SEL NN: Dementia 71

Chaos has erupted in the world of HV 71 - the defending league champions and, as it turns out, this season's pretenders, at best, are experiencing a year they would soon rather forget. The club's General Manager Dag Larsson has been given the boot due to a season of overwhelming underachieving and, the biggest kicker, the bizarre events surrounding the signing of Vesa Toskala whose hip surgery somehow escaped the team's radar. Read on for details.

Defending SEL champions HV 71 were not content with sitting pretty in their puddle of mediocrity (in the bottom half in the league with a 15-20-8 record). The year's most enigmatic club underwent what seemed to be a promising facelift in January after disappointments Bryan McCabe and Brian Boucher were both sent home in December.

HV's General Manager Dag Larsson devised a plan a shake up and inject new blood into the roster signing Jonathan Cheecho, Manny Malhotra and Vesa Toskala, taking a page from other teams' devices.

"Look at what players like Shawn Horcoff has done for Mora. That's what I have been looking for now, for players with a lot of heart who compete everyday", said Larsson, hinting at the lack of commitment seen from McCabe and Boucher.

The signing of Toskala served as an indication that whatever faith Larsson had had in Stefan Liv's abilities evaporated. Ditto for 18-year old Carolina Hurricanes prospect Magnus Akerlund who has handled backup duties for most of the season.

Adding injury to HV's previous insults and injuries was the shocker: Toskala did not arrive in playing shape, still recovering from a hip operation, this despite his agent's promise that his client would come in playing shape.

The Toskala snafu proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back as Larsson was fired from his position as GM only two days after the truth of the goalie's condition surfaced in the media.

"I did the best I could but, to tell you the truth, I don't really know much about NHL players," admitted Larsson. "I'm used to following the European market and I guess I couldn't handle the new situation."

Toskala has promptly fired his agent.

HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES

Lulea rearguard Johan Fransson can now breathe easily after scoring his first marker of the season January 10th against Djurgarden. Frannsson blasted a slap shot by José Theodore.

"I was hoping to score somewhere around 15 points this season, but things haven't really gone my way", Fransson said after the game. He has amassed seven points in 35 games to date.

Also with a dark cloud over his head lifted recently was MoDo's prospect sensation Alexander Steen who netted a pair of markers against Timra on January 25th. The goals were Steen's first in over two months of action.

While he has worked hard this season, Steen has not gotten enough quality ice time which offers some explanation to his diminishing offensive numbers. Last season Steen broke through with 10 goals and 24 points in 48 games.

He shed some light on his decision to sign with MoDo prior to this season:

"One major reason was the opportunity to play with my good friends Joakim Lindstrom and Tobias Enstrom," said Steen. "We played together a lot on the national team as junior players and wanted to do it again sometime".

In other MoDo news, young rearguard Tobias Viklund, who opted out of last year's NHL draft, has now managed to grab on to a regular spot on the club's defensive corps. Viklund is a strong skater who has improved his overall strength and plays a safe, economical style. However, MoDo's recent signing of Frantisek Kaberle from the Czech Extraleague may have him heading back to the junior league before soon.

NO WAY NORWAY

Aside from Epsen Knutsen, Norway has not been a hotbed of NHL-caliber talent. But a name is creeping out from the not-so-distant past - former Moncton Wildcat sniper Patrick Thoresen has become an attraction again, this time as a professional in Sweden. After spending the bulk of 2003/2004 in Morrum of the second league last year, Thoresen has been lighting the lamp this year in Djurgarden.

Thoresen was injured for much of the fall but started strongly upon his return and has played even stronger in recent action on the top line with Marcus Nilsson and Nils Ekman. With 10 goals in 25 games this season he is back in the international spotlight.

Combining improved strength, good stickhandling skills and creativity, Thoresen has surprised onlookers, flashing impressive, perhaps NHL-caliber upside.

As an indication of how obscure Thoresen's name was only two months ago, when Malmo's Mika Hannula dropped his gloves in an exchange of fisticuffs with the Norwegian - which resulted in a considerable league fine - he remarked that "I don't think it's fair that my fine should be higher than some no-name 'norrbagge' (a patronizing Swedish slang word for Norwegian)."

Hannula added: "He's just some utility player and I'll stand to lose much more money than him."

For the record, fines in the SEL are calculated on the basis of a player's salary. Also worthy of note is that Hannula, at the moment, has only three more league points to his credit than Thoresen this season (in 14 more games).

Hockey playing Norwegians just don't get any respect these days.