Wednesday: Martinsson has cleared waivers and will see his contract terminated.
Tuesday: It’s been an unusually busy season for contract terminations, and the Minnesota Wild are the latest to agree to it with one of their minor league players. The team has placed Eric Martinsson on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a mutual contract termination, which would allow the 26-year old defenseman to return to Sweden and the SHL.
Martinsson was signed in May to a one-year entry-level contract after several successful seasons with the Vaxjo Lakers of the SHL. The mobile defenseman can do a little bit of everything on the ice, and had found early success with the Iowa Wild of the AHL, scoring nine points in 13 games. Unfortunately, that success doesn’t seem to be enough for him especially given the already surfacing reports that several teams in the SHL are chasing him.
Over the last few seasons there has been an increase in the number of contracts handed out to experienced European professionals, as NHL teams try to find overlooked talent without having to trade for or draft it. Martinsson, like the long list of other players who have terminated their deals this year, clearly just haven’t worked out. That strategy is likely going to continue though, as all it costs the NHL organization is a few months or a year of minor league salary while they get a first hand look at the player.