Fun and exciting aren’t usually the first things a goalie feels when Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are all alone in front of the net with time and space, looking to rip one top shelf.
But Samuel Jonsson’s showdowns with the two Edmonton Oilers superstars and their teammates were the highlight of his summer.
So far.
“That was cool, really cool to get out there with those guys, the best players in the world,” the towering Swedish netminder said of the off-season captain’s skates. “It’s special, it was super fun. I enjoyed every moment of it.”
The first thing the fifth-round draft pick (2022) did when he got off the ice was call home to tell his parents all about it.
“They were super exited, too.”
Asked if he got to tell them how he shut McDavid down, Jonsson laughed out loud.
“No, I did not tell them that,” he said, adding it was a real eye-opening experience when your first taste of hockey in North America are 97 and 29. “They’re so skilled and you have to be so patient with them because if you give them an inch they’re going to beat you.”
In a city where goaltending is always pretty close to front and centre of every discussion about the Oilers, a new keeper in town always moves the needle. So Jonsson, a 21-year-old who put up a .922 save percentage and 1.88 GAA in the top Swedish League last season, is already on everyone’s radar despite not playing a single game in North America yet.
His first taste of real game action is Friday’s rookie camp game at Rogers Place against Calgary’s prospects, which also ranks pretty high on his adrenaline scale.
“My first game over here, also on the small ice. I’m super excited to just go out there, have fun, play with the boys. It’s a dream coming true, for sure, to be signed by an NHL team and have the chance to do something good. I’m super excited.”
Goalie Samuel Jonsson on the second day of the Oilers rookie sessions at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Friday, September 12, 2025.
At 21 there is a long road ahead of him and Jonsson doesn’t know exactly where it starts and where he’ll be a year from now, but he’s as eager as Oilers fans are to see where this takes him.
“I don’t know, it’s hard to say. I just go day by day, go out there, get better every day, have fun and then we’ll see where I go. I just want to play games, too. It’s a big adjustment with the ice so I just want to play games and we’ll see where that will be.”
The adjustments are a real thing — the angles are different, the shots from the wall come faster, the area behind the net is smaller on North American rinks — but he’s already putting up some eye-catching numbers.
“I have another year in the books playing pro in Sweden and I think I had a pretty good year, too. I’m coming in here with a lot of confidence.”
Old school hockey
Everybody loves a tough guy, especially in an Edmonton market where guys who wear their heart on their sleeve have always been fan favourites.
Kelly Buchberger averaged about 20 points a season but remains one of the city’s most beloved players.
So there is every chance that Connor Clattenburg will have plenty of fans in his corner as the rambunctious forward begins his pro career.
Edmonton’s fifth round pick in 2024, Clattenburg hearkens back to the old school days of hockey when toughness, grit and the occasional punch in the mouth were as much a part of the game as skating and scoring.
Connor Clattenburg on the second day of the Oilers rookie sessions at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Friday, September 12, 2025.
That era is gone, but players who embrace that style and can still play the game are valuable assets. So filling that niche market is something the 6-foot-4, 195-pounder sees as his ticket forward, starting in Bakersfield.
“It’s a little bit of an advantage for me,” said the 21-year-old, who put up 35 points and 108 penalty minutes in 46 games with the OHL’s Flint Firebirds last year. “It’s a dying breed. I love to do it and I’ll do it for anyone on the team. I think that could maybe take me to the next level.”
It’s not the role for everyone. In fact, most players these days would rather stay away from having to drop the gloves, but some guys are just born with the toughness gene and gravitate towards that end of the spectrum.
“I always want to do it for the teammates,” said Clattenburg, who had eight fights with Flint last year and wore the captain’s C.
“If something bad happens I’ll step in there. It’s all mental. Toughness is all in the head. Anyone can do it, you just have to be mentally tough. If you can add that to your game it’s definitely an advantage, for sure. Every team needs a guy like that, play hard, play the right way.”
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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