Canadiens’ Gustav Lindström Signs Five-Year Contract In SHL

Djurgårdens IF of the Swedish Hockey League has signed Canadiens pending RFA defenseman Gustav Lindström to a five-year deal, the club announced. He’s now set to play in his home country through the 2029-30 season.

Lindström, a depth piece on the Red Wings’ blue line after they drafted him in the second round in 2017, was first picked up by Montreal ahead of the 2023-24 season in exchange for Jeff Petry. He was claimed off waivers by the Ducks mid-season, but after Anaheim didn’t issue him a qualifying offer, he returned to Montreal as a UFA signing at the beginning of the 2024-25 campaign.

The Canadiens waived Lindström to begin the year, and that was his most recent transaction. He spent the entire season in the minors for the first time since arriving in North America in 2019, recording a 4-7–11 scoring line with 28 PIMs and a +18 rating in 42 games for AHL Laval. Understandably, he’ll opt for more opportunity overseas in a more familiar environment.

Montreal can still issue Lindström a qualifying offer to retain his signing rights, but doing so would only keep him on their reserve list through June 30, 2026. Unless he desires an NHL return one year into his multi-year commitment to Djurgården, doing so would only take up a reserve list spot unnecessarily. It’s more likely they’ll non-tender him and let his exclusive NHL signing rights lapse.

The 6’2″ Lindström heads back home after posting a 5-30–35 scoring line with a -21 rating in 174 NHL games for Anaheim, Detroit, and Montreal between 2019-20 and 2023-24. He averaged 15:34 per game during his tenure with the three clubs.

Lindström’s only previous SHL experience came with Frölunda HC in the 2018-19 campaign, when he posted six points and a minus-five rating in 40 games while playing a depth role on the league’s championship club that year. He now joins a Djurgårdens team fresh off promotion following three years in the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan. He’s the second pending NHL RFA they’ve picked up in the last few weeks, joining Predators winger Jesse Ylönen.