The Penguins have acquired goaltender Mattias Modig from the Anaheim Ducks for a 2010 6th round draft pick. The team followed the acquisition by signing Modig to a two year entry level contract.
Here are the details from the Penguins official release:
Modig, 23, played the last four seasons with his hometown team Lulea HF of the Swedish Elite League. He has carried the bulk of the netminding duties in the last two years, playing 74 games and posting a 2.35 goals-against average with a .913 save percentage and six shutouts.
The 6-foot, 163-pound goaltender was originally drafted by Anaheim in the fourth round (121st overall) of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.
The 6th round pick that was traded to Anaheim originally came from the Montreal Canadiens. The Penguins will now have seven picks remaining in this year’s entry draft: 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, (2)6th, and a 7th.
this is a very tallented goalkeeper who last season had very poor defensemen in front of him. He is not a heavy keeper but 163 pounds is a 2 year old knowledge and the correct weight now is arround 180 pounds (81 kilos) according to the last messures. He will need some time in ahl to adjust to smaller ice.
I found a spot on description of this goolkeeper from hockeyfan “tigerman” on net. The only thing to add is that his weight is arround 180 pounds (81 kilos) and not 163 pounds. The “tigerman” wrote:
“For some odd reason there hasn’t been many posts from Sweden about him here, so I thought I’d register and give my comments for anyone who cares. I live in Lulea, and have followed this guy closely for at least 6-7 years.
Basically, he has great talent, which also showed in his junior years when he really shined, outclassing guys like Daniel Larsson (Detroit prospect). He also got a great start in the SEL, initially as a back-up and then earning first spot, posting 2nd SVS% in the league, playing with confidence. Later on he’s been quite up and down, some periods at best average, and some periods just great. Last season started bad, probably due to a injury during summer, so he got sidelined by the junior Anders Nilsson (another really hot talent), but in the last 10-15 games he really did his job well.
Anyway. His strenghts are a natural feel for the game, really reads the plays well, which makes him usually get the first shot. Also he has a strong psyche, and that was really needed as he got lots of bashing from some fans for being so uneven… Furthermore, for being a swedish golie he has good stick technique. No rocket speed but OK. Weaknesses? He actually doesn’t have a very good technique, he plays more on feeling than following patterns which sometimes makes the puck bounce from him all over the place, and him not being set up well for rebounds. Not particularily good side-to-side (e.g. in 2 on 1 breakaways) but that’s very much due to the lack of technique, you rarely see him do a good butterfly slide with the glove in correct position.
My verdict: There’s definitely great potential in him but he needs better coaching than he’s had in the past (Lulea hasn’t even had a full time goalie coach on the team!). Probably a year in AHL could do him well, he needs to get more shots at him than in SEL to tune it up. If you have a great goalie coach and give him playing time, he might just become excellent. If you don’t provide that, then you should ask team management why the heck he got on the wagon in the first place.”