Almost two weeks after Jacob Nilsson left for Sweden, Anton Wedin is doing the same.
Wedin signed a three-year contract with HV71 in the Swedish Hockey League on Saturday. Tomas Ros of Swedish media outlet Sportbladet first reported an agreement May 3.
“HV71 felt like a really good choice for me right from the first contact,” Wedin said in a statement from HV71. “I have had a good dialogue with the club and my gut feeling has been very good with this decision. It will be great fun to play in HV71 with the history the association has and with the knowledge that we will be involved and challenge for the gold every season.”
Wedin, a 27-year-old winger, made the move to North America last May when he signed a one-year contract with the Blackhawks after scoring 27 points (14 goals, 13 assists) in 32 SHL games with Timrå IK, Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton’s former club.
Wedin did not score a point in four NHL games while playing on the fourth line at the end of November and early part of December when Andrew Shaw went down with a concussion. Wedin, who missed all of January and most of February with a sprained MCL, scored 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in 31 AHL games for the Rockford IceHogs.
On April 26, Nilsson signed a two-year contract with Färjestad BK to rejoin former IceHogs teammate Victor Ejdsell.
The Blackhawks are expected to have newly-signed forward prospects Evan Barratt (2017 third rounder) and Michal Teply (2019 fourth rounder) step in to replace Nilsson and Wedin, respectively. Barratt, a center, had 34 points (12 goals, 22 assists) in 34 games during his junior season at Penn State before signing, and Teply led all Western Hockey League rookies with 63 points (29 goals, 34 assists) in 53 games for the Winnipeg Ice in his first season in North America. Chicago drafted Teply out of the Czech Republic, so he is eligible to play in the AHL as an under-20 player.