A number of NHL scouts found their way to Southern California Sunday night to watch the Anaheim Ducks beat the Calgary Flames by a score of 5 to 2. Among the long list of scouts in attendance were members of team Sweden’s World Cup of hockey coaching staff and management group, hoping to get a better look at Rickard Rakell and Hampus Lindholm before Sweden’s initial 16 man roster is due on March 2nd.
After the game, Sweden’s World Cup assistant coach, advisory board member and former NHL’er Johan Garpenlov said that Rakell “has been a huge surprise” claiming that he “did not know him that much before this season.