If you’ve been paying attention to the Minuk Moose Minute whenever I do one on any of our Illegal Curve broadcasts you know I’ve been vocal about the development of right-shot defenceman Elias Salomonsson who the Jets drafted in the second round of the 2022 draft. I’ve often referred to him as the right shot Dylan Samberg with a touch more bite. After winning an SHL championship with his hometown team in Skelleftea in 2023-24 he made the move to North America for 2024-25.
For the second straight training camp he was a late cut to the AHL but in the end the organization chose to send him to the Moose to begin his pro career in Winnipeg.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
Things got off to a good start including scoring in his first game in the American Hockey League and then continued to progress quite well for him as he was getting top minutes on the power play and penalty kill for Manitoba. In early December (his 17th game) he was crunched into the boards resulting in an upper-body injury that took him out for 7.5 weeks. He was able to return to action and represent Manitoba at the AHL All-Star game.
He played 53 games for the Moose finishing with five goals 22 assists for 27 points. He was a proven bright spot in a disappointing season for Manitoba who did not make the playoffs.
With the Jets in the hunt for top spot in the NHL during the final stretch of the regular season coupled with the injury that took him out for close to two months he did not make his NHL debut this season.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
When we were chatting with Jets head coach Scott Arniel and GM Kevin Cheveldayoff at the end of season media availability on Wednesday they were asked about the development of Salomonsson who had been named Rookie of the Year and Defenceman of the Year by the Moose.
Kevin Cheveldayoff:
“I met with Elias on Monday and had an opportunity to chat with him about his year, about his experiences coming over and what he learned, what he knows more about the North American game. It is a different animal. He had an exceptional year, not surprisingly. We’ve been talking about him for several years in different settings like this that we feel like we have a really good one there. Unfortunately, he got a little bit of a setback there with his injury that kept him out a little while so the opportunity to evaluate him in the National Hockey League kind of shifted a little bit as far as letting him have that opportunity. I remember two years ago when he was at training camp and we had to send him back to Sweden contractually still, I remember Arnie asking me ‘Like there’s no way we can keep him? Like there’s no way he can stay? Are you sure?’. He was running the D at that time so obviously he was pretty D-centric at that point but we’re excited and again I think if he has a really good summer I think he’s someone that could force us to make some big decisions.”
Scott Arniel:
“We have a role model in front of him, for me, is Dylan Samberg. To me that’s the best part about it. Is we have somebody that we can talk to him about, we might have already talked to him about it, but again it’s just part of doing it the right way. Biggest thing is we want to make sure when he’s ready to go, he’s ready to go. We’re not force feeding this and I think he’s a good enough hockey player that he’ll find his way in.”
Kevin Cheveldayoff:
“We’re fortunate as an organization when you have ability to be able to let the players show you that they’re ready as opposed to you having to put them in a situation and hope that they’re ready. ‘Cause we talk about with players ‘We want you here for a long time not just a quick minute’. You want to be a long time pro.”
That is certainly going to be something to watch at Jets training camp in four months.
