Washington Capitals loan Axel Jonsson-Fjallby
The Washington Capitals have loaned another prospect.
Lost in the madness that is the new coaching search having just ended, the Washington Capitals made a roster move on the prospect side of things. The Capitals have loaned left winger Axel Jonsson-Fjallby to his native Sweden to play for Vastervik IK of the Swedish HockeyAllsvenskan League to begin the 2020-21 season. It is expected he’ll be recalled at the start of training camp.
Jonsson-Fjalby was selected in the fifth round at 147th overall in the 2016 NHL Draft. This past season, Jonsson-Fjallby recorded 23 points with 12 goals and 11 assists in 61 games with the Hershey Bears. The 22 year old was tied for first on the team in shorthanded points with a goal and two assist, ranked fifth in plus/minus with a +9 and tied for sixth in goals.
During the 2018-19 season, Jonsson-Fjallby recorded three points with two goals and one assist before he was loaned to Djurgardens IF in the Swedish Hockey League. While back home in Sweden, the six foot one, 194 pound forward, posted 10 points with a goal and nine assist in 36 games. Headded another 12 points with seven goals and five assists in 19 playoff games with Djurgardens IF.
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Jonsson-Fjallby has recorded 27 points with eight goals and 19 assists in 102 career games in the Swedish Hockey League. He has yet to participate in the Swedish HockeyAllsvenskan League and this will mark his first time.
Jonsson-Fjallby gained popularity among Caps fans from participating in the team’s development camp the last few summers as well as shining on the international stage. In the 2017-18 season, he participated in the World Junior Championships and recorded four points in seven games with two goals and two assists.
Jonsson-Fjallby joins Alex Alexeyev, Aliaksei Protas, Damien Riat, and Tobias Geisser as prospects who have been loaned overseas to continue their development. Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic (subscription required) wrote a detailed story on why the Caps have made such moves and the process involved with it.
Bryan Helmer, the Vice President of Hockey Operations for the Hershey Bears spoke to El-Bashir more on that process:
"“You get these guys playing in their home countries and then once we open up over here, they’ll be a step ahead of everybody, in my opinion. I would assume you’re going to see a lot more of it once the focus is off the NHL playoffs. It’s interesting times. We’re used to going to training camp right now. For Washington’s young prospects, they want them to play and I think they need to play. So I think it’s a good thing.”"
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We may see more prospects get loaned to Europe in the coming weeks. At least we know it’s not a setback for any of them but rather a step forward and even a step ahead in gearing up for next season.