Forward prospect Melvin Fernstrom has no complaints about trade to Penguins

On the eastern side of North America, the transaction was orchestrated within a few minutes of midnight.

But in Sweden, it happened more than two hours before the sun came up.

At 11:52 p.m. on Jan 31, the Pittsburgh Penguins officially completed a multi-player trade with the Vancouver Canucks.

Forward Drew O’Connor and defenseman Marcus Pettersson were sent to the Pacific Northwest, while the Penguins received defenseman Vincent Desharnais and forward Danton Heinen as well as a first-round draft pick and a prospect.

That prospect, forward Melvin Fernstrom, was half a world away in Orebro, Sweden. When the trade was announced, it was already Feb. 1.

“Woke up at like six in the morning to some messages,” Fernstrom said July 3 during the Penguins’ prospect development camp in Cranberry. “My agent called me, so I found out early in the morning. We had a late game that night, too, so it was a long day.

“All fun.”

The 2024-25 season was a largely fun experience for the 19-year-old Fernstrom.

Opening the campaign with Orebro HK’s team in the J20 Nationell, Sweden’s top junior league, Fernstrom (6-foot-2, 190 pounds) shuffled between that roster and the club’s Swedish Hockey League roster before getting a somewhat permanent assignment to the SHL squad in mid-December.

Eventually landing on the second line, Fernstrom wound up with 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in 48 games while playing against adults in one of the top leagues outside of North America.

Melvin Fernströms mål mot Brynäs! pic.twitter.com/BErhm2OPDo

— Örebro Hockey (@orebrohockey) February 1, 2025

Those figures were strong enough to earn him the SHL’s rookie of the year award.

The right-shooting Fernstrom understood the adaptations he had to make in the SHL.

“It was more about getting used to having my game with the pro guys,” Fernstrom said. “Getting used to being more creative with the older and tougher guys. You’re playing against grown men, so you have to get used to it.”

The Penguins liked Fernstrom well before last season and even had him on a list of candidates to select during the 2024 NHL Draft, but the Canucks scooped him up in the third round (No. 93 overall).

“A lot of offensive potential,” Penguins director of player development Tom Kostopoulos said. “His shot is elite. His ability to find space in the offensive zone is really high-end for a kid that age. His coaches were really impressed with his ability to absorb information from the older players on his team. And although the team didn’t do really well, they felt he kept getting better and better.

“To be put in with the big team and be able to produce, I think it was a really good season for him.”

Fernstrom traveled to Pittsburgh in April for a handful of workouts with team staffers then signed a three-year entry-level contract with the team June 13. But he will return to Orebro next season after focusing on a few areas of improvement this summer.

“We’re working on skating and getting the off-ice stuff up a bit, like strength in the legs and stuff,” Fernstrom said. “And then, for next season, just get better playing in Sweden. Then we’ll see.”

Fernstrom is eager to see himself playing for the Penguins sooner rather than later.

“It was good in Vancouver, too,” Fernstrom said. “But the Penguins, you come here, and you know (Sidney) Crosby and all that stuff, all the history around it. It’s pure fun.”