Colorado Avalanche signs Swedish Elite League’s Joakim Lindstrom –NHL Offseason Updates
Colorado Avalanche has officially made the announcement of signing the Swedish Elite League’s leading scorer, Joakim Lindstrom, to a one-year contract, during a team’s press conference in Denver, Colorado. Lindstrom has signed and agreed to a one-year, $600,000
contract for the upcoming season.
The 27-year-old from Skelleftea, Sweden, has played a couple of seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) before. He was drafted in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by Columbus Blue Jackets as the 41st overall pick in the second round.
"We are pleased to have Joakim under contract", Colorado Avalanche’s general manager and executive vice president, Greg Sherman, said in a statement. "With his combined experience in the NHL and Swedish Elite League, he will provide depth to our roster".
Lindstrom played with Blue Jackets for three seasons from 2005 to 2008 but also continued to play in the minor league, American Hockey League (AHL), in between the seasons as well and was mainly kept as a centre player recall.
He was picked up by the Syracuse Crunch AHL team after playing for the MODO hockey club in Sweden.
The centre player was then transferred to Phoenix Coyotes in the 2008-2009 season and played majority of his NHL games with Coyotes.
In total, the Swedish player has played 81 NHL games with two teams and has registered 28 points which consist of 13 goals and 15 assists with a minus rating of 9.
Colorado was tracking Lindstrom for quite a while now and looking at his record in the Swedish Elite League (SEL) which is 60 points in 54 games, Avalanche was more than excited to negotiate with him.
Colorado Avalanche finished of the previous 2010-2011 season in the lower ranks of the Western Conference and is on its way to building a better team like it once was.
Colorado is probably one of the most recognized NHL teams in the world and having a reputation of this degree makes it embarrassing for Avalanche to produce such unimpressive results.
Lindstrom is expected to start playing in the upcoming season and can return to the minor leagues if needed.
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