Welcome Back: Penguins Sign Swedish Prospect (Again)

Filip Hallander is back with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization.

According to PuckPedia.com, Hallander left the Swedish Elite League, where he has played for the last two seasons, and signed a two-year deal with a $775,000 cap hit. There has not yet been an announcement from the Penguins, who were otherwise busy on Monday with the firing of coach Mike Sullivan and the subsequent Kyle Dubas press conference.

Hallander, 24, was the Penguins’ second-round draft pick in 2018. However, he played in just three NHL games without recording a point (one game in 2021-22, and two games in 2022-23) before returning home to Sweden to play for Timra IK.

Hallander spent only two seasons in North America, mostly playing for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. This season, he had a career-breakout, scoring 53 points, including 26 goals in 51 games. His previous best was 14 goals and 36 points set the season before.

Hallander is listed as a center, but PHN is unable to confirm if that’s the forward position Hallander played in Sweden. He left the Penguins organization two seasons ago because of a lack of opportunity at the NHL level, as well as to be with family. The Penguins maintained control of his restricted free agent rights by tendering him a qualifying offer after the 2022-23 season.

Hallander signed a five-year deal with Timra in 2023, but European contracts typically include provisions allowing players to leave for the NHL.

PHN will update the story if the Penguins release additional details.