Andersson Shines in AHL All-Star Classic

Stockton Heat All-Star, Rasmus Andersson put on a show in Utica over the weekend for the AHL All-Star Classic. The 21-year-old Swedish defenseman earned his first All-Star selection with 25 points (4-21-25) through his 36 games this season with a +15 rating.

Andersson continued to impress this weekend, especially with his smooth offensive play. In Sunday night’s Skills Competition, Andersson finished tied for third place in the fastest shot competition with a 101.5 MPH laser.

When you shoot harder than Ovechkin, the NHL Hardest Shot winner pic.twitter.com/cqqcWvX07j

— Stockton Heat (@AHLHeat) January 29, 2018

Andersson’s rare combination of power and finesse was on display in the last event of the skills competition with a silky smooth breakaway move that made  the second-year pro defenseman look like a forward.

https://twitter.com/AHLHeat/status/957810300312416256

The weekend’s main event, the three-on-three tournament amongst the four divisions, was another perfect format for the Calgary Flames prospect. He registered two goals and three assists in the Pacific’s four games (10 minutes each).

The goal of the night belonged to Andersson as he received a beautiful feed from Dylan Strome, the former third round pick of the Arizona Coyotes. This beautiful scoring play, as well as Andersson’s first goal of the night, earned him two spots in SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays.

https://twitter.com/AHLHeat/status/958420997157236736

The Pacific went 3-0 in their first three games of the night before falling to the North division 1-0 in the final.

Andersson was the lone representative for the Stockton Heat, but Andrew Mangiapane (16-19-35) was also named to the team, but was replaced by Rudolfs Balcers since the winger was up with the Calgary Flames before the weekend.

Andersson will rejoin the Heat this week as Stockton gears up for a big weekend series with the San Jose Barracuda.