Coming to North America Was No-Brainer For Top Prospect From Sweden

Filed under: NHL Draft, NHL Rumors, International Hockey, Minor League Hockey, Junior Hockey

KITCHENER, Ontario, Canada -- A steely resolve came over Gabriel Landeskog's face when he was asked whether he did the right thing by moving to Canada in his mid-teens to play major junior hockey and possibly take a shortcut to the NHL.

Landeskog (in yellow uniform in photo, right) is in his second season with the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League and the skills he used to become one of the youngest players ever in the Swedish Elite League a couple of years ago have also vaulted him to the top of the NHL's rankings of skaters in North America for the NHL Draft in June.

If selected first overall, Landeskog will be the first Swede to go that high since Mats Sundin went to the Quebec Nordiques in 1989.

"I thought it would be the best thing for my development," says Landeskog about coming to this side of the Atlantic Ocean. "I didn't want to be a guy playing five minutes a game in the Swedish Elite League. This is the junior NHL. It's the best junior league in the world and that's why I wanted to come here.

"And I also wanted to show the Swedish kids back home that this is a path you can take. It is a great life and it is a great experience. This is an experience you would never get in Sweden."

It was at the world under-18 championship in April 2009 when Landeskog first caught the attention of Kitchener coach Steve Spott, who was an assistant coach with Canada. After Landeskog scored a power-play goal, he skated by the Canadian bench and stared the Canadians down.

Spott, who is also the general manager of the Kitchener Rangers, made a mental note to himself to find out whom that kid was "because he's got a lot of moxie."

Jeremy van Horebeek Kent Howerton Neil Hudson Ryan Hughes Georges Jobe