- Olli Maatta Placed on Injured Reserve
The Detroit Red Wings today recalled left wing Elmer Soderblom from the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins and placed defenseman Olli Maatta on injured reserve retroactive to Dec. 6.
Soderblom, 21, has recorded two goals and six penalty minutes in 13 appearances with the Red Wings during the 2022-23 campaign, scoring what proved to be the game-winner in his NHL debut on Oct. 14 vs. Montreal. The 6-foot-8, 246-pound forward has also appeared in two games with the Griffins, making his AHL debut on Dec. 9 at Springfield. Soderblom had a breakout campaign in 2021-22 with Frolunda HC in the Swedish Hockey League, ranking among the team leaders with 21 goals (1st), 12 assists (7th), 33 points (3rd), seven power play goals (1st), 11 power play points (4th), eight game-winning goals (1st) and 132 shots (1st) in 52 games. He also produced nine points (6-3-9) and a plus-five rating in 11 Champions Hockey League games as Frolunda reached the semifinals of the competition. Additionally, Soderblom recorded six points (3-3-6) and a plus-six rating in nine postseason contests to help Frolunda reach the SHL playoff semifinals. In all, Soderblom compiled 38 points (24-14-38) and 11 penalty minutes in 90 SHL games and won a CHL title with Frolunda in his first professional season in 2019-20.
Selected by the Red Wings in the sixth round (159th overall) of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, Soderblom made his SHL debut during the 2019-20 campaign after leading the under-20 circuit with 29 goals in 36 games. In total, Soderblom recorded 76 points (40-36-76) and 22 penalty minutes in 87 games at the under-20 level, 53 points (26-27-53) and 14 penalty minutes in 60 games at the under-18 level and 93 points (62-31-93) and 49 penalty minutes in 78 games on the under-16 circuit, all with Frolunda. The Gothenburg, Sweden, native racked up three points (2-1-3) in five appearances for his country at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship. Along with fellow 2019 Red Wings draftees Albert Johansson and Albin Grewe, Soderblom was also a member of Sweden’s silver-medal Hlinka Gretzky Cup team (1-2-3 in five games) in 2018 and gold medal-winning IIHF World Under-18 Championship squad (1-0-1 in seven games) in 2019.
