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Penguins re-sign forward Filip Hallander
Filip Hallander wasn’t timid when he discussed his aspirations as a would-be member of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2021.
During a development camp with the team in September of that year, he was bold in what he hoped to accomplish in the upcoming training camp.
“I’m here to take a spot,” the left-handed winger said. “Just to take a spot.
“If you’re going to be in the main (training) camp, you need to have the mindset of taking a spot.”
More than four years and one detour later, Hallander is in a great position to secure that spot.
On Monday, the Penguins re-signed Hallander to a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $775,000 and brought back a player — for a second time — they selected in the second round (No. 58 overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft.
His new contract was formally announced Tuesday.
The player returning to the Penguins is much more accomplished than the prospect who left in 2023.
After only playing in three NHL games over two seasons with the Penguins, Hallander returned to his native Sweden as a free agent in 2023, signing with Timra of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL).
This season, the 24-year-old saw his offensive game blossom as he finished the regular season as the SHL’s second-leading scorer with 53 points (26 goals, 27 assists) in 51 games.
Filip Hållander levererar! Här gör han sin 11 poäng på 4 (!) matcher! ???????? Och senare assisterade han även till 4-2 målet vilket innebär att han nu gjort 12 poäng på lika många matcher. #TIKSKE #SHL #twittpuck #ishockey #svsshl pic.twitter.com/g0VQhjTd1d— SHL.se (@SHLse) October 12, 2024
When Hallander departed the Penguins in 2023, he was a restricted free agent at the time with regards to his NHL status and the team retained his NHL rights by extending a qualifying offer.
Hallander signed a five-year contract with Timra in 2023, but given the transfer agreement that exists between the NHL and SHL, Hallander is free to renege on that contract and re-sign with the Penguins.
On April 4, Timra, having been eliminated from the SHL’s postseason, announced Hallander would be leaving that team.
In December, Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas expressed interest in re-signing Hallander.
“Timra has done an excellent job with Filip, and he has continued to make major strides developmentally the last two seasons,” Dubas wrote in an email with TribLive.
“Though (bringing) Filip over to North America remains a great priority for the Penguins, our primary focus right now is continuing to try and support him and Timra to allow Filip to help Timra win a championship this season and continue being called for the Swedish National Team.
“Per the transfer agreement in place, we are not eligible to sign and register a contract for Filip until after Timra’s season concludes.”
This marks the third occasion Hallander has joined he Penguins.
After being drafted by the Penguins, he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in August 2020 as part of a multi-player trade that brought forward Kasperi Kapanen (back) to Pittsburgh.
Less than a year later in July 2021, Hallander returned to the Penguins in another trade that sent forward Jared McCann to Toronto.
Dubas was the Maple Leafs’ general manager at the time of that transaction.
Most of Hallander’s time in North America was spent with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. Over the course of two seasons (2021-22 and 2022-23), Hallander appeared in 104 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and scored 61 points (25 goals, 36 assists).
During that span, Hallander appeared in three games with the NHL club and did not record a point while averaging 8 minutes, 36 seconds of ice time.
In addition to family concerns, Hallander cited limited playing time at the NHL level for influencing his decision to sign with Timra.
“It has been governed by how it went over there, of course,” Hallander said to Swedish outlet Hockeyplus in April 2023. “If I had been allowed to play even more in the NHL and had a great chance at it, then maybe I would have stayed.”
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