Swedish Ex-NHLer Changes Teams in Switzerland

Swedish winger Pontus Åberg, 31, is moving from one Swiss team to another, leaving the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers and joining EHC Kloten, the latter National League club announced on Tuesday.

Åberg had 18 points in 33 games for Rapperswil-Jona but last played on Dec. 23. He was the victim of a numbers game – National League teams are only allowed to dress six imports per game but the Lakers had eight under contract due to some injuries earlier in the season. Once players started to return to the lineup, they were left with having to scratch players who were earning high salaries and good enough to play in the league.

“Pontus is an outstanding winger who brings not only a lot of quality but also a large amount of international experience to Kloten,” said sports director Ricardo Schödler. “Thanks to him, we will increase the depth of our squad and have more options in our offensive game.”

Kloten has done a lot of roster shuffling in the past week, parting ways with the team’s top scorer Finn Miro Aaltonen who’s under suspension pending a doping investigation, and signing Canadian Jayce Hawryluk the next day. It’s also rumored that they’ll part ways with Finnish defenseman Sami Niku and acquire Swedish d-man Max Lindroth from Finnish club TPS.

Kloten is currently sixth in the National League standings with 65 points in 41 games, while Rapperswil-Jona is eighth with 56 points in 40 games.

Åberg hails from Stockholm, Sweden and is a product of the famous Djurgården club. Following his first pro season in 2011-12, he was taken in the second round, 37th overall, by the Nashville Predators in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

Between 2015 and 2020, Åberg had 44 points and 34 penalty minutes in 132 NHL regular-season games with the Predators, Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Ducks, Minnesota Wild and Toronto Maple Leafs. He also had five points in 18 playoff games and was a member of the Nashville team that advanced to the 2017 Stanley Cup final.

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Åberg has also played for the AHL farm team of the Ottawa Senators in Belleville, for Färjestad BK and Timrå IK in Sweden, for Traktor Chelyabinsk and Barys Astana in the KHL, and for BK Mladá Boleslav in Czechia.