By: Jeff Playdon | Follow me on Twitter @PlaydonJeff
On Saturday, Bruins Alum P.J (Per-Johan) Axelsson will celebrate his 47th birthday. Axelsson was a Sweden-born player and dawned the Spoked-B for all eleven years in his career. Although Axelsson could never lift the Stanley Cup, he and his Swedish comrades won the Gold Medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Since P.J is celebrating his 47th birthday today, let’s look back at Axelsson’s underappreciated hockey career.
A Reliable Bruin
In the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, Axelsson had to wait until the seventh round to finally be selected by the Boston Bruins. Although he was drafted in 1995, Axelsson didn’t make his NHL debut until ’97-’98. When Axelsson did make his debut, he proved that the Bruins could rely on him. In his rookie season, Axelsson played all 82 games, found the back of the net eight times, and assisted on 19 goals. The 27 points on the season put him in the running for the Calder Trophy, but he finished 12th.
The eventual winner of the Calder Trophy that year was Axelsson’s teammate, Sergei Samsonov. The following season, Axelsson played five fewer games for the B’s but was still very reliable on both sides of the ice. In 77 games, Axelsson produced 17 points and finished 16th in voting for the Selke Trophy. In that same season, P.J and the Bruins found themselves amid another Cup run. However, the Bruins would lose in the Divisional Round to eventual runner-ups of the cup, the Buffalo Sabres.
Playing Nationally for Sweden
Fast-forward to the ’04-’05 season, and the NHL was in the midst of a lockout. That being said, Axelsson decided to go play for Frolunda HC in Sweden and helped the team become the champion of Elitserien. During that season, Axelsson played 45 games for the club, scored eight times, and assisted on nine goals. The following year in 2006, the Winter Olympics were held in Turin, Italy.
Playing for his home country of Sweden, Axelsson helped them reach the finals and win the Gold Medal against Finland. Sweden had a star-studded roster that featured Axelsson, Peter Forsberg, Daniel Alfredsson, Henrik Lundqvist, the Sedin brothers, etc. Axelsson played all eight games and produced three goals and three assists.
End of Axelsson’s Career
Towards the end of the ’05-’06 NHL season, the Bruins signed Axelsson to a three-year extension. In his first season after signing the extension, Axelsson finished the season with ten goals and 18 assists. The numbers put him in the running for the Byng Trophy and Selke trophy; however, he finished 17th and 16th. The mighty two-way forward would play two more seasons for the Black and Gold before signing a four-year contract with Frolunda HC on July 27th, 2009.
Axelsson would be an alternative captain for the Swedish club. The signing of Axelsson to Frolunda HC meant that Axelsson’s NHL career had ended. In his last season with the Bruins in ’08-’09, Axelsson played 75 games and produced 30 points. Axelsson and his teammates gave a valiant effort in a cup run but lost dramatically to the Carolina Hurricanes in game seven of the Conference Semifinals.
In the eleven years that Axelsson played in the NHL, he played 797 total games, scored 103 goals, and assisted on 184 goals for 287 points. Switching over to the SEL, Axelsson played the last four seasons of his hockey career for Frolunda HC. In his last four seasons, P.J played 198 games, scored 22 goals, and assisted on 50 goals.
Even though Axelsson was never considered a “great goal scorer” or offensive threat, he made up for it in other areas of the ice. Through his 11 years in Boston, he averaged 73 games a year out of 82. He was known to be able to make great defensive plays for an offensive player and played a vital role on the penalty kill.
After his playing career, Axelsson was hired by the Bruins as a European Amateur Scout. He was partly responsible for the drafting by the Bruins of Swedish junior ice hockey defenseman Axel Andersson in the second round of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft as player #57 overall.
By the time of the 2021 NHL off-season, Axelsson had become the Bruins’ European scouting coordinator, helping his former NHL team select Swedish junior forward Fabian Lysell as the Bruins’ top pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. So, P.J Axelsson, on behalf of myself and the entire BNG Hockey Organization, we wish you a Happy 47th birthday!
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