After being reassigned for all of 2016/2017 down to affiliate Reading Royals, 5th year Swedish-born defenseman Jesper Pettersson(37) isn’t waiting around to see about a qualifying offer as his three-year entry level deal is set to expire.
Philadelphia Flyers‘ 7th round pick in the 2014 draft (#198 overall) will return home signing with Djurgardens IF of the SHL.
The small, swift moving blue liner played all of his later junior hockey with Linkoping HC and even had a short stint with their pro team in 2012/2013, then spent all of the next season before coming to North America.
He skated his entire rookie campaign with farm club Lehigh Valley Phantoms appearing in 51 AHL games but also sitting on the sidelines some as a healthy scratch.
In his sophomore run, he would split time between the two lower leagues and seemed to jump to life a bit in the 2016 Kelly Cup Playoffs scoring 1 goal and 6 assists in 14 ECHL match-ups.
He also got 4 goals and 16 assist during the regular season and tied his tally mark and had a new career high 20 assists last season.
The 22-year old, who will turn 23 over the summer, will likely be much happier with his decision to go back to where it all started.