Penguins A to Z: Filip Hallander’s departure hurt a limited pool of prospects
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With the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2022-23 season coming to an end without any postseason action, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 49 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until next season — with the organization, from mid-level prospect Corey Andonovski to top-six winger Jason Zucker.
This series will publish every weekday leading into the NHL Draft on June 28 and 29.
(Note: All contract information courtesy of Cap Friendly.)
Filip Hallander
Position: Left winger
Shoots: Left
Age: 22
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 196 pounds
2022-23 NHL statistics: Two games, zero points (zero goals, zero assists)
2022-23 AHL statistics: 43 games, 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists)
Contract: In the final year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $764,167. Pending restricted free agent in the 2024 offseason.
(Note: Hallander does not require waivers for any transactions involving a minor league affiliate.)
Acquired: Trade, July 17, 2021
Last season: The Penguins thought so well of Filip Hallander, they acquired him twice under two different management teams.
The first occasion came at the 2018 draft when general manager Jim Rutherford traded up to select Hallander late in the second round (No. 58 overall).
After he was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs in August of 2020, Rutheford’s successor, Ron Hextall, reacquired Hallander in another trade less than a year later in July of 2021.
But for as often as he was brought into the organization, he never got much of a chance at the NHL roster and the 2022-23 season was emblematic of that futility.
Assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League out of training camp, Hallander opened the season on that team’s second line and put up nine points (four goals, five assists) in his first 10 games of the season.
That success prompted a recall to Pittsburgh on Nov. 8 and after two games, he was sent back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Nov. 15.
Hallander largely offered his safe, reliable two-way game for the next seven weeks before his season came to a sudden and scary halt Jan. 6 when he fell to the ice awkwardly and suffered an apparent head injury that ultimately sidelined him for nearly a month.
By Feb. 1, Hallander was back in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s lineup. But as the team struggled badly down the stretch of the regular season, Hallander’s production lagged as he offered only eight points (three goals, five assists) in his final 17 games.
Following a one-day recall to the NHL roster March 23, Hallander missed Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s last eight games of the regular season due to an undisclosed injury.
On April 28, Hallander returned to his native country and signed a five-year contract with Timra HK of the Swedish Hockey League. In an interview with a Swedish outlet, Hallander indicated his limited playing time at the NHL level was a consideration in signing with Timra HK.
The future: Officially, the Penguins can retain Hallander’s NHL rights by offering him a qualifying offer. But those rights would expire in exactly five years — the same period of time as his contract with Timra HK — when he turns 27.
So, such a maneuver would be next to pointless unless new Penguins management finds a way to get Hallander, as well as Timra HK, to reconsider (the deadline for such a decision would need to be made before June 15 per the NHL’s transfer agreement with most European hockey federations.)
Hallander wasn’t going to ever make or break the Penguins’ roster. But he had a legit ceiling as an effective third-line winger at the NHL level. And for a franchise with limited salary cap space and internal options, a player like him had to be successful as a role player for their overall hopes.
Regardless, his departure hurt a pool of prospects that was already limited.