It’s been reported this weekend that three stars from the Swedish Hockey League will be heading to North America this summer hoping to earn an NHL roster spot.
Marcus Sylvegård to the St. Louis Blues
It was rumoured a couple of months ago that Marcus Sylvegård was being courted by several NHL teams. Yesterday, we learned from Expressen that the Växjö forward has agreed a two-way, one-year contract with the St. Louis Blues for the 2024-25 season.
Sylvegård started the season in outstanding form, scoring 19 goals in his first 34 SHL game and adding 14 assists to put him almost on a point-per-game pace. It was no surprise that rumours began circling over potential NHL interest; however, Sylvegård’s season then tailed off, culminating in him being largely anonymous during Växjö’s play-off run.
Over his remaining 25 SHL games (including eight in the play-offs), he added only four more goals and seven assists to his tally. His final statistics of 44 points from 59 games (41 points in 51 regular season games, 3 points in 8 play-off games) felt like a slight disappointment given the pace that he was on, yet it has been reported that he was playing through an injury during this period and it shouldn’t detract from the progress he has made in his overall game over the past two seasons.
Sylvegård brings plenty of energy and willingness to be physical, with a little bit of devilishness that would make him fit in really well to a bottom six position for the Blues. Pro Hockey Rumors notes that St. Louis “should have a couple of openings in their bottom six with Kasperi Kapanen and Sammy Blais sitting as pending unrestricted free agents”, adding that “there should be a chance for Sylvegård to push for a roster spot in training camp this fall”.
Sylvegård will turn 25 years old on May 4th and his agreement with the Blues is a wonderful early birthday present for him.
Samuel Johannesson also signing for the Blues
Sylvegård reportedly will be sharing his NHL adventure with Örebro defenseman Samuel Johannesson. He was a 6th round selection in the 2020 draft by Columbus Blue Jackets; however he will be moving to North America with the Blues.
The 23-year old broke out with Brynäs in the 2022-23 season, grabbing 32 points from 52 games and then being one of the few Brynäs players to impress during their Relegation Series loss to Malmö. Örebro gave him the chance to continue in the SHL in the 2023-24 season and he had another strong season, one that NA report has earned him a contract with St. Louis.
Before then, Johannesson will be hoping to represent Sweden in the World Championships. He played in two of Tre Kronor’s games against Finland recently, but is not in the squad for their upcoming pre-tournament games in Switzerland and the Czech Republic now that some of their NHL players have joined the group (Rasmus Dahlin, Jonas Brodin and Marcus Pettersson, with Erik Karlsson joining up soon as well).
Marcus Högberg heading back to the NHL
We don’t yet know which team Marcus Högberg will be joining, but we know the goalie has left Linköping for a two-year NHL contract after the SHL team announced his departure on Friday.
Högberg was a third-round selection in the 2013 draft by the Ottawa Senators and he made 42 appearances in the NHL over three seasons with them. In each of those seasons he split time between the AHL and NHL, with the 2019-20 season providing a career high 24 appearances in the NHL, before he returned to Linköping for the 2021-22 season.
He’s now getting another chance to compete for playing time in the NHL, an opportunity that he possibly thought he would not get again.
No one can blame Högberg for grabbing the opportunity with both hands, but it’s a big blow for Linköping. He has been excellent for them over the past three years and in mid-March the team excitedly announced that the goalie had signed a three-year extension to his contract.
Although the new contract removed a clause that would have allowed him to leave for a Swiss NL team, unsurprisingly the NHL clause remained. Högberg has now informed the team that he will be opting out of the contract and heading to North America and we await news of where he will be landing.
