The San Jose Sharks are reportedly set to sign center Fredrik Handemark from the SHL, according to Swedish news outlet Aftonbladet.
Handemark is 26 years old and has spent his entire career in Sweden. He’s a big player, at 6-foot-4 and 209 pounds and can help to improve San Jose’s significant lack of secondary scoring. His deal will reportedly be one year at $900,000.
I can’t say I know much about Handemark but here’s a clip I found of a pretty sweet goal he scored a couple years back.
As for what to expect from Handemark, while he put up solid numbers in Sweden this season, his stats don’t necessarily point to him being an overly productive in the NHL. He scored 14 goals and 38 points in 52 games this year with Malmo but if we compare that to other SHL players around his age who’ve came over to the NHL, signs don’t point to him becoming a star. Par Lindholm was another center who also came over to the NHL in his 27-year-old season, following a great year in the SHL where he scored 18 goals and 47 points in 49 games. In the NHL, Lindholm has been a depth piece who’s spent time with Boston, Toronto and Winnipeg. He scored one goal and 13 points in 65 games last season and three goals and six points in 40 games this year.
It looks like if Handemark is going to fit into the lineup, it could potentially be as a fourth-line center. Regardless, in San Jose’s case, more depth options up front certainly isn’t going to hurt.
Here's today's poll question (results and discussion will be posted this weekend):
The Sharks should continue to bring in more older European players to round out their forward group:
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