Johan Fransson
Born (1985-02-18) February 18, 1985 (age 38)
Kalix, Sweden
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 198 lb (90 kg; 14 st 2 lb)
Position Defence
Shot Left
Played for Luleå HF
Frölunda HC
Ässät
Linköpings HC
HC Lugano
SKA Saint Petersburg
Rapperswil-Jona Lakers
Genève-Servette HC
Leksands IF
National team  Sweden
NHL Draft 34th overall, 2004
Dallas Stars
Playing career 2002–2021

Johan Fransson (born February 18, 1985) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player, who last played for Leksands IF in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), where he was a defenceman. He also played in leagues in Finland, Switzerland, and Russia. Although he was drafted and traded as a prospect in the NHL three times, he has never played a regular season NHL game.[1]

Playing career

Fransson played bandy in Kalix;[2] his team won the Swedish championship for 13-year-olds in 1998.[3] He attributes his skating ability to his bandy background.[2] In the 2000–01 season, he represented Norrbotten in the TV-pucken tournament, and played for Kalix HF in Division 1 (Sweden's third highest level). For the 2001–02 season, Fransson played for Luleå HF in the J20 SuperElit junior hockey league.

For the 2002–03 season, Fransson made his Elitserien debut for Luleå HF, but only played three games because of a groin injury.[4] For the 2003–04 season, he returned to the Luleå' roster, and was nominated for Elitserien Rookie of the Year.[5] In his first playoff game, Fransson suffered a concussion after being checked by Färjestads BK's Peter Nordström.[4][6] He returned to play one game in the series, but his team was eliminated from the playoffs. He was praised as having a bright future.[7] His 2004–05 season was not as strong as his rookie year,[4] and in the following season, he struggled,[7] and the team did not re-sign him. He and his fellow Luleå teammate Karl Fabricius signed with Frölunda HC. He began the 2006–07 season well despite his team struggling.[how?] After Per Bäckman replaced Stephan Lundh as coach, Fransson saw less ice time, and was eventually loaned to Ässät, in the SM-liiga league in Finland.[8]

Fransson during his tenure with SKA.

In 2007, Fransson was traded to Linköpings HC for Oscar Ackeström.[9] Although he only played eight regular season games and 15 playoff games without scoring a point, his new team reached the Swedish Championship finals, where they lost to Modo Hockey. For the 2007–08 season he played 48 games, scoring a career high five goals and fourteen points. He also made his debut for Tre Kronor. Fransson helped Linköping reach the Swedish Championship finals for the second year in a row; the team blew a 2–0 series lead, and eventually lost to HV71 2–4. For the 2008–09 season, Fransson did not sustain his success; he was released in January, and signed with HC Lugano of the Swiss National League A,[10] where he scored two goals and logged five points in seven regular games, and two goals in four playoff games.

Fransson returned to Luleå for the 2009–10 season, amidst some criticism over his past performance,[7] but by mid-December, he had achieved his career best in goals and points. At the end of the season, he had played 54 games, logging 30 points and 11 goals. He was offered a five-year contract to play for Luleå,[11] but shortly afterward, he used a contract clause to sign with the HC Dinamo Minsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in Russia,[12] and a few weeks later Fransson signed his third contract of the off-season with the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL).[13][14]

On October 13, 2010, Fransson was loaned by the Kings to SKA St. Petersburg in Russia.[15] where he played the rest of the 2010–11 season.

On August 3, 2011, he rejoined Luleå HF,[16] where he stayed until the remainder of the 2013-14 season. He then headed to Switzerland, signing with the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers of the top-flight National League A (NLA) for 2014-15, before moving on to fellow NLA team Genève-Servette HC for 2015–16. His tenure with Geneva ended at the conclusion of the 2019 playoffs. Fransson played 154 regular season games with Geneva, putting up 74 points, and 25 playoffs games (9 points) over 4 seasons.

As a free agent, Fransson returned to his homeland and the SHL, agreeing to a four-year contract with newly promoted Leksands IF on April 29, 2019.[17]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2000–01 Kalix HF SWE.3 19 0 6 6 8 — — — — —
2001–02 Luleå HF J18 Allsv 5 2 0 2 0 3 0 0 0 0
2001–02 Luleå HF J20 29 4 4 8 28 2 0 0 0 4
2002–03 Luleå HF J18 Allsv 2 0 0 0 2 — — — — —
2002–03 Luleå HF J20 22 2 4 6 65 — — — — —
2002–03 Luleå HF SEL 3 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
2003–04 Luleå HF J20 5 0 2 2 10 — — — — —
2003–04 Lulea HF SEL 44 3 3 6 28 2 0 0 0 4
2004–05 Luleå HF J20 1 1 1 2 0 7 1 2 3 4
2004–05 Luleå HF SEL 43 1 6 7 30 3 0 0 0 0
2005–06 Luleå HF SEL 50 3 5 8 74 6 1 1 2 6
2006–07 Frölunda HC SEL 35 0 6 6 18 — — — — —
2006–07 Ässät SM-l 6 0 1 1 2 — — — — —
2006–07 Linköpings HC SEL 8 0 0 0 4 15 0 0 0 2
2007–08 Linköpings HC SEL 48 5 9 14 24 16 0 5 5 16
2008–09 Linköpings HC SEL 40 3 7 10 24 — — — — —
2008–09 HC Lugano NLA 7 2 3 5 2 4 2 0 2 0
2009–10 Luleå HF SEL 54 11 19 30 26 — — — — —
2010–11 SKA Saint Petersburg KHL 38 6 10 16 22 10 0 2 2 2
2011–12 Luleå HF SEL 48 1 19 20 12 5 1 1 2 2
2012–13 Luleå HF SEL 55 3 8 11 12 15 0 10 10 6
2013–14 Luleå HF SHL 38 5 10 15 20 2 0 0 0 2
2014–15 Rapperswil–Jona Lakers NLA 32 4 16 20 22 — — — — —
2015–16 Genève–Servette HC NLA 39 7 15 22 12 11 0 1 1 18
2016–17 Genève–Servette HC NLA 45 5 10 15 52 4 0 3 3 0
2017–18 Genève–Servette HC NL 40 0 19 19 38 4 1 0 1 4
2018–19 Genève–Servette HC NL 30 6 12 18 14 6 1 3 4 2
2019–20 Leksands IF SHL 41 3 8 11 14 — — — — —
2020–21 Leksands IF SHL 22 1 4 5 8 2 0 0 0 0
SHL totals 529 39 104 143 304 66 2 17 19 38
NL totals 193 24 75 99 140 36 4 9 13 36
Medal record
Ice hockey
Representing  Sweden
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2013 Sweden/Finland
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Belarus

International

Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2004 Sweden WJC 7th 6 3 0 3 2
2005 Sweden WJC 6th 6 0 0 0 12
2013 Sweden WC 1st place, gold medalist(s) 10 1 4 5 4
2014 Sweden WC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 10 0 0 0 4
2016 Sweden WC 6th 7 0 3 3 2
2018 Sweden OG 5th 4 0 2 2 2
Junior totals 12 3 0 3 14
Senior totals 31 1 9 10 12

References

  1. ^ "Johan Fransson Dallas Stars". stars.nhl.com. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
  2. ^ a b Nordlund, Joakim (2003-11-12). "Luleås bandyboys". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 2010-05-05.
  3. ^ Wikström, P. "Kalix Bandy – En liten resa från då till nu" (in Swedish). Kalix Bandyförening. Archived from the original on December 23, 2008. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
  4. ^ a b c Abrahamsson, Jante (2006-05-19). "Frölunda satsar på Johan Fransson" (in Swedish). Hockeysverige.se. Retrieved 2010-05-05.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ Feltenmark, Anders (2004-01-15). "Årets rookiekandidat nummer 3 säsongen 2003/2004 utsedd" (in Swedish). Swedish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved 2010-05-05.[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ Thornéus, Patrik (2004-03-02). "Fransson fick hjärnskakning i sitt första byte". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 2010-05-05.
  7. ^ a b c Mäki, Stellan (2009-12-10). "Redan rekord av Johan Fransson". Norrbottens-Kuriren (in Swedish). Retrieved 2010-05-05.
  8. ^ Ros, Tomas (2007-01-15). "Johan Fransson lämnar Frölunda för Finland". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 2010-05-07.
  9. ^ "Backbyte i elitserien". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). 2007-01-31. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
  10. ^ Abrahamsson, Hans; Ros, Tomas (2009-01-21). "Klar för Lugano". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 2010-05-05.
  11. ^ Ek, Mattias (2010-04-23). "Fransson skrev jättekontrakt med Luleå". Expressen (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  12. ^ Appelgren, Anders; Samuelsson, André (2010-05-27). "Fransson klar för Minsk". Norrbottens-Kuriren (in Swedish). Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  13. ^ Jakobsson, Simon; Landström, Jimmy (2010-06-15). "Fransson klar för LA Kings". Norrbottens-Kuriren (in Swedish). Retrieved 29 June 2010.
  14. ^ "Kings Sign Prospect Fransson". Los Angeles Kings. 2010-06-15. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  15. ^ Hammond, Rich (2010-10-13). "Fransson to KHL". Retrieved 2010-10-13.
  16. ^ "Bekräftat: Fransson klar" (in Swedish). 2011-08-03. Archived from the original on 2012-10-18. Retrieved 2012-07-20.
  17. ^ "Johan Fransson joins Leksands" (in Swedish). Leksands IF. 29 April 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.

External links

Media related to Johan Fransson at Wikimedia Commons

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