Leo Carlsson: An in depth look at his first season in SMJHL  

Leo Carlsson, the 6'3" 200 pounds young centerman got picked at fifth over-all at the Season 79 SMJHL draft by the Ottawa Highlanders, trough a trade up via the Vancouver Whalers.

With an focus on elite playmaking, leadership and hard work this player should be able to make some real waves in Ottawa, and for the upcoming S80 draft.

A player with good speed, agility and great conditioning will allow him to play a 200 foot game, with some two-way elements to finish off with some playmaking.

The biggest difference he hoped to make for his new team was in the locker room, where he could be a person to lighten the mood and get people back on track during hard times

A person to hopefully in a few seasons be able to bring a cup to the Highlands. 

With an dramatic draft behind him, where Ottawa Highlanders traded up for the young forward, who sustained a highly controversial punishment for a computing mistake rivaling Y2K.

Even with an contreversial start to his junior season, he came out swinging (literally) in the pre-season. 

Over 7 preseason games he managed to nail 5 goals with 2 asssist, and even land a fight win! The future was bright for this young man, but not without some hurdles.

The regular season did not start off as well as the young player had hoped, with a pretty long lasting slump that could be both equaled to low deployment due to an top-loaded top 6 for the Ottawa Highlanders and some time to adjust to the new league and pace.

On the midway point of the season, we could finally see some ramping up. The young Carlsson managed to put together multiple multi-point nights, even being close to a few hattricks. Good play also gets rewarded, where he was bumped up to PP2 and PK2, for some more deployment. We will also see how he manages the extra ice time come playoffs.

With the playoffs around the corner, with only 2 games left of the regular season, the 6'3 Forward have managed 41 points in 64 GP with an -7 +/- over the season.

Not bad considering the Average time on Ice is 16:45, with less than a minute average pp time.

If we look a bit more in depth on the young forwards stats, we can see a Faceoff winrate at 50.7% and in total 156 shots on goal. Just edging over 3 in goals per / 60 min.

With an bigger focus on the defence aspect of his play in the second half, we've seen a big uptick in blocked shots and hits, where he put up 44 and 84 respectively. Truly embodying the 200 foot game, and a solid piece on any line he appears on.

With his versitile playstyle, he should be expected to do some real numbers during next season, especially with some deployment on the powerplay unit and penalty kill units.

Ottawa, known for their short handed goals (leading the top 3 in short handed goals) will hopefully have another piece to help them solidify that reputation in the upcoming season.

Will leo rise to the ocasion, or will he crash and burn?

Graphics Portfolio

Leo Carlsson | C | Ottawa Highlanders

Name: Leo Carlsson

Age: 20

Height: 6'3

Weight: 200 lbs

Number: 91

Career Statistics:

SMJHL Regular Season:

S79 | 66 GP | 20 G | 21 A | 41 P | -7 |
S80 | 66 GP | 26 G | 59 A | 85 P | 17 |

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@Rojjter Approved!