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Report: Swedish blueliner Johannes Kinnvall coming to development camp

Photo credit: Sergei Belski/USA Today Sports

By Ryan Pike

Jun 21, 2019, 13:53 EDT

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The Calgary Flames love Swedish hockey players. Per a report from the Swedish outlet Sportbladet, they’ll have another coming to development camp: blueliner Johannes Kinnvall.

Via Google Translate:

The first week of July he is invited to Calgary Flames camp in Canada.
– It’s a dream, it’s nothing I had counted on myself. I see it as proof that I have done something good on the plan that meant that they have got my eyes on me, ”says Johannes Kinnvall.

Kinnvall, 21, went undrafted the past few summers but now is a free agent in the NHL’s eyes – he’s entering the final season of a contract with HV71 in the SHL. He’s bounced around a bit since his teens: playing his junior with Valbo, but has also played with Brynas and Timra in the SHL and Allsvenskan. Last season he had 22 points in 52 SHL games with Timra.

Kinvall isn’t huge, listed at 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds, but he’s a right shot defender who’s consistently been able to put up numbers during his young pro career. While his SHL contractual status means it’s unlikely that he’ll be able to sign, it makes sense for the Flames do build relationships with promising players like him (just as they’ve tried to do with college players) through development camp.