Islanders Prospect Linus Soderstrom Signs In Finland
Linus Soderstrom’s first season in North America didn’t go particularly well and the Islanders prospect won’t be sticking around for a second one. Instead, he is heading to Finland as Assat Pori of the SM-liiga announced that they’ve signed the goaltender to a one-year contract.
It was only a few years ago that the 23-year-old looked like an up-and-coming prospect. He posted a stellar 1.34 GAA and .943 SV% in 22 SHL games back in 2016-17 which helped him earn his entry-level contract with New York. Unfortunately, injuries limited him to 14 games in 2017-18 while on loan back to Sweden and wiped out his season entirely in 2018-19.
Soderstrom stayed healthy this season but was a victim of a numbers game as the Islanders had six goalies under contract in the pros. As a result, he was frequently relegated to backup status at the ECHL level and accordingly, he only got into four games and struggled to a 4.49 GAA with a .870 SV%.
While there could have been a path to more playing time next season with their top two AHL netminders (Christopher Gibson and Jared Coreau) both unrestricted free agents, the delayed start to next season at the lower levels in North America makes sense as he’ll have more of a guaranteed path to playing time. Considering how little he has played over the last three years, simply getting some game action to try to get his development back on track is a wise move.
New York can retain Soderstrom’s NHL rights with a qualifying offer this summer and considering he has already signed, there is little risk in doing so even though things certainly haven’t gone well the last few years.
Oilers Loan Markus Niemelainen To Finland
Markus Niemelainen’s return to North America will wait a little while longer. The Oilers announced that they have loaned the defenseman to Assat Pori of the Finnish SM-liiga to start next season.
The 22-year-old just recently signed his entry-level deal back at the end of April after spending the past three seasons in Finland, the most recent of which came with Assat where he had a goal and six assists along with 42 PIMS in 55 games. Edmonton drafted him in the third round in 2016 (63rd overall) out of Saginaw of the OHL but he only spent one more year there before heading back home. That did allow Edmonton to hold his draft rights longer at least as instead of having them for two years, they had them for four and used all of them to determine if he was worth signing.
With the AHL announcing earlier this week that they have changed their target start date for the 2020-21 season to December 1st, there will likely be a steady stream of these moves in the coming days. Niemelainen isn’t expected to contend for a roster spot with Edmonton for next season so this move allows him to get some development time in before what will likely wind up being a truncated AHL season.
Maple Leafs Loan Mikko Lehkonen To Jokerit Of The KHL
It turns out that Mikko Lehtonen’s time in the KHL isn’t over yet after all. The Maple Leafs announced (Twitter link) that they have loaned the blueliner back to Jokerit to start next season. He’s expected to report to the team next week.
Toronto signed the 26-year-old back in May after he and Jokerit agreed to a mutual termination of his existing KHL deal and the Maple Leafs beat out several other NHL suitors for his services. He’s coming off quite a year, one that saw him pick up 17 goals and 32 assists in 60 regular season games (plus four points in six playoff contests before COVID-19 shut down their postseason). He was limited to a one-year, entry-level contract due to his age and he’ll actually hit the open market again in the 2021 offseason.
Lehtonen will be the second Toronto player loaned out to the KHL to start next season as it was reported earlier this week that Egor Korshkov would be loaned to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to get some playing time in before training camps start up.
It’s that performance that has many expecting that he’ll be a part of Toronto’s back end when the puck drops on the 2020-21 season which is pegged to be in early December as things stand. Loaning Lehtonen out in the meantime will allow him to get some playing time and should help give him a leg up in training camp.