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Carl Lindbom, Team Sweden (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

Carl Lindbom’s Development Points to NHL Future with Golden Knights

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Cooper Krigbaum | Last updated Mar 28, 2025 9:20 AM ET

In the NFL, the last pick of the draft, or more commonly known as Mr. Irrelevant, gets treated to a week in Newport Beach and a trip to Disneyland, among other amenities. Quite the adventure, right? That wasn’t the case for Vegas Golden Knights prospect Carl Lindbom, who wasn’t decorated and splashed with free excursions and gifts when taken with the third-to-last pick in the seventh round in 2021.

Rather, he was presented with a 26% chance to reach the NHL, compared to a much larger 94% for first-round draft picks. Since the 2018 NHL Draft, only 21 players drafted from the seventh round have played at least one NHL game, a probability of just nine percent.

Add Lindbom being a goaltender into the mix, which is ever so hard to predict these days; it made the 21-year-old’s quest to the NHL much harder. Despite the odds presented to the Swedish netminder when he was drafted, he’s taken them head-on and has had steadfast confidence since day one.

Tracking Lindbom’s Development in Henderson

Heading into this season, Lindbom didn’t have many expectations. He flew under the radar as a seventh-round pick along with it being his first season in North America compared to playing in Sweden, not many eyes were on him. However, the netminder has exceeded all expectations, posting a 2.60 goals-against average, a .915 save percentage, and a 16-11-5 record with the Henderson Silver Knights in the American Hockey League (AHL).

The AHL is a development league, and Lindbom has done that thus far: develop and play meaningful games. He’s gotten close with head coach Ryan Craig, though, who’s helped him adapt to the game in North America, where it is played much faster than in Europe.

“We’ve seen his play increase as we’ve gone through the season. The biggest thing for us is how hard he battles on pucks,” Craig said. “He’s a guy that’s square to the puck. He’s a guy that competes on pucks. He’s a guy that the puck sits in front of him, and he hasn’t squeezed it, and he can jump on it which is something we’ve really valued with our team and how we want to defend.”

Another person that’s helped Lindbom this season is netminder Akira Schmid who was dealt to the Golden Knights at the 2024 NHL Draft.

“I have learned a lot from [Schmid]. We talk all the time. Obviously, he has more experience and has played a lot of NHL games and AHL games. We talk a lot about how to play different situations and stuff like that,” Lindbom said.

The 21-year-old has risen to the occasion and has shown promising signs of being an NHL goaltender someday.

Lindbom’s Competitive Edge Turning Heads Within the Organization

As we mentioned at the start of this piece, the odds of seventh-round picks getting drafted are extremely low, but Lindbom is turning heads, including Silver Knights general manager Tim Speltz, who’s had high praise for the young netminder.

“Carl has surprised me, in that, I thought it would take a little longer for the adjustment for him coming to North America. The smaller rink, the more traffic, but he does a good job tracking pucks, finding pucks, getting stoppages when tracking pucks, finding pucks, getting stoppages when you need them, and that’s some of the things that I thought he might need time to adjust to the North American game,” Speltz said. “He’s handled it very well. He’s very competitive, and for me, I think he’s a guy that works hard on his craft and works hard on his team.”

Lindbom has shown he can be a reliable goaltender in the AHL; now, with more seasoning and development with the Silver Knights, he could look to make the jump to the NHL as early as next season.

Ilya Samsonov is set to become a free agent this offseason, and if general manager Kelly McCrimmon opts to let him go, the path could be paved for Lindbom. Of course, many could call that wishful thinking, but we’ll see how Lindbom caps off his first season in the AHL.

Lindbom Eyes Future as Golden Knights’ Go-To Goalie

This season’s success in Vegas outweighed what could happen with their goaltending situation, and McCrimmon quickly solved that when he extended Adin Hill to keep him in Sin City. He was set to become one of the most highly coveted goaltenders on the market, and with that question mark filled, Lindbom is left with an open path as a potential backup option in the future.

We’ll see where the rest of this season and the next couple of years go, but he could eventually take the starting job wherever his development takes him.