The Detroit Red Wings originally selected Swedish defenseman Alfons Malmstrom in the fourth round, 107th overall, in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft in Buffalo, New York.
Listed at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, Malmstrom may still be growing.
At the draft, Wings director of European scouting Hakan Andersson compared Malmstrom to Nashville's Mattias Ekholm, calling him a big defensive defenseman.
Tyler Wright, the director of amateur scouting, said, "Little raw but more of a defending defender, skates well, defends, big stick, long stick, chews up a lot of space."
20 -- Malmstrom just celebrated his 20th birthday on June 12.
1 -- This past season, Malmstrom earned his first career gold medal in the J20 SuperElit league. There were only three other players on the team that had already been drafted, defenseman Erik Brannstrom by the Vegas Golden Knights, defenseman Jacob Cederholm by the Winnipeg Jets and forward Filip Sveningsson by the Calgary Flames. He had one assist in six playoff games.
34 -- Malmstrom played in 34 games for HV71 J20 "A" in Sweden's SuperElit league. Only seven other players had more games for the team.
12 -- Malmstrom was one of 12 players who had 12 points for his team. He was tied with forward Rasmus Gustafsson in points.
2 -- The young defenseman had two goals in his 34 games. The most Malmstrom has ever had in a single season is three goals in six games with Orebro HK J18 in the J18 Allsvenskan league in 2015-16.
10 -- In addition to his two goals, Malmstrom had 10 assists, which is the third most of his young career. He had 14 in 20 games with Lulea HF J18 in the J18 Elit league in the 2014-15 season and registered 12 with that same team in the 2013-14 season.
40 -- Malmstrom set a new career high with 40 penalty minutes this past season. His previous high was 36 penalty minutes in 41 games with Orebro HK J20 during the 2015-16 season.
Quotable: "Alfons is working extremely hard both in the gym and on the ice to bring his conditioning level to an all-time high. He was personally disappointed last year with his season and is looking forward to rebounding this upcoming one. I've been in constant contact with his summer trainer and am looking forward to seeing the results of Alfons' hard work in next week's development camp." - Shawn Horcoff, director of player development
