Bichsel looked good in the first period of his 1st SHL game of the season. He's not running around hunting hits, but every opportunity he gets within sound positioning, he's laying the body on someone or at least initiating contact.
He looks fast. At one point in the offensive zone, he looked really quick and seemed to beat a forward to a loose puck while laying the body on the guy, but he was called for a penalty. I didn't think it looked illegal, but I was also assuming they called something like roughing or elbowing ... maybe boarding. Turns out it was interference. I thought it was a puck battle, but because I didn't know what they were calling at the time, maybe the puck had already gone on by.
Later, he made a smart defensive play at the blueline that killed a rush by FBK while sending Leksand on the attack. The rush chance he spearheaded led to his team drawing a PP.
It wasn't all perfect though. In one of his last shifts of the period he really telegraphed a pass in the offensive zone that got picked off. It didn't result in a rush chance the other way, but they did lose possession. A few moments later during the same shift, he misplayed a pass from behind his own net that did result in what looked like a scoring chance against.
Overall, his physicality was as advertised, and his mobility was noticeable in a more positive way than I imagined. Hopefully, Leksand will spend some more time in the offensive zone for the rest of the game. Also, Bichsel doesn't seem to have a role on the PP.
