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Hallander Returning to Sweden; Gets 5-Year Contract

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Filip Hallander

Free agency in the NHL won’t begin for more than two months, but the Pittsburgh Penguins already have lost a player whose contract is expiring.

Forward Filip Hallander, who appeared in two games with the Penguins during the past season, has signed a five-year contract with Timra IK in the Swedish Hockey League.

The agreement was announced on the team’s website, where a post quoted Hallander as saying that “It’s great to be back. Coming back here has always been in the back of my mind since my last match (with Timra during a previous stint there).”

Hallander, 22, was the Penguins’ second-round draft choice in 2018, but was traded to Toronto in the multi-player deal that brought Kasperi Kapanen back to the Penguins in 2020.

The Penguins brought him back a year later when they traded Jared McCann to the Maple Leafs, who subsequently lost McCann to Seattle in the expansion draft.

Hallander had 11 goals and 22 assists in 43 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins’ farm team in Wilkes-Barre during the just-concluded season after putting up 14 goals and 14 assists in 61 games there in 2021-22.

He can play left wing and center and was scheduled to be a restricted free agent this summer. His expiring deal carried a $764,167 salary-cap hit when he was in the NHL.