The Dallas Stars have announced a one-year, two-way contract extension for pending Group Six unrestricted free agent forward Fredrik Karlström. The financial terms of the deal were not included as part of Dallas’ announcement, but have been reported by PuckPedia. Karlström’s deal will carry a league-minimum $775k AAV as well as a $225k AHL salary and a $250k total guarantee.
Karlström, 25, was a third-round pick of the Stars back at the 2015 draft who has been a depth forward in Dallas for the past two seasons.
He took an extended development path to reach his current role, spending four full seasons in the SHL with Linkoping HC and Vaxjo Lakers. Karlström signed a two-year entry-level deal with Dallas in the summer of 2020 and was loaned back to Vaxjo for the following campaign, where he won a championship and scored a combined 35 points in 65 regular season and playoff SHL games.
After that year he decided to try his luck in North America and spent most of his 2021-22 season with the AHL’s Texas Stars. He registered a respectable 16 goals and 29 points in 65 games, helping his team reach the AHL’s playoffs. He also earned the right to make his NHL debut in an April 21st, 2022 contest against the Calgary Flames, a game where he also scored his first NHL point.
This season was more of the same for Karlström, as he was a consistent, versatile middle-six forward in the AHL while managing to competently handle fill-in duty in the NHL when Dallas was hit with the injury bug. He managed to dress in five NHL games in 2022-23, and he played well enough to earn this one-year extension that will allow him to occupy a similar role next season.