There had been speculation dating back to last season that Sharks prospect Jonathan Dahlen was looking to return to Sweden. That has now come to fruition as Timra of the Swedish Allsvenskan announced that the winger has signed a one-year deal with the team after San Jose officially loaned them his rights. His entry-level deal contains a European Assignment Clause although teams will often bring a player to training camp first before going that route.
Dahlen’s brief time in North America has been somewhat rocky. The former Vancouver prospect was touted as one of their better prospects heading into last season but he didn’t make a big impact in the minors (29 points in 50 games with AHL Utica) and he was eventually traded to San Jose for forward Linus Karlsson, a 2018 third-round pick. While the move is more understandable now knowing that Dahlen didn’t want to stay in the minors for next season, that’s still a notable drop in value in a short period of time.
2019-20 will mark the final year of Dahlen’s NHL contract and it will be interesting to see what happens next with him. A strong season could have the 21-year-old back on the NHL radar but at the same time, if he does well at home, he could very well simply opt to stay there. Either way, the Sharks can retain his rights by tendering him a qualifying offer next June.
Bad in the d-zone and needs European ice to move the puck up