UConn men's hockey lands '06 defenseman Carl-Otto Magnusson

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UConn men’s hockey has a burgeoning pipeline coming out of Scandinavia. On Thursday, the Huskies landed a commitment from ‘06 defenseman Carl-Otto Magnusson, a native of Gotenborg, Sweden. He’ll arrive in Storrs as a freshman next fall.

Listed at 6-7, 229 pounds with a left-handed shot, Magnusson has a similar profile to current UConn blue liner Viking Gustafsson Nyberg. From EliteProspect’s 2025 draft guide:

“Every time Magnusson steps onto the ice, he has a big size, strength and length advantage against almost anyone. When an attacker thinks he has him beat off the rush, Magnusson is still able to recover and get his stick in the way to interrupt the shot. While he could still afford to get meaner, he’s already a tough customer to deal with along the boards and at the net front, capable of bullying smaller opponents with sheer physicality.”

Magnusson came up through the youth ranks with Frölunda Hockey Club in Sweden but has since moved to North America, where he’ll join the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats this season. Though he wasn’t taken in the 2025 NHL Draft, he was invited to the Detroit Red Wings’ training camp this fall.

Previously, Magnusson appeared in three games with the senior Frölunda HC squad in the Swedish Hockey League, though he didn’t record a point. He also earned a spot on Sweden’s roster for the 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase in Minneapolis at the end of July and played in five games.

The Huskies have committed five players who either hailed from or played in Scandinavia over the last year: Magnusson (Sweden), Gustafsson Nyberg (Sweden), Elias Straume Vatne (Finland), Darels Uljanskis (HockeyAllsvenskan) and Filip Sitar (SHL).

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