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Now the player himself confirms it, in English. According to Broberg, he was himself given a large say in the decision even as the SHL ultimately was the choice of both himself and the Oilers. “They said the place where you think would be the best for your developing is where you should play. And if that’s the OHL to play 35 minutes a game or the SHL and compete against men every day and play tougher games. Me and Edmonton thought that the SHL was the best thing for me.”

Skelleftea will itself be a step up for Broberg, who in his draft year played his league games for AIK in the Allsvenskan, essentially Sweden’s second division. There he mustered modest boxcars of 2-7-9 in 41 games, which seems unimpressive until one recalls this was at age17, playing against men.

He’ll be doing more of the same at 18 in his country’s top loop, where he joins fellow Oilers defence prospect Filip Berglund on a solid Skelleftea club that finished 5th in the 14-team SHL in 2018-19. According to Broberg, “It’s a great organization for developing. I know I’m not good enough to make the NHL team right now, that’s why I’m going to Skelleftea, to play against men every day, to practice against them, to play in probably the third-best league in the world, to get better and come back next year and make the [Oilers].”

So put him on the boundary between realist (knows he’s not good enough for NHL just yet) and optimist (hopes to make the NHL in a year’s time). In fact the decision to stay in Sweden leaves open an entire smorgasbord of options for 2020-21: