DENMARK – Up until the current season the AL-Bank Ligaen has traditionally been a league that has been laden with imports. Teams in most cases were assembled by signing foreign imports from several of the top European and North American minor leagues first and then the rosters would be rounded out by acquiring various Danes, the greater part of which were local home-grown ones. This concept of leaning on imports to be the go-to guys meant the majority of the leagues Danish players became fringe players in the squad that received limited ice-time which in turn hindered their development at the top level in their country. Having said that there were a few players that were a exception to this but for the majority of the time this was the case. But, fast forward to this season and you will see a complete reversal to what’s been happening in the past. The recent economic downturn has stifled the finances of the all the clubs in Denmark’s top professional men’s league and in order to survive the upcoming season the player budgets for each team had to be slashed dramatically. Import numbers in the league soon diminished as signing players from overseas obviously became more expensive than signing Danes, as these players will not need housing and other various expenses. Because less imports were coming to the shores of Denmark the standard of play dropped in the league by a small fraction. But it is not all doom and gloom however; this season the Danes are now getting premium ice time and are being counted on to lead their respective clubs to glory, which can only beneficial to them in the long run if they decide at some point to pursue their professional career at a higher level. A prime example of someone who is reaping the rewards of ample ice time and playing in various situations that he may have never did so last season is AaB Aalborg’s (2 nd in the league) star forward Lasse Lassen.
The native of Herning has been nothing short of a revelation since he made the switch north from his hometown club Herning Blue Fox last year. The 20-year-old Dane made his professional league debut in the 2007-08 season where he accumulated 22 appearances for the Blue Foxes, registering no points and playing out a further 7 games in the playoffs. That year is considered a vital spell in Lasse’s development as he was able to gain his first significant playoff experience with the big squad and no doubt would of learnt a lot from that title winning, high-powered, Herning squad that boasted the likes of Linus Fagemo, Steve Potvin and Rasmus Pander amongst others. Lassen’s speed and scoring ability was never in question though as he starred offensively throughout his junior career for Herning and showed everyone in the Danish hockey community that he more than warranted his spot in the elite ranks.
The following season the 5ft11, 174lb Dane continued his development steadily and thus improved his points total for the year, registering a respectable 4 goals and 12 points in 41 games with limited ice time. Lasse’s improved play meant that he was given a bigger role to play for the Danish U20 team, a challenge in which he more than lived up to by sharing the team lead in goals with Danish wonder kid Lars Eller at the end of the tournament. At this stage teams around Denmark really started to take notice of this kid and his potential. Come season’s end and there was no shortage of interest for the signature of the nifty Dane, even though Herning at that time repeatedly stated their intention to keep hold of him and his brother Stefan for the upcoming campaign. But little did the club know that extreme financial difficulties within the company who owned them would arguably force the team to cut their budgets and state that all players who re-sign next season will have to take a 25% wage cut. In financial turmoil and the future of the club in doubt, the team let go a host of their key players including Lassen, Steve Kelly, Timo Leinonen, Sylvain Dufrense, Martin Nielsen and Rasmus Pander all of whom waved goodbye to the dynasty team of Danish Hockey. The latter would join Lasse in the move north to AaB Aalborg for this season.
Lasse wasted little time on putting his stamp on his new team and has already become and huge fan favourite with the North Jutlanders due to his amazing scoring ability, which is highlighted by the fact that at the time of writing he currently leads the league in goals scored with 16, an amazing feat indeed for one so young.
Last season the bottom fell out for AaB, who after a disastrous season last year where the team finished third bottom and only managed to qualify for the play-offs due to a team placed above them going bankrupt, this year Karsten Arvidsen’s red army have so far put together a decent season in which they are actually meeting fan expectations (which is out of the ordinary). The team has been even more tremendous on home ice where they have only been defeated twice all season long. Furthermore, the team has the second best offence in the league with a 102 goals scored and the league 4 th stingiest defence with 77 goals against.
There is no doubt that Lasse Lassen has been one of many reasons why AaB Aalborg are having a solid season and could well be the next great Dane to hit the NHL, joining the likes of Frans Nielsen, Peter Regin, Jannik Hansen, Mikkel Boedker and Lars Eller. Without question the guy has the talent and the skill, traits that he has readily displayed during his small but successful professional career in Denmark.
Contact: sandro.berish@prohockeynews.com
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