Anders Per-Johan Axelsson (born 26 February 1975), commonly abbreviated to P. J. Axelsson, is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

forward, who most recently played with

Frölunda HC Frölunda Hockey Club, previously known as the Frölunda Indians, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They currently play in the highest Swedish league, the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), formerly the Elitserien, where th ...

of the Swedish

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

. His nickname in Sweden is "Pebben", while his nickname in Boston is “Potatoes”. He was the longest-tenured member of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

at the time of his departure from North American play in 2009, having been with the Boston team from

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

–

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. Axelsson played as a left winger. Although he never gained the reputation of a premier goal scorer, Axelsson's gritty, unrelenting attitude as a solid, defensive-minded forward, and his ability to make smart plays on the ice made him a longtime fan favourite of the

, and the Swedish national team, Tre Kronor.

Playing career

Axelsson played four seasons for his hometown team,

, in the Swedish

before being drafted 177th overall in the

1995 NHL Entry Draft The 1995 NHL Entry Draft was the 33rd NHL Entry Draft. It was held at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, Alberta. The drafting order was now set partially by a lottery system whereby teams would not be guaranteed first pick if they finished last. I ...

by the

. Axelsson played all 82 games in his rookie season with the Bruins, helping them to reach the playoffs after the Bruins had missed out the previous season. He was one of the Bruins' key skill players during his career with them. During the

2004–05 NHL lockout The 2004–05 NHL lockout was a labor lockout that resulted in the cancellation of the National Hockey League (NHL) season, which would have been its 88th season of play. The main dispute was the league's desire to implement a salary cap to ...

, Axelsson played for

in Sweden and helped the team become the champion of Elitserien. After the lockout, he returned to the United States to rejoin the Bruins. He became an

Olympic champion This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Winter Olympic sports A. Including military patrol e ...

with

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

. On 23 March 2006, he signed a three-year extension to his contract with the Boston Bruins. On 21 February 2008, Axelsson played his 700th NHL game in Sunrise, Florida, a 5–4 shootout win over the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

. After helping the Bruins to the Eastern Conference semifinals during the

2008–09 NHL season The 2008–09 NHL season was the 92nd season of operation (91st season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). It was the first season since prior to the 2004–05 lockout in which every team played each other at least once during the sea ...

, Axelsson signed a four-year contract with

on 27 July 2009. Upon his return, he was named as one of two alternate captains for the team. On 10 April 2013, he announced his retirement from professional hockey. Axelsson was subsequently hired by the Bruins as a European amateur scout. He was partly responsible for the drafting by the Bruins of Swedish junior ice hockey

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

Axel Andersson in the second round of the

2018 NHL Entry Draft The 2018 NHL Entry Draft was the 56th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 22–23, 2018, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The 2018 NHL Entry Draft was the second of two professional sports drafts to be held in the Dalla ...

as player #57 overall. By the time of the 2021 NHL off-season, Axelsson had become the Bruins' European scouting co-ordinator, helping his former NHL team select Swedish junior forward Fabian Lysell as the Bruins' top pick in the

2021 NHL Entry Draft The 2021 NHL Entry Draft was the 59th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on July 23–24, 2021, delayed by one month from its normally scheduled time of June due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the later-than-normal finish of the 2020–21 NHL se ...

Personal life

Axelsson is married and has two children, a daughter named Wilma and a son named Wilson. During his spare time, he enjoys

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. His younger brother Anton Axelsson is also a professional ice hockey player.

Career achievements

* Bronze medal at the

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annua ...

in 2001 and 2002. * Silver medal at the Ice Hockey World Championships in 2003 and 2004. * Elitserien champion with

in 2005. * Gold medal at the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

in 2006. *

Eddie Shore Award The Eddie Shore Award is presented annually to the AHL's best defenceman. The award winner is chosen by AHL media and players. The award is named after Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Eddie Shore. Winners NHL-level Eddie Shore Award One of the Bos ...

winner in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Records

* Elitserien record for most assists in playoffs (10)

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Axelsson, P. J. 1975 births Living people Boston Bruins draft picks Boston Bruins players Boston Bruins scouts Frölunda HC players Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Olympic ice hockey players of Sweden Olympic medalists in ice hockey People from Kungälv Municipality Swedish expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Swedish ice hockey left wingers Sportspeople from Västra Götaland County