Capitals prospect Axel Jonsson-Fjällby is spending his offseason playing in Sweden’s second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan league with Västerviks IK. On Wednesday, the club signed AJF’s best friends and former linemates in Djurgården, Marcus and Jonathan Davidsson.

Västervik, usually a bottom feeder, has outperformed expectations and sits in third place after 11 games. They’re 10 points behind Björklöven. The top six teams qualify for a playoff-style race for a promotion to the SHL, the top tier league in Sweden.

AJF and the Davidsson brothers had a breakout season together in the SHL during the 2018/2019 season playing for Djurgården, where, in limited minutes, they produced well from the bottom six. Jonsson-Fjällby had a terrific postseason and scored 12 points in 19 games, only outmatched among forwards by veteran Dick Axelsson.

The younger brother Marcus spent last season and this fall with the SHL’s Växjö Lakers. He was drafted by the Sabres in 2016 but was never given an entry-level contract.

Jonathan played six games for the Ottawa Senators and 18 games for their affiliate, the AHL’s Binghamton Senators, last winter. He joins his brother and Jonsson-Fjällby on a season-long loan.

“This is a unique chance in a unique season. We’re extremely pleased to have Jonathan and Marcus on our team. Together with Axel, they made up a dangerous line in Djurgården,” Emil Georgsson, Västerviks IK’s president of hockey operations, said on the club website.

Axel has been performing playing at a lower level — the HockeyAllsvenskan’s skill level is a drop from the AHL — scoring two goals and six assists in 11 games. The speedy winger plays on the second line as a right-wing and sees ice in every situation.

In the 2019-20 season, Axel Jonsson Fjällby scored 23 points for Hershey Bears in the AHL. He signed a three-year entry-level contract in 2018 and is yet to play for the Capitals in the NHL, but could play his way onto the team’s bottom-six with an exceptional training camp.

Headline photo courtesy of Västerviks IK