2007-11-23

Likity Quist



William Quist was "William who?!" when the Edmonton Oilers called his name at the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, 6th round #157.
Quist is a big boy (192cm - 6'4") who has thus far not played in any big leagues. Upon his return from the Oilers' camp, he was set to playfor Junior Elite team associated to the runner-up of last year's Swedish Elite Series championship, Linköping Hockey Club.
Linköping is a good team. They are dominating junior hockey. Unfortunately, not with Quister in the line-up.
News now is that the team and Quist have parted ways (source: in Swedish).

He has not had much ice time, suffered through injuries and sickness, not to mention a suspension for fighting.  The question is perhaps, who was he really fighting, the coaches or himself?  The move from Tingsryd to LHC should have been a positive step in his development.  Blog rumours cite the lack of ice time and being benched... and bad luck.  

Now William is set to return to Tingsryd's junior team (one level below LHC's juniors) and will likely get a shot on their "A" Team (two levels below LHC's "A" club).  

An Oiler fan can only hope this is a small blip in William Quist's development.  Developing him into an NHL or Elitseries player is also about being a good teammate.  Hopefully when the book is written about the LHC J20 team, it will simply be a small mistake rather than the beginning of the end.

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