Not knowing much about any of the teams involved ( and there must be many like me),
is this good or difficult for Devils?
I'd say it's a difficult draw for the Devils but not but it's still a different entity to Frölunda, who really deserve to be put in a different bracket in CHL terms, even if they don't top SHL every year.
Frölunda are able to keep a lot of their top players for a few reasons - they can pay them well and it's easier to keep players in Gothenburg. They also have a revolving door of serious, sometimes world class junior talent.
It's more sporadic with the other Swedish outfits in SHL/Allsvenskan. Färjestad are much more subject to roster fluctuation in the off season. It'll still be a long shot for the Devils though, even assuming we can put out a strong roster for the season.
Personally I'd much rather take this draw over Frölunda or 2 of the other Swedish sides in this year - Luleå or Skellefteå.
The 5th Swedish team in the draw was Rögle, who are probably on a par with Färjestad in terms of spending power, depth and consistency. Not to mention they are now losing Dominik Bokk, Nils Hoglander and Kodie Curran to the AHL/NHL next season.
The Swedish players have also had actual ice time throughout this whole COVID-19 business and Sweden hasn't operated a strict lockdown like the rest of Europe. A lot of the Swedish NHL players headed home and have been skating whilst awaiting the resume of play.
CHL start dates are a long way off though, so whether this really makes any difference remains to be seen.