The Chicago Blackhawks will add another European free agent to their forward mix, as the team announced today they’d agreed to terms with Swedish center Jacob Nilsson. No financial details were released, but Nilsson is eligible to sign a one-year entry-level contract.
The 24-year old forward broke into the SHL this season after dominating the Allsvenskan in 2016-17, and held his own at the higher level. In 40 games he recorded 18 points, good for fourth on the low-scoring Mora IK team. It’s hard to believe he could immediately translate that into NHL success, but Nilsson appears to be the definition of a late-bloomer who has just started to really find his game.
Chicago has clearly targeted the European leagues once again as a place to supplement their roster, signing several players this offseason and even trading for Victor Ejdsell after missing out on him last summer. For a team that has struggled with a cap squeeze for several years, adding cheap but experienced talent is the only way to keep everything moving. Obviously the team will try to continue to build through the draft, but players like Nilsson can come in and play at a high level in the minor leagues right away and potentially move into a limited role with the NHL club should they have a need.
Great. Another sub 6-foot 200lb player to add to our team. If he plays well fine, but he is going to be in Rockford for most of that one year contract, if not all.
Yeah it’s pretty annoying seeing countless signings of undersized wingers…we could use some more size and physicality