While Leo Carlsson’s numbers from his rookie year don’t exactly jump off the page, his play and impact on the game certainly did.
Carlsson (19) managed 12 goals and 17 assists in 55 games in 2023-24, centering Anaheim’s top line from the first game in which he pulled on a Ducks jersey.
Following an eyebrow-raising training camp in the fall of 2023, it was clear Carlsson was ready to play in the NHL. He had scored 25 points in 44 SHL regular season games for Örebro HK during his draft year of 2022-23 and added nine more points in 13 playoff games.
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Ducks General Manager Pat Verbeek and the Ducks training staff famously took a calculated and measured approach to managing Carlsson’s game total during his rookie season. By all accounts, Carlsson and his camp were on board for Verbeek’s proposed program, which is somewhat revolutionary in the NHL.
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For the first half of his rookie season, Carlsson was to mirror a typical SHL schedule by playing just two games per week. This was to afford him time to recover from a rigorous gym regiment intended for him to gain needed muscle to play in the world’s top league on a smaller ice surface. It would also allow him a different vantage point of games during his nights off, taking in his team’s matchups from a zoomed-out perspective.
Carlsson and the Ducks weren’t able to see the benefits of their creative program take hold, however, as Carlsson dealt with his fair share of injuries in 2023-24. He missed the first two games of the season after careening into the boards during a practice. He suffered a sprained MCL in December, causing him to miss three and a half weeks and a concussion in March, rendering him unavailable for another two and a half weeks.
What He Brought
In the 55 games Carlsson did play, he showed extended flashes of the 200-foot impact he could have for years to come in Anaheim.
Defensively, he diagnosed breakouts and cutoff outlets at will, consistently causing turnovers and poor decisions. He angled puck carriers away from dangerous ice and used his reach to break up passing and stickhandling attempts.
Once he forced an opponent into an error, he didn’t waste time, turning up ice as quickly as he could to keep defenders on their heels and beat backcheckers up ice. He persistently attacked the middle of the ice and when he couldn’t create his own look, regularly dished pucks to streaking teammates who could get dangerous shots off. High-danger offense was abundant with Carlsson on the ice.
The aspects of his game that could use the most polish were his defensive zone coverage tendencies and spatial awareness with the puck on his stick. The Ducks ran a rigid man-to-man defensive zone coverage system in 2023-24 and on occasion, Carlsson drifted too far from his assignment away from the puck. At times he also miscalculated how much time he had exiting the defensive zone into the neutral zone with the puck, rendering him susceptible to stick-lifts.
What’s to Come
Carlsson will now have the benefit of a full offseason and significant NHL experience heading into year two of his career.
“Different from last summer where I was home for like three weeks,” Carlsson told Alexis Downie on the latest “Light the Lamp” episode from the team’s “Ducks Stream” network. “A lot more focus on off-ice stuff. Last year was the combine, draft, and all that stuff.”
Last year, Carlsson had a jam-packed offseason schedule. Following his SHL playoff run, he represented Sweden at the IIHF World Championship. He then flew to Nashville for the 2023 NHL Draft, followed by Anaheim Ducks development camp in Irvine. He, along with a handful of Ducks prospects, trained in South Florida for a portion of the summer before he headed home to Sweden for a few weeks. Next for Carlsson was Ducks Rookie Camp, Training Camp, preseason, and then a full regular season in Anaheim.
Carlsson will look to arrive at this year’s Ducks training camp bigger, stronger, and more prepared for what’s to come. He’s also looking to extend his limits and take on more of a leadership role in the locker room.
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“Not really points-wise. Just trying to be a leader, as much as I can in a second season,” Carlsson said when asked about his goals heading into his sophomore campaign. “Trying to take a bigger role. More comfortable this year going to camp, knowing the ice, what’s going to happen in camp, what’s going to happen during the season. More prepared this season.”
Carlsson saw some time on the penalty kill down the stretch for the Ducks in 2023-24. He has shown the capacity to translate what makes him so effective and dynamic offensively to the defensive side of the puck.
On his current trajectory and with more consistency in terms of health and the health of teammates, he can become one of the most impactful 200-foot sophomore forwards in recent memory. The sky may actually be the limit for Carlsson, who has the makings of a franchise center in Anaheim for the foreseeable future.
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