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Evening Notes: Pettersson, Kane, Canucks

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Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia is reporting that Ottawa Senators prospect Oskar Pettersson will join the team’s AHL affiliate in Belleville and make his debut with the team this weekend. Pettersson was selected 72nd overall in the 2022 NHL entry draft and will be joining a team in North America for the first time in his short career. Pettersson had been on loan from the Senators to Rögle BK of the Swedish Hockey League where he posted a single assist in 26 games.

Pettersson may have struggled offensively this season, but he has been a strong offensive contributor with Rögle BK J20 over the past three seasons registering 74 points in 74 games. The 19-year-old has shown that he can be a strong player along the boards and can play with the puck in traffic, both skills that should him thrive in the North American game.

Pettersson will likely debut on Friday against the Syracuse Crunch.

In other evening notes:

  • Detroit Red Wings reporter Daniella Bruce tweeted that winger Patrick Kane could suit up on Wednesday if he is 100%. Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde told reporters that the team would know more tomorrow after practice but that the 35-year-old is very close to a return. Kane has been very effective this season in just 19 games with seven goals and nine assists, however, the team is inexplicably just 8-9-2 with him in the lineup and 18-9-3 without him.
  • Elliotte Friedman appeared on Donnie and Dhali today and said that the Canucks remain in pursuit of a top-six forward with Calgary Flames forward Elias Lindholm at the top of their list of potential targets. The Canucks are said to be looking at forwards who can play multiple positions up front and may need to outbid other teams to facilitate a trade with Calgary. The Flames and Canucks may be bitter rivals, but they have made one trade already this season with the Canucks acquiring defenseman Nikita Zadorov in exchange for two draft picks.

Peter Holland Signs PTO With Colorado Avalanche

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Peter Baugh of The Athletic is reporting that former Toronto Maple Leafs forward Peter Holland is attempting to make a comeback with the Colorado Avalanche. Baugh reports that Holland will be trying to return to the NHL after not playing hockey anywhere last season.

Holland last played professionally in the Swedish Hockey League for Djurgardens IF. He struggled offensively, posting just six assists as he cut his season short and played in just 15 games.

Holland hasn’t dressed in an NHL game since 2017-18 when he was a member of the New York Rangers. He struggled mightily that season as he posted just a goal and three assists in 23 games while playing in a bottom-six role. He then spent time in the AHL and Sweden before eventually landing in the KHL where he played for two seasons as a member of Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.

Holland will be a long shot to make a very talented Avalanche team. He will be fighting an uphill battle after sitting out for a season and spending a half-decade outside of the NHL. But he is a talented player, while he never reached the level scouts thought he would when he was selected 15th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2009 NHL entry draft, he did put up several solid seasons as a member of the Maple Leafs.

Holland will join the likes of Nathan Beaulieu (Hurricanes), Alex Chiasson (Bruins), and Brandon Sutter (Oilers) who are all hoping to convert PTOs into NHL contracts for next season.

Brandon Davidson Signs In Sweden

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Rögle BK of the Swedish Hockey League announced today that they have come to terms with former NHL defenseman Brandon Davidson. The 31-year-old spent parts of seven seasons in the NHL totalling 180 games while wearing seven different uniforms.

Generally regarded as a defensive defenseman, Davidson began his career with the Edmonton Oilers in 2014-15 and during his second season in the NHL, he looked as though he could be a big part of the Oilers blueline moving forward. Davidson dressed in 51 games that year posting four goals and seven assists while logging over 19 minutes of ice time a night.

Unfortunately for Davidson, he fell out of favor in the 2016-17 season and was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for David Desharnais in what seemed to be a change of scenery swap for both players. From there, Davidson never regained his footing and bounced around to six other NHL stops before eventually spending the past two seasons in the AHL with the Rochester Americans and Cleveland Monsters. This past spring Davidson signed a deal in the SHL with Färjestad BK where he played seven games and tallied a goal and an assist.

A lot of fringe NHLers have been feeling the squeeze in recent seasons due to the revenue shortages the NHL felt during the pandemic-shortened seasons. However, that is likely not the case with Davidson as he had bounced back and forth between the NHL and AHL prior to 2020.

If this is the end of his NHL career Davidson would finish with nine career goals and 14 assists in 180 NHL games.

Florida Panthers Sign Calle Sjalin

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The Florida Panthers have nabbed another European free agent, agreeing to terms with Calle Sjalin on a two-year entry-level contract. Sjalin was originally a draft pick of the New York Rangers but never signed a contract with them and became an unrestricted free agent last year. Per CapFriendly, Sjalin’s deal carries a cap hit of $855,000.

Panthers general manager Bill Zito released a statement on the deal:

Calle is a skilled defenseman who possesses a powerful shot and exceptional playmaking ability. He has developed into a top blueliner in the Swedish Hockey League and we are excited for him to continue to grow as an athlete in our system.

Zito is right, Sjalin did turn into a top defenseman in the SHL this season, racking up 22 points in 46 games for Leksands IF. That was a huge increase on his previous numbers and immediately put him back on NHL radars. With this new deal, he’ll join a Panthers organization that has shown a strong ability to put the finishing touches on a prospect and transition them into the NHL in recent years.

Whether he ever reaches that level still remains to be seen but the Panthers will happily add a lottery ticket like Sjalin to the organization for nothing more than an entry-level contract slot. Because he is still signed with his SHL club through 2022-23, he will have to be offered back to them should he fail to make the Panthers out of camp but given how well they have handled his development to this point, that wouldn’t really be a negative.

Examining A Key Change In The NHL’s Transfer Agreement With Sweden

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Earlier this month, the NHL and the Swedish Hockey Association reached a new Player Transfer Agreement.  SportExpressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom has the details of the agreement, some of the highlights being as follows:

  • A more than 45% increase in the money paid to Swedish teams whose player signs an NHL contract;
  • The signing deadline for previously-drafted and free agent players is June 15th each year;
  • The regular signing deadline for players drafted in the current year is July 15th with a $100K penalty being added if they wait until August 15th;
  • It’s an eight-year agreement with both sides having an option to open it up after four years.

However, there is one significant change that warrants a closer look.  Under the old agreement, players drafted in the second round or later that are also signed in Sweden had to be at least 21 before they could be sent to the AHL.  If they were younger than that, they had to be returned to their Swedish team.  In the new agreement, that threshold has been increased to 24.  Any player from Sweden who signs an NHL contract will now be subject to the new agreement while anyone that signed before the announcement will be under the old rules.

The intention of this provision is to have players stay and play in Sweden until they’re ready to play in the NHL.  It’s one thing for players to make the jump to the NHL and this agreement doesn’t prevent that from happening.  But it has now become a bit more difficult to get those players into the minor leagues.

NHL teams understandably want to get their prospects into their farm system and work with their development coaches so this is something that probably isn’t going to sit well with teams as now, they will effectively be limited to development and rookie camps with the latter likely to be frowned upon as Sweden’s season gets underway at the time that NHL rookie camps are held in mid-September.

Also, as there is a signed transfer agreement in place, NHL teams have four years to sign players to an entry-level contract which hasn’t changed from before.  If the drafted player is 18, that means he’d be 22 at the end of that stretch and signing a two-year contract.  For the duration of that agreement, teams could effectively face an NHL or Sweden situation depending on the players’ contractual situation in Sweden and the deal will count against the 50-contract limit during that time even if they’re returned overseas.

It’s worth noting that there are no changes to the rule for first-round picks.  If a Swedish player is picked in the first round, the NHL team can send the player to the minors without requiring the approval of his team in Sweden.

Now, with the extended restriction for those picked after the opening round, it will be interesting to see if that has any effect on the draft.  Do teams consider slightly reaching for a player at the end of the first round that might be rated a bit lower on their list to the ability to have full control of their development?  And as the draft progresses, might teams be more hesitant to draft players from Sweden knowing it will be more difficult to get them into their farm system?  We’ll find out the answer to those questions three months from now.

East Notes: Smith, Norlinder, Daws

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The New Jersey Devils will get some reinforcement on the defensive end tonight as second-year ’D’-man Ty Smith will make his season debut tonight after missing the first week-and-a-half with injury, per the team. A move prefaced by the waiving and subsequent assignment of Colton White to the AHL’s Utica Comets, Smith likely makes his season debut on a pairing with Damon Severson. The Devils are now at full strength on defense for the first time this year, and the new-look group that also includes Ryan Graves and Dougie Hamilton will get a real chance to shine tonight at home against the Buffalo Sabres as the team looks to improve to a 3-1-0 record. Smith finished seventh in Calder Trophy voting last season, scoring two goals and 21 assists in 48 games.

More notes from today in the Eastern Conference:

  • Per The Athletic’s Marc-Antoine Godin, Canadiens defense prospect Mattias Norlinder will resume skating this week after missing the beginning of the 2021-22 season. While he’s loaned to Frolunda of the Swedish Hockey League this season, the Habs prospect had a strong camp and this year is an important one in his development. A third-round pick of the squad in 2019, Norlinder had a respectable 10 points in 37 games last year in Sweden and looks to continue his growth on a defense core that also includes the Detroit Red Wings’ Simon Edvinsson and former NHLer Christian Folin.
  • Netminder Nico Daws is making his NHL debut tonight for the New Jersey Devils, the team announced this morning. With Mackenzie Blackwood still on injured reserve and Jonathan Bernier still day-to-day with a lower-body injury, a tandem of Daws and Scott Wedgewood will have to do it for now in Jersey. Wedgewood allowed four goals in a loss to the Washington Capitals on Thursday, so the team will give Daws a chance tonight to show what he can do. The 20-year-old was drafted 84th overall in 2020.

Dallas Stars Sign Jacob Peterson

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The Dallas Stars have signed another one of their prospects, this time inking Jacob Peterson to a two-year entry-level contract. Peterson spent this season with Farjestad BK in the Swedish Hockey League and could have become an unrestricted free agent if not signed by June 1.

Just 21 until later this summer, Peterson scored 14 goals and 33 points in 46 this season, breaking out offensively after flashing his potential the last two years. The fifth-round pick from 2017 has already outshone his draft position and will now get a chance to test himself at the professional level in North America. Per CapFriendly, the deal begins next season and carries a cap hit of $842.5K.  Peterson will likely need some time in the minor leagues to get acclimated before pushing for an NHL opportunity.

If Peterson can hit, the 2017 draft is starting to look like one of legend for the Stars. It started with Miro Heiskanen at the top of the draft, but the team also added future starter Jake Oettinger at 26 and potential Calder Trophy candidate Jason Robertson at 39. Even Dylan Ferguson, the Stars’ seventh-round pick that year has made his NHL debut, though that came in a time of desperation for the Vegas Golden Knights while the young goaltender was still in junior hockey.

Earlier this year, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic ranked Peterson as the Stars’ 11th-best prospect, noting that though he is polished and has some “interesting qualities,” he may top out as a very good minor league player for the organization. It’s up to him now to prove that incorrect.

Winnipeg Jets Sign Simon Lundmark

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The Winnipeg Jets have signed one of their 2019 draft picks, inking Simon Lundmark to a three-year entry-level contract. Lundmark has spent the last several seasons with Linkopings HC in the Swedish Hockey League. The contract will carry an average annual value of $925K.

Selected 51st overall by the Jets two years ago, the 20-year-old defenseman has continued his development overseas, scoring 10 points in 47 games with Linkopings this season. Scott Wheeler of The Athletic ranked him 15th in the Jets system as recently as January, saying that though he doesn’t have a “dynamic quality,” is still above average in most areas.

Obviously given his age there is still room for growth, but Lundmark has never really been among the top prospects in Sweden. Still, the Jets obviously see enough to hand him an entry-level deal and bring him into the organization.

Washington Capitals Loan Bobby Nardella To Djurgardens IF

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The Swedish Hockey League recently instituted a rule prohibiting any more short-term loans from the NHL, which is why over the last few weeks there have been so many prospects ending up in the Allsvenskan, the county’s second league. That’s why when the Washington Capitals loaned Bobby Nardella to Djurgardens IF today, it raised some eyebrows. The announcement states that Nardella has been loaned for the 2020-21 season, likely for the whole thing if the recent guidelines stay intact.

A move like this is even more interesting because Nardella is heading into the final season of his two-year entry-level contract, signed last spring after he finished an excellent career at Notre Dame. Nardella, 24, was an undrafted free agent signing and ended up playing in 41 games for the Hershey Bears this season, scoring 31 points.

The undersized defenseman has always been an outstanding offensive producer, totaling 103 points in 147 college games. In the structured SHL he’ll be tasked with doing more than offense, but his development will certainly continue.

The Capitals will retain his rights as a restricted free agent after the season and could potentially sign an extension at any point during the year.

Peter Cehlarik Signs In Sweden

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Even in May it was obvious that Peter Cehlarik’s tenure with the Boston Bruins organization was over after the young forward voiced his displeasure with head coach Bruce Cassidy. Cehlarik was in talks with teams in several different leagues but has settled on Leksands IF of the Swedish Hockey League, signing a two-year contract with the club.

Cehlarik, 25, will be a restricted free agent that the Bruins can retain exclusive rights with temporarily by issuing a qualifying offer, but it is hard to think he ever really makes an impact for the organization again. One of the most consistent scorers for the Providence Bruins during his time in North America, he received only 40 games at the NHL level and recorded just 11 points.

A third-round pick in 2013, Cehlarik has plenty of offensive talent and could potentially turn up in a few years as a European free agent drawing interest in the NHL. It won’t be until 2022 at the earliest.

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