It will be one and done in North America for Red Wings prospect Pontus Andreasson. Lulea of the SHL announced that they’ve signed the forward to a four-year contract that runs through the 2026-27 campaign.
The 24-year-old signed a one-year deal with Detroit last May after a strong showing with Lulea, hoping that he’d be able to get an NHL opportunity. However, that chance never materialized aside from his five preseason appearances as Andreasson spent the entire regular season at the AHL level with Grand Rapids. He wound up finishing tied for sixth on the Griffins in scoring, picking up 12 goals and 13 assists in 63 games, numbers that weren’t exactly showing that he was ready for a look with the Red Wings.
Now, rather than see if he’d be offered a deal to return, Andreasson decided the best move for him was to lock in a long-term contract back home, certainly an understandable move. He had 18 goals and 20 assists in 52 games with Lulea in 2021-22 and should get an opportunity to play a bigger role there than he would have had in North America. Detroit can still issue Andreasson a qualifying offer this summer to retain his NHL rights but since he’ll be eligible for NHL unrestricted free agency by the time this deal expires, it’s quite likely they’ll simply non-tender him in June.
Bummer
(shrugs) The guy put up third line numbers for a last place minor league team, and was only as high as seventh in scoring for them because they were gutted by callups and injuries: Grand Rapids dressed nearly fifty players, and EIGHT goalies (!)
Can’t imagine Yzerman crying in his beer over this.
Stevie will be drinking lots of champagne in a couple years!
Gotta make a few more good moves first