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 in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

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". He was the longest-tenured member of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

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 (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...

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

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

–

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. 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 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. On his 31st birthday, 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 Sports that will appear in the 2028 Summer Olympics ar ...

with

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

at the

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

. 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. The Panthers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team initially played it ...

. 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 l ...

Axel Andersson in the second round of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft 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 Fabian Lysell (born 19 January 2003) is a Swedish professional ice hockey forward for the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL) as a prospect to the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Lysell was selected by the B ...

as the Bruins' top pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

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 Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

. 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. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the I ...

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 (), also known as the Winter Olympics, 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 held i ...

in 2006. *

Eddie Shore Award The Eddie Shore Award is presented annually to the best defenceman on the American Hockey League (AHL) as chosen by AHL media and players. The award is named after Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Eddie Shore. Winners NHL-level Eddie Shore Award O ...

winner in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Records

* Elitserien record for most assists in a single 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 for Sweden Olympic medalists in ice hockey Sportspeople from Kungälv Swedish expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Swedish ice hockey left wingers Ice hockey people from Västra Götaland County