out as a budding offensive defenseman.
"He's very smart, comes in and wants to know how to do things, what to work on, asks good questions," Rivermen assistant coach and former NHL defenseman Brent Thompson said. "I don't think we'll have him in Peoria for very long."
Blues coach Andy Murray came in to Peoria to look at Junland and the Rivermen last week. So did team president John Davidson.
The Blues sent in scouts from Finland and Sweden to watch Junland when he was playing in Europe.
When he skated for Sweden's fourth-place finishers in the 2007 World Junior Championships, St. Louis had Al MacInnis there to watch.
It adds up to high hopes.
"I knew the Blues were scouting me," Junland said. "You have the same dream in Europe as a kid in North America has.
"To play in the NHL."
Dave Eminian can be reached at deminian@pjstar.com or 686-3206.
