Jacob Josefson

Jacob Josefson (born March 2, 1991) is a professional Swedish ice hockey centre, currently playing for Djurgårdens IF in Elitserien. He was acquired by Djurgården's youth organisation at the age of ten, where he also began playing junior hockey in 2005. Josefson made his Elitserien debut on February 28, 2008 against Timrå IK, and has since then become a regular member of the senior team. His achievements in the Swedish Elitserien drew attention from NHL and he was selected in the first round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by the New Jersey Devils, 20th overall.

Early life
Josefson was born on March 2, 1991 in Stockholm, Sweden, to Annika and Peter Josefson. He is the youngest of three brothers. At the age of two, Josefson began skating and joined his first club IK Göta at the age of five, where his older brothers had played before him. He joined Hammarby IF for a year before he was acquired by Djurgårdens IF at the age of ten, playing in the 1991 team. He also played football until the age of 13, before deciding to focus entirely on hockey.

Playing career
Josefson started to play junior hockey in 2005 in Djurgården's under-18 team. During the 2006–07 season, he helped Djurgården's under-16 team to win the Swedish championship. The 2007–08 season began with the national junior hockey tournament TV-pucken. Josefson's team Stockholm/Vit reached the final which ended with a 2–1 defeat to Småland. He made his Elitserien debut on February 28, 2008 against Timrå IK. However, this proved to be the only appearance Josefson would make in the Elitserien during the 2007–08 season. Josefson played for the J20-team during most of the season scoring 14 goals and 31 points. His team reached the playoffs and the semifinals, where Brynäs IF proved to be too hard. Nevertheless, Josefson did manage to win a Swedish Championship during this season. He joined the under-18 team during the playoffs where he helped the team to beat Färjestads BK in the finals.

He signed a two year contract with Djurgården in May 2008. The plan was to bring up Josefson to the senior team when it suffered of illness and injuries, while his usual team would be the J20-team. He scored his first goal in Elitserien on September 23 in his third game, a 4–1 win against Brynäs IF. Ultimately, Josefson played almost every game of the regular season, and usually played along with Carl Gustafsson and Henrik Eriksson in the 4th line. At the end of the season, Josefson had scored 5 goal and 16 points, which is a record for junior players that are 18 years or younger in the senior team. Josefson was ranked third in the midterm rankings among European skaters by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau for the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He was selected in the first round of the 2009 NHL draft by the New Jersey Devils, 20th overall. He participated at the Devils rookie camp in July 2009 along with Devils prospect Mattias Tedenby. He has been compared with centres Nicklas Bäckström and John Madden.

In the beginning of the 2009–10 season, Djurgården participated in the Nordic Trophy pre-season tournament. In the second game, Josefson scored a hat-trick and two assists against Malmö Redhawks. At the end of the group stage, Josefson was the scoring leader with five goals and seven points. He scored his first points for the regular season, three assists, in the Elitserien premiere away against HV71. Djurgården lost the game 7–6. However, Josefson would get his revenge when he scored the game-winning goal in the 3–2 victory over HV71 on October 20. This was also was his first goal of the regular season. Josefson missed six rounds of Elitserien due to the World Junior Hockey Championship, but was back in the roster against Timrå IK on January 9. He scored an assist against Rögle BK on January 30 which was his 17 point for the season, putting him ahead of last season's total of 16 points. At the end of the regular season, Josefson had scored 8 goals and 20 points in 43 games. He missed the first two semifinals against Linköpings HC due to illness. Josefson re-signed with Djurgården for another year on April 27.

International play
Josefson played in his first IIHF sanctioned tournament when he was part of Sweden's team at the 2008 IIHF World U18 Championships. He managed to score a hat-trick in the first game against Belarus. Josefson was a part of Sweden's national junior team at the 2009 World Junior Championships. He played in all of Sweden's six games but didn't score any points. A few months later he yet again played for Sweden in the U18 Championship but could not help his team go further than fifth place in the tournament. Josefson participated in the World Junior Championship for the second time when he was named for Team Sweden by head coach Pär Mårts for the 2010 World Junior Championships, along with fellow team-mates Daniel Brodin and Marcus Krüger. He scored his first goal of the tournament and the first goal of the game against Austria in the preliminary rounds. He scored two additional goals in Sweden's 7–1 victory over Finland in the last game of the preliminary rounds. Josefson also made three assists in the tournament, totaling his score at six points.