Swedish hockey player not playing with team due to 'security threat'
The strange story of Linus Videll and Djurgarden of the Swedish Hockey League has taken another strange twist. After spending several seasons in the KHL, Videll returned home to Sweden and was supposed to be a huge acquisition for Djurgarden. He was immediately named team captain. Now, he's not playing for the team any longer and he tells AftonBladet it's because of a security threat.
"They can not guarantee my safety," said Videll.
The team's CEO, Thomas Kraft, confirms the security threat.
"Before this week, there has been a security risk, a minor threat that we do not want to provoke more. There are many emotions involved and we must assess the overall picture. We chose not to play him against Malmö," said Kraft.
"Our security department thought it best not to play Linus. But we don't feel it has progressed or escalated," Kraft continued.
The story runs deeper than just this. Videll hasn't played with Djurgarden since October and ended up filing a grievance against the team after being stripped of the captaincy after just a few games, calling it "abusive discrimination". An external investigation found no wrongdoing by the club, saying it "is not to blame from an employment law perspective and that there is no malicious intent or deliberate abusive discrimination."
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex Tuch | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Owen Power | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Drew Helleson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jirí Kulich | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Isac Lundestrom | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Johnston | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Trevor Zegras | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||