Flyers sign high-scoring winger Linus Sandin from Sweden
Sandin, 23, finished the Swedish Hockey League season tied for third in scoring with 19 goals.
The Flyers added some offensive depth for the future on Wednesday.
They signed free agent Linus Sandin (pronounced LEE-nuhs san-DEEN), a high-scoring right winger from Sweden, to a one-year, entry-level deal. The contract begins with the 2020-21 season, general manager Chuck Fletcher said.
The deal has a $925,00 cap hit, according to CapFriendly.com.
Sandin, who turns 24 on May 19, finished the Swedish Hockey League season tied for third in scoring with 19 goals. He had 36 points in 51 games.
Fletcher said the 6-foot-1, 209-pound Sandin will “come into camp and compete for a spot on our team right away. He works extremely hard and we expect him to add size, skill, and tenacity to our forward group.”
“He’s put in his time, worked on his skating, and gotten stronger,” assistant GM Brent Flahr said earlier this week. “As he’s worked his way up the Swedish development system, he’s gotten better and better. He works hard, plays a North American-type game, and goes to the net and gets greasy goals. He always seems to be around the puck and has some tenacity."
Sandin is viewed as a bottom-six winger. If he doesn’t’ make the Flyers out of training camp, he will play with the AHL’s Phantoms. He will be waiver-exempt.
“Realistically, I think he might need time [with the Phantoms],” Flahr said. "He’s older, so he’s a little more mature, on and off the ice, so I think it [will] be a big camp for him.
If the Flyers re-sign Tyler Pitlick, they will have several candidates for bottom-six right-wing spots next season. That list woud include Pitlick, Sandin, Nic Aube-Kubel, Wade Allison, and Tanner Laczynski.
Derek Grant, a center and right winger who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, could also be in the mix.
“We’re going to have competition for the bottom part of our lineup and that’s healthy,” Flahr said.
Sandin has good bloodlines. His brother, Rasmus, 20, plays defense for the Maple Leafs and was a first-round draft selection in 2018. As a rookie this season, he played in 28 games and had eight points for Toronto, dividing his time between the NHL and AHL.