Per Braxenholm

2005-06 Update:

coutesy eliteprospects.com

A player with great size and reach that is slowly becoming a good 2nd-tier league defenseman, after a few seasons with inconsistent ice time in Mörrum. Braxenholm has a powerful release and can play the body. However, considering he has a such a big physical advantage to most opponents, he should play the body more frequently. Offensively he has yet to demonstrate any flashy skills, but he is rather sound in his own end.

2004-05 Update:

Braxenholm has spent the last 3-4 seasons with Mörrum GoIS in the Swedish 2nd Division called Allsvenskan. This past season was his best following a summer in which he flew to North America and participated in an Islanders sanctioned rookie conditioning camp. It translated into his best season back home in Sweden as he produced 7 points in 40 games played. He played so well that he was finally promoted at the end of the season to Mörrum's Division 1 team for the playoffs, where he notched a goal in 10 games.

Whatever It'll Take To Make It
Prospect Profile: Per Braxenholm
By Corey Witt, from newyorkislanders.com

(August 27) For NHL scouts, locating late-round gems is just as important as hitting a home run with a first round draftee. The Islanders' scouting staff already has one talented late-round blueliner at the big-league level in defenseman Radek Martinek (1999 8th round). They may have another on the horizon in Swedish defenseman Per Braxenholm, who was drafted in the 9th round of the 2002 Draft.

Braxenholm, who was born on Halloween in 1983, crossed the pond this summer and participated in both segments of the Islanders' conditioning camps. The young defenseman is atypical compared to many blueliners trained in Europe, he likes to play a physical brand of hockey and patterns himself after rugged New Jersey captain Scott Stevens.

"In Sweden as a defenseman, the bigger ice makes you play more positionally more than [using] the body," said Braxenholm. "In the few weeks [on Long Island], I think my game is more like [the way] North Americans play. I like to hit and be aggressive."

Already blessed with a stocky 6-2, 215-pound frame, Braxenholm is still growing at 19 and has a simple goal, to one day man the blueline on Long Island. The Islanders' prospect prides himself on not stepping down from a battle, standing his ground and moving the puck out of his zone with diligence.

"He wants to be a big, physical force on the ice," said Islanders' Director of Player Personal Greg Cronin. "He has a strong work ethic and is willing to learn how to become a better defenseman with the mentality that is needed to fit his style of playing hockey."

Added Braxenholm: "I like to play the puck, but I'm also physical. I don't play physical all the time, but I want to. I want it to be my hockey game. I want to do a lot of things so I can be a better player. I know I need to train hard to make it. I want to learn how to become a better hockey player. I'll take as long as I need, I want come here (to the NHL) when I'm ready and prepared."

While most of the training that Braxenholm receives in the next year will be from his coaches at Morrum in the Swedish Tier II league, just below the Elite League, Braxenholm learned a great deal from the Islanders' minicamps in June and July. The young Swede admits that it was the best hockey training of his life and he has every intention to keep with the game plan set forth by Cronin and the other coaches.

"I had a great time (at the minicamp)," Braxenholm pointed out. "It was one of the best hockey experiences of my life. It was good training with good coaches. I was (there) for six weeks and I didn't want to go home. I learned a lot that I won't forget."

Some of the training that Braxenholm was exposed to in his six weeks on Long Island involved power skating, weight training and integrated boxing techniques. All three skill-areas will be critical in the Islander prospect's development in the coming seasons.

"The biggest question concerning Per is if and how well he'll keep up with all of the skill and conditioning training that he learned this summer with us," said Cronin. "It's easy to let things slip when you have a coach that isn't preaching you those exact things. We hope that Per can continue to work on the things that we tried to teach him. That's his biggest challenge for this year."

If Braxenholm succeeds into becoming an NHL player, it will happen because of his strong desire to better himself along with a great work ethic.

"Hockey has to be everything for me," said Braxenholm. "There are a lot of guys who want to play in the NHL and I need to be better than them. You can't do more than your best and I'll be working hard. I know I can be better."

Said Cronin: "We sharpened his vision. Now he knows what it will take to get into the NHL. He's very motivated. He'll do whatever is necessary to have a career in the National Hockey League."

D Per Braxenholm: 6-3, 215 lbs. Born October 31, 1983(Halloween!) in Karlskrona, Sweden. Born in the same town and plays for the same team as the Islanders fifth round pick Marcus Paulsson. According to the Islanders scouting staff, Braxenholm has some snarl. "He's a North American style player," said Isles' European Scouting guru Anders Kallur. "He loves to take the body and be physical. He's a good skater and I see no major weaknesses in his game." Braxenholm split the season in Sweden's junior league in Kallinge before being promoted to the "A" league with Morrum late in the year. "I liked what I saw in those 15 games," said Kallur. "They were a high-pressure time for that team and he fit right in." Braxenholm has good size at 6-2, 210 pounds.