Johan Fransson

Johan Fransson (born February 18, 1985) is a Swedish professional ice hockey player, currently playing with Leksands IF in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), where he is a defenceman. He has 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]

Not to be confused with Johan Franzén.

Johan Fransson
Born	(1985-02-18) February 18, 1985 Kalix, Sweden
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight	198 lb (90 kg; 14 st 2 lb)
Position	Defence
Shoots	Left
SHL team Former teams	Leksands IF Luleå HF Frölunda HC Ässät Linköpings HC HC Lugano SKA Saint Petersburg Rapperswil-Jona Lakers Genève-Servette HC
National team	Sweden
NHL Draft	34th overall, 2004 Dallas Stars
Playing career	2002–present

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. 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
2002–03	Luleå HF	SEL		3	0	0	0	0		—	—	—	—	—
2003–04	Lulea HF	SEL		44	3	3	6	28		2	0	0	0	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
SHL totals				466	35	92	127	272		64	2	17	19	38

Medal record
Ice hockey
Representing  Sweden
World Championships
	2013 Sweden/Finland
	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			10	1	4	5	4
2014	Sweden	WC			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. 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. Abrahamsson, Jante (2006-05-19). "Frölunda satsar på Johan Fransson" (in Swedish). Hockeysverige.se. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
5. Feltenmark, Anders (2004-01-15). "Årets rookiekandidat nummer 3 säsongen 2003/2004 utsedd" (in Swedish). Swedish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
6. Thornéus, Patrik (2004-03-02). "Fransson fick hjärnskakning i sitt första byte". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 2010-05-05.
7. 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. 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

• Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com, or Eurohockey.com, or The Internet Hockey Database