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CleverPin · 08-24-2019, 11:20 AM

Clock is ticking for Marcus Ohlsson - can he make a triumphant resurgence in the SMJHL?

When Marcus Ohlsson was drafted by the Vancouver Whalers with the 10th overall pick earlier this season, it was a bit of surprise. After all, the Swede was picked ahead of players like Berg Svensen (11th to KEL), Phineas Gold (13th to MTL), and Yamamoto Mitsuharu (16th to STL), to mention a few. But his move to North America right after the draft surprised even more.

The native of Gothenburg had a decent rookie pre-season in the SMJHL as he scored 6 goals and 15 points in his first campaign with the Vancouver Whalers. The big framed forward didn't break any scoring records, but he looked very good on the Whalers' third line with Marcus Weiser.

So far, the regular season has not gone as planned as Ohlsson has suffered from a serious lack of offensive creativity that has limited him to only six points amidst the nearly forty games he has played thus far this season.

"I can say now that I am in optimal shape," Ohlsson told Henry Anderson of whalersweekly.com following the team's shutout win against the Halifax Raiders last night. "Towards the middle of this season the team was considering taking me out of the line up. Someone may think that it didn't influence me, but I still feel like I had to start from scratch, the way I prepare for games, the way everything should be done. It's the same even in some everyday stuff. Psychology has a big role. I prepared the way I behaved when I was in pre-season, the start wasn't easy in those times either."

Ohlsson currently sits third in rookie scoring on the Whalers with an abysmal 3 goals and 6 points this season, and the winger himself isn't very pleased with how things were progressing in British Columbia. He wants more ice-time and has fallen into a conflict with the team's head coach.

"The most important thing to me is to get ice-time, it's not important with whom I play. It will be hard to score if I play ten minutes, even if I play with [Gray and Forty-One]. If you get to play twenty minutes, but with players not as good as them, you will have a chance to play the puck, you can still get hot and create scoring chances. If you just sit in the bench and stay cold, you won't be able to keep pass with neither Gray nor Forty-One."

The jury is still out on Marcus Ohlsson, but it looks like he'll get another shot at showing that he was worth a 10th overall pick. The clock, however, is ticking for the Swedish play maker.