Carl Lindbom chose to leave Djurgården after the final loss against Modo last year. The 20-year-old moved to Karlstad for games with Färjestad.
The young goaltending talent has received a lot of praise in his first year in the SHL.
– Good, I feel that I’ve developed a lot, there’s been a lot of ice training with the Mask and I’ve also had to play a lot of matches, so it’s great fun, he says about the time in Värmland.
“We had fun every day”
The Ekerö-bred goalkeeper got his breakthrough in the DIF jersey last year when he went from seven games the season before to starting in 36 regular season games.
The step up to Sweden’s best hockey league has been big.
– Everything is a bit sharper, but it still felt like I did pretty well and got into the pace fairly quickly. It was fun, feels good.
The 20-year-old received an enormous amount of trust from Tomas Mitell and the rest of the coaching staff. The competition between him and Max Lagacé was fierce.
– It was great with Max and “The Mask”, it was great fun and we had great fun every day. I really felt that we were developing every day.
The Ekerö product guarded the box from the start in 26 regular season matches and was also trusted in all playoff matches.
The lift of the season
Lindbom and Färjestad were hot candidates to take home the SM gold. But the team was overtaken already in the quarter by Rögle.
After the emotional outing, Lindbom got the chance to continue the season with games in Tre Kronor.
– It’s great fun, it really wasn’t the ending we wanted. It was tough right then and it feels a bit like a second chance and being able to prove myself here as well. But of course still sad that it ended the way it did.
The goalkeeper made his Tre Kronor debut earlier in the season.
– It’s gone fast, it’s been a bit surreal. It’s been a lot of fun, then it’s gone up and down, of course. But really fun and get the chance to play here.
It is difficult to explain what the season’s lift can be due to.
– A good question, if I had to guess, I think it’s because I love to play. I have a mindset where I like to compete and always try to get better and develop. I would say that is one reason.
Going to Vegas this summer
Lindbom was drafted as player 222 in the seventh round in 2021 by the Vegas Golden Knights.
This year he has been loaned to Färjestad and what the future looks like is uncertain.
– We shall see. We’ll see if I get selected here next with Sweden. Then after that I don’t really know what happens. Going to camp in Vegas in July and then we’ll see what happens.
