Erik Källgren signs with Swedish club Brynäs

Since being promoted back to the Swedish Hockey League last week, Brynäs IF has shown that it plans to be a very competitive team in the top-tier league next season. The club made big news two weeks ago when it announced the return of ex-NHL Jacob Silfberberg to the fold. Now another signing has been announced: goaltender Erik Källgren, who has agreed to a three-year contract.

Källgren, 27, was originally drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in 2015 and went overseas to join that organization four years later. After coming back to play in Sweden for the Växjö Lakers, he’s spent the past three seasons in North America – mostly in the AHL but he also played 24 NHL games for the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he posted a record of 11-6-5 with one shutout, a goals-against average of 3.04 and a save percentage of .892. He spent this past season playing for the Utica Comets, the AHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils.

“My family and I are very happy to come to Gävle and to have signed with Brynäs,” Källgren told the club’s website. “It will be fun and a big honor to represent a club with so much history and to play in a city with such a great interest in hockey. I'm really looking forward to the coming season and meeting everyone in and around the club.”

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“One of our most important priorities has been to secure our goalkeeping side, with Erik we get a relatively young but experienced goaltender who has both won the SHL title and played in the NHL,” said Brynäs sports director Johan Alcén. “We believe Erik is a winner, a good teammate and a good character guy who always competes and makes his teammates better. We are incredibly pleased to have Erik ready as one of two goalkeepers in the new team building.”

As for who the other goalie might be, Magnus Hellberg, who spent this past season in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization, and Christian Heljanko, who just won the Finnish title with Tappara, have been rumored.

In addition to Källgren and Silfverberg, Brynäs has under contract for next season drafted NHL prospects Anton Johannesson (Winnipeg), Noel Nordh (Utah) and Theo Lindstein (St. Louis).