Though they are not related, Axel Holmstrom shares a surname and a game with former Detroit Red Wings forward Tomas Holmstrom. He’s also sharing another trait with his namesake.

This Holmstrom will be getting to Detroit later rather than sooner.

Tomas Holmstrom didn’t come to play in North America until he was 23 and the Wings have decided that it would be in the best interests in Axel Holmstrom, 20, to spend at least one more season playing in his native Sweden before beginning his transition to North American hockey.

The reasons behind the respective delays are dramatically different, however.

The Wings delayed Tomas Holmstrom’s move to Detroit until he bulked up physically and improved his skating. In Axel Holmstrom’s case, a serious knee injury that required surgery that prohibited him from participating in the club’s development camp earlier this month will keep him in Europe for one more season.

In reality, the decision was as much based on Holmstrom’s input as it was on what the Wings felt was the right thing to do.

“In his words, when he suffered the injury, I think because of the long recovery process he doesn’t feel he’s in a position to start his career in North America the way he would like to,” Detroit assistant general manager Ryan Martin explained. “He’s not comfortable. He would prefer when he starts his North American career that he’s 100 percent and he’s ready to go.

“So everybody agreed for his development another year in Sweden would be the most beneficial thing, since he’s most likely not going to be ready to start the year and (be able to) play games.

“When he is healthy, he’ll start over in Sweden and the hope and expectation would be at the end of the Elite League season he’d come to Grand Rapids and play some games at the end of the year in Grand Rapids and sort of set himself up for the ’17-18 season.”

Holmstrom is expected to require 4-6 months recovery from his knee surgery, so that basically rules out his participation in Detroit’s fall NHL prospect tournament as well.

“We were considering having him come over to play the prospect tournament prior to his playing in Sweden but I don’t think that’s a realistic goal to go from summer recovery of this type of injury to jumping into a prospect tournament at a high competitive level,” Martin said. “I don’t think that’s the best thing for him.”

“Probably somewhere in that Sept. 15 to early October range is what they’re shooting for now (as Holmstrom’s return to the ice). I think that (the Sept. 16-20 NHL prospects tournament) would be the four-month mark, that would be a bit aggressive and ambitious to expect him to be able to play games by then.”

In his second full season with Skelleftea AIK in the Swedish Elite League, Holmstrom posted 8-15-23 numbers in 48 games, an increase in points (23-20) but in keeping with the Detroit mantra for 2015-16, displayed a decrease in goals (10-8) from his 2014-15 totals.

The Wings do see some of the old Holmstrom in the new Holmstrom.

“He does bear some similarities to Tomas Holmstrom in the sense that he goes to the front of the net a lot, he goes to the hard areas but he’s a different type of player,” Martin said. “Not that Tomas was one-dimensional but I think Axel’s game is not only in front of the net, it’s down low, it’s holding onto the puck down low. He can play center or wing. He’s strong, a heavy body, 6-foot-1, I think he’s about 215 pounds. He’s solid on his feet, he knows how to control the puck down low.

“He’s a smart hockey player. I would say that he needs to continue to work on his foot speed and skating, especially as he transitions to the North American game.”

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