After visiting several different teams including Detroit and Chicago, Swedish forward Victor Ejdsell may have made his decision. According to Johan Svensson of Swedish outlet Expressen, Ejdsell will be joining the Nashville Predators organization. If he does sign with the Predators, he likely will be loaned back to HV71 where he has already committed to play next season according to a report from Henrik Sjoberg for the same outlet.
When Ansar Khan of MLive wrote about Detroit’s interest in Ejdsell last month—also including Nashville as a team in pursuit—he quoted a Red Wings official that said he’d turned into a “strong two-way center”. His dominance of the Allsvenskan (Sweden’s second league) was apparent this season, as he turned in 57 points in 50 games for Bofors.
The big center is still just 21, meaning he still has quite a bit of development time left. His huge frame (6’5″ according to Khan) has filled out in recent years, and will be useful as he transitions to the highest level in Sweden and then the professional ranks of North America. Should he indeed sign with Nashville, he’ll have many other Swedish players to mentor him including Victor Arvidsson, Filip Forsberg, Mattias Ekholm and Calle Jarnkrok.
The Predators already inked Emil Pettersson earlier today out of Sweden, and perhaps they are close to bringing another top name over to their organization even as they fight for the Stanley Cup. Good times in Nashville right now, as they look poised to contend for the foreseeable future.
Damn this guy sounds good.