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Vancouver Canucks Sign Linus Karlsson

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The Vancouver Canucks have added another Swedish forward, announcing a two-year contract for Linus Karlsson. The 22-year-old Karlsson is signing his entry-level deal after exploding onto the SHL scene this season. General manager Patrik Allvin released a statement on the deal:

We are excited to officially welcome Linus to Vancouver. He is a good goal scorer who plays a solid two-way game, and he is coming off an impressive rookie season in Sweden. We look forward to seeing him develop his game in North America.

Named rookie of the year, Karlsson scored 26 goals and 46 points in 52 games for Skelleftea AIK. That tied him for second in the entire league in goals, just a year removed from putting up similar totals at the Allsvenskan level, Sweden’s second tier. The young forward, originally selected by the San Jose Sharks, was acquired by the Canucks in a 2019 trade for Jonathan Dahlen.

Notably, Karlsson would be one of the players affected by the new transfer agreement with Sweden. Previously, because he is over the age of 21, he would have been able to sign his entry-level deal and be assigned to the minor leagues. Now, with that age limit raised to 24, he’ll have to be offered back to Skelleftea if he fails to make the Canucks roster, as he is still under contract in the SHL through 2022-23. Despite that, Allvin’s statement suggests that he might be playing in North America next year, meaning Vancouver may have worked out an agreement with his Swedish club.

Either way, getting him signed now was a necessary move for the Canucks, as Karlsson’s exclusive draft rights would have expired in just a few days. If not signed by June 1, he would have become an unrestricted free agent, able to sign a similar entry-level contract with any team in the league. Even if he does spend next season overseas–something which is clearly not a sure thing yet–getting him under contract will keep him under the Canucks’ control for years to come.

Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV reported this morning that a deal was imminent.

Juuso Riikola Signs In Sweden

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The Pittsburgh Penguins won’t be getting at least one depth defenseman back next season. IK Oskarshamn of the SHL has announced the signing of Juuso Riikola for the 2022-23 season.

Riikola spent four years in the Penguins organization but spent most of his time in the AHL for the first time this year. He signed with the team in 2018 as a free agent after a six-year stint in the Finnish Liiga with KalPa. However, Riikola had played just seven NHL games over the past two seasons combined, playing just two in 2020-21 while spending the entire season on the taxi squad.

Over the past four NHL seasons, the 28-year-old Riikola played 80 games, tallying three goals, 10 assists and 13 points. While a reasonable option to slide into the lineup in case of injury, at his age, Riikola will likely opt to stay in Europe long-term, playing out his prime years in a more sizeable role.

Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Marcus Bjork

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have entered the early free agency mix, adding to their blue line with an overseas addition. Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch relays a team press release announcing that Swedish defenseman Marcus Bjork has signed a one-year entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets. The 24-year-old has spent the past four seasons in the SHL.

Bjork will not be entirely new to North American hockey when he arrives in Columbus next season. In 2016-17, the young defender began the season with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers. However, he returned to Sweden after just eight games. The following year, Bjork played in Sweden’s second-tier pro league, the Allsvenskan, and earned Defenseman of the Year honors by leading the league’s defensemen in goals and points. The breakout campaign earned him a contract in the SHL, but he didn’t immediately continue his upward trajectory. Bjork has found more success in recent years with Brynas IF however, recording 39 points in 116 games over parts of three seasons.

The Blue Jackets clearly like what they have seen from Bjork, whose game has balanced out since his younger years as well. At 6’3″ and over 200 lbs., Bjork brings good size and physicality to go with his offensive game. While he may take some time to adjust to the NHL – or perhaps more likely the AHL – Bjork could become a nice two-way piece for Columbus. He joins a young blue line that includes Zach Werenski, Andrew Peeke, Jake Bean, Adam Boqvist, Nick Blankenburg, and Jake Christiansen as NHL options under 25.

Oscar Fantenberg Signs In SHL

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Any chance of Oscar Fantenberg returning to the NHL has likely disappeared. The veteran defenseman has signed a four-year contract with Linkoping HC in the SHL, taking him through the 2025-26 season.

Fantenberg, 30, played the last two seasons in the KHL with SKA St. Petersburg and competed for Sweden at this year’s Olympics. Undrafted, he found some sustained success in North America a few years ago, playing 124 games with the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks, even reaching the Conference Finals in the 2020 bubble playoffs.

Now signed for four years back home, Fantenberg will likely complete his hockey-playing circle back in Sweden after suiting up all over the world. Hopefully, his return will be as successful as his last year before leaving. In 2016, he helped Frolunda to an SHL title, a Champions League title, and participated in the World Championship for his country. He’ll return seeking some of the same accomplishments, this time with a different club.

Ducks Prospect Lucas Elvenes Signs In Sweden

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May 24: The contract for Elvenes in Sweden has officially been announced, noting that it is for two years.

May 11: While it has taken a few months longer than he originally planned, Ducks prospect winger Lucas Elvenes is expected to return to the SHL and sign with HV71, reports SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson, who adds that several other teams in Sweden’s top league also were showing interest in him.

Back in January, the 22-year-old worked out an agreement to mutually terminate his contract with Vegas with an eye on him going back to play in his native Sweden (and quite possibly the Olympics).  But to get to that point, he had to clear unconditional waivers first.  He didn’t.

Instead, Elvenes became just the second-ever player to be claimed from those waivers as Anaheim picked him up with an eye on bolstering their farm team.  He did just that as he collected 33 points in 43 games with San Diego, a nice improvement on the 10 in 20 contests he had with Henderson.  However, it wasn’t enough to earn an opportunity to suit up with Anaheim.

Now that his entry-level contract is set to expire in July, Elvenes now has the chance to go back overseas without any restriction and he appears to be set to do so.  The Ducks can retain his NHL rights by issuing him a qualifying offer and there’s little reason for them not to do that as they’d be able to hold onto his rights through the 2026-27 season in case he decides to try playing in North America again down the road.

Philadelphia Flyers Extend Linus Sandin

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The Philadelphia Flyers are in hot pursuit of one of the NHL’s biggest-name coaches, but that hasn’t stopped them from getting some offseason work done as well. The Flyers announced today that they have re-signed forward Linus Sandin to a one-year, two-way contract worth $750,000.

Sandin, 26, is an undrafted player who has spent the past two seasons in the Flyers’ organization. He is the brother of Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Rasmus Sandin. He is a veteran of four SHL seasons, having played for two clubs: HV71 and Rogle BK. After a first season in the SHL where he struggled to score, Sandin began to figure things out and scored 35 goals over the next two seasons. He had 10 points in 20 games in 2020-21 before coming over to the Flyers’ AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and posting a healthy 10 points in 26 games. This season he had 20 points in 36 games and made his NHL debut. For Sandin, this extension and his choice to remain in North America indicate that he is committed to building off of this past season in order to keep his chances of getting back into an NHL lineup alive.

Sandin is hardly a prospect at 26 years old, but he still has only 63 games of experience on North American ice and is an established, quality player at the SHL level. So his ultimate place within the Flyers organization is hardly a settled matter. As the Flyers embark on an offseason where there could be major changes, bringing Sandin back into the fold gives the club a low-cost player who has the chance to become something if he plays well.

Kristian Vesalainen Signs In SHL

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May 23rd: The signing is now official, with the Malmo Redhawks officially announcing the addition of Vesalainen today.

May 21st: Jets winger Kristian Vesalainen has failed to make much of an impact in his four seasons in North America and it appears he’s opting for a change of scenery as Expressen’s Johan Svensson reports that Vesalainen is expected to sign with Malmo of the SHL for next season with an official announcement coming as soon as next week.

The 22-year-old was a first-round pick of Winnipeg back in 2017 (24th overall) but has failed to produce with any sort of consistency.  He played in 53 NHL games this season but managed just two goals and one assist while averaging just 8:40 per contest.  In the minors, he hasn’t fared much better as his best output was a 30-point showing in 2019-20, hardly the type of numbers teams want to see from a first-round prospect.

As a result, a return overseas certainly would make sense for Vesalainen.  He’s waiver-eligible beginning next season and as a result, he’d likely be earmarked for another limited role if he stayed with Winnipeg who almost certainly wouldn’t want to expose him to waivers to get him back to AHL Manitoba.  But if he wants to play a bigger role and show that he still has some offensive upside, playing in Sweden will give him a better chance to do just that.

As Vesalainen is a restricted free agent this summer, the Jets can still retain his NHL rights by issuing a qualifying offer.  In doing so, they’ll at least have the right to try to bring him back in a couple of years if his performance improves overseas which would give them one more chance to salvage some value out of a draft pick that hasn’t panned out so far.

International Notes: Semin, Leskinen, Wingerli

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Long-time NHL winger Alexander Semin has decided to soon hang up his skates, as the VHL in Russia announced that he’ll be retiring after playing in an All-Star game next month.  The 38-year-old had 517 points in 650 career NHL games over parts of 11 seasons, the last of which came in 2015-16 with Montreal who terminated his deal midseason.  Since then, the 38-year-old has played in Russia and had 19 points in 40 games with Vityaz Podolsk this season.  Semin will now begin his front office career as he has been named an advisor to Sokol Krasnoyarsk of the VHL.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Canadiens defenseman Otto Leskinen has signed a two-year deal with Frolunda, the SHL team announced. The 25-year-old opted to return overseas this season, signing with Jokerit in the KHL but left when the team suspended operations, signing with Tappara for the stretch run.  He’ll now try his hand in Sweden where he’ll effectively take the place of another Montreal prospect in Mattias Norlinder with Frolunda.  The Canadiens will retain Leskinen’s RFA rights through 2024 which is when his deal in Sweden expires so if he wants to try his hand again in North America at that time, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent.
  • Avalanche winger Andreas Wingerli is expected to return to Skelleftea of the SHL next season, reports Expressen’s Johan Svensson. Colorado signed the 24-year-old last June with an eye on giving him a chance to push for a spot at the back of the roster or play an impact role in the minors.  Neither really happened as Wingerli had just 22 points in 64 games with AHL Colorado this season, a performance that won’t have him pushing for an NHL spot next season.  The Avs can retain Wingerli’s NHL rights with a qualifying offer this summer.

Filip Berglund Signs In SHL

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After failing to make it to the NHL, Filip Berglund is taking his talents back overseas. The pending restricted free agent forward has signed a new two-year contract with Orebro in the SHL, meaning the Edmonton Oilers won’t even be able to keep his exclusive rights.

Berglund, 25, signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Oilers back in 2020, but with the uncertainty of the AHL season in 2020-21, he remained in Sweden for the first year. This time around he joined the Bakersfield Condors, but the 6’3″ defenseman didn’t find a ton of success, registering just six points in 53 regular season games. With Bakersfield knocked out of the Calder Cup playoffs, he has obviously jumped at an opportunity to return home.

While a qualifying offer would keep him on the Oilers reserve list this summer, Berglund will turn 27 before this new contract in Sweden expires, meaning he’ll be an unrestricted free agent again in 2024. Whether a return to North America is possible at that point likely depends on his production over the next two years, and whether or not any team was impressed enough with his AHL play to consider giving him another NHL contract.

The 2016 Oilers draft class continues to struggle, as the five picks they had in the first three rounds have combined for 102 career points–98 of which have been from Jesse Puljujarvi.

Prospect Notes: Chicago, Vegas, Karlsson

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Earlier today, Chicago Blackhawks General Manager Kyle Davidson indicated a desire to acquire a first-round pick in this year’s NHL Entry Draft, reports NBCSN Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis (link). Davidson said that while it’s definitely something he is looking at and hopes to be able to do, whether or not he will be able to make it happen is a different question. The rebuilding Blackhawks had already traded their first-round pick in this year’s draft to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the trade that sent defenseman Seth Jones from Columbus to Chicago this past offseason. That pick was originally top-two protected by Chicago, meaning that if they won one of the two draft lotteries, they would have been able to keep the pick, however they did not and Columbus receives Chicago’s sixth-overall selection in 2022.

This will be Davidson’s first season as GM of the Blackhawks after being officially hired into the role on March 1st. With the team having been in rebuild mode for a few seasons now, and sending the message that they expect it to continue with the trade of Brandon Hagel at this year’s trade deadline, Davidson’s next moves will be critical to showing what the plan is for the organization and how much longer he anticipates the rebuild to last. He has already acquired two future first-round picks from the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2023 and 2024 drafts in exchange for Hagel, which he could foreseeably use to acquire a pick in the 2022 draft.

  • Vancouver Canucks prospect Linus Karlsson was named the SHL’s Rookie of the Year for the 2021-22 season, tweets Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic (link). In 52 games for Skelleftea this season, Karlsson posted a strong 26 goals and 20 assists to go with a plus-10 rating. Originally a third-round pick of the San Jose Sharks in 2018, Karlsson was traded to Vancouver in the deal that sent Jonathan Dahlen to San Jose in 2019. Now 22, Karlsson is still yet to sign his first NHL contract, and has until June 1st to do so, otherwise he will become an UFA. Still, as recently as March, Karlsson had been hoping to sign with Vancouver (link).
  • The Vegas Golden Knights will host a prospect development camp this year, says GM Kelly McCrimmon (link). This will be the first true development camp the team has held since 2019. McCrimmon said that the camp will begin on the Monday following the NHL Entry Draft, which will be held on Thursday, July 7 and Friday, July 8th in Montreal. This year’s camp should give Vegas a good look at not only the players they drafted in the 2022 draft, but also some insight into who might be able to compete for a roster spot in training camp. With Vegas near the league’s salary cap ceiling, finding affordable young talent within their system will be a key to success in the 2022-23 season.

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