he’s one of the players who left germany to play junior hockey in north america - which ultimately led to him being drafted by the jets. he stayed in the qmjhl until 2019/20 when he signed with the manitoba moose and pretty much tried for years to get to the nhl, which ultimately didn’t happen with the jets. this off-season he announced he’d be joining the adler mannheim in the del, but when the jets traded his rights to the sharks, he pulled a special clause to sign a two-way contract with them. as far as i’m aware he’ll play in mannheim next season unless he ends up on the sharks roster somehow.
overall, leon is very adorable! someone on the moose (can’t remember who it was) said that he’s very relaxed and calm, and when he first needed time to understand what it means to play pro hockey, and that you don’t make the nhl if you’re an average ahl player, but he’s been working on himself and improving a lot since then. he put up a new franchise record for goals scored from the blue line in manitoba, too.
i don’t have much else on him that’s not just uh, me gushing over how awkward he looks in pictures and his crooked smile i want to preserve in a snow globe and how he looks up to nico sturm and the jets did him really dirty and that he hugged his goalie at worlds like he wanted to squeeze the life out of him—
Oh I'm hollering at this, it's all so good.....I've appreciated his work ethic on the Cuda for sure and if he's struggling at all I really think it is because we have 500 defensemen and so many people aren't getting consistent playing time. Maybe now that we just sent half the dcorps to Wichita though he'll be able to solidify his place! I've been meaning to listen his Locked on Sharks episode for a while and keep forgetting, maybe I'll do that today while I'm doing horrible tasks. Thank you for this info!!
Also inquiring minds want to know about the Nico Sturm connection....if you feel inclined to explain the lore...