Linköping gets a heavy loss for next season. Marcus Högberg, one of the SHL’s best goalkeepers, is leaving the club to play in the NHL.
Marcus Högberg signed a contract extension with Linköping on March 12. A contract that would keep him at the club until 2028.
But now it is clear that the star goalkeeper is leaving, just over a month later.
Linköping announces that the 29-year-old will use the right to leave for an NHL club for the coming season. Which means that this stay in Linköping is over.
– It obviously feels good to get this chance again. I wasn’t really prepared for something like this to appear, but I’m very happy and excited to test my wings on the extreme world elite again, says the goalkeeper himself.
This is of course a heavy loss for Linköping. In recent seasons, Marcus Högberg has been one of the SHL’s best, if not the best, at his position. This past season, he was also a big part of the team making the playoffs for the first time in five years.
The sporting director: “Obviously a very tough message”
Now they have Jesper Myrenberg under contract for next season, while they now have to go out and look for a replacement.
– It is obviously a very tough message for us to receive in this situation. At the same time, it happens relatively early, which means that we can fairly immediately put in a new plan for the work and move on. Of course it will be a bigger job for us to pull, but it is our job to be prepared that something like this can happen when you have very talented hockey players around you, says sporting director Peter Jakobsson.
Marcus Högberg has spent four consecutive seasons in Linköping since he returned from playing in North America. Then there were 42 games in the NHL and 77 games in the AHL spread over four seasons.
In 2022, the goalkeeper was also part of Tre Kronor’s World Cup squad.
