Flyers Sign Unknown Swedish Prospect; What it Means

At least the Philadelphia Flyers waited until after the solar eclipse to make the announcement of this signing.

The Flyers announced on Monday afternoon that they had signed Swedish winger Oscar Eklind to a one-year entry-level contract, which will start in the 2024-25 season.

If nothing else, the 25-year-old left-shot brings the Flyers size. Standing at 6-foot-4 and 220 lbs, Eklind adds another large body to the Flyers’ lineup if he is to make the NHL roster.

Eklind is only 25 and just finished his third season in the SHL – his first with Lulea HF. Eklind scored a career-high 17 goals, 11 assists, and 28 points in 48 games this year, but went without a point in seven playoff games. Overall, Eklind ended his 2023-24 season on a disappointing stretch offensively, scoring just one goal and one assist in his last 10 games.

On the other hand, Eklind is probably just not going to be a scorer at the NHL level aside from typical bottom-six production. The hulking Swede is a huge, physical player who’s played with a number of other players who have done it at the NHL level before.

Oscar Eklind 🚨 #luleahockey pic.twitter.com/7uCbBW2ir2

— SwehockeyGIFs (@swehockeygifs) August 31, 2023

Some of those players include Seattle’s Adam Larsson, Washington’s Martin Fehervary, San Jose’s Fabian Zetterlund, Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin, Detroit’s Jonatan Berggren, Columbus’s Alex Nylander, Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson, Toronto’s Timothy Liljegren, Boston’s Linus Ullmark, Minnesota’s Jesper Wallstedt, and many more.

As far as Flyers connections go, Eklind has played with Flyers rookie Olle Lycksell on Sweden’s U20 team once, back in 2017-18.

Eklind was not on the 2018-19 Sweden U20 team that featured a Flyers contingent of Lycksell, Sam Ersson, and Adam Ginning.

The Flyers‘ scouting staff, perhaps in tandem with Lycksell, got the scouting report together to help make this happen. It’s likely Eklind will compete for an opening night NHL roster spot next season, but it’s certainly not a guarantee.

If he makes it, expect Eklind to add some needed size to the team’s bottom-six.

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