Despite the start of the new season being just under five weeks away, the SHL saw another, relatively, quiet week when it comes to player movement. Just like last week, the majority of that movement involves players leaving the league including one of the longest lasting players in league history.
Anton Mylläri
Starting with one of the players joining the league, Anton Myllari will be returning to the SHL after a stint in Austria playing for Grazz99ers. Having started last season with his home town team of Västerås IK in HockeyAllsvenskan, he transferred to Austria and played 29 games in Graz scoring 6 goals and adding an additional 4 assists. Myllari will be joining Brynäs, however this is not a full season contract, but rather a trial one. He will be with the team until at least September 9th on a preseason test basis and the team will decide from there whether or not they will sign him for the regular season.
"We know Anton well and know that he has the capacity to be a stable defender in the SHL. When we had the opportunity to test and take a closer look at him during the pre-season, it felt interesting for us. Anton has size, good skating and a good sense of play. We hope and believe that he can fit well into Mikko's (Manner) way of playing" says manager Johan Alcén.
Myllari has previous SHL experience, playing 3 seasons with Malmö, Linköping and Djurgården.
AHL Recruit
Skellefteå has reached across the Atlantic to draw from the AHL talent pool and has recruited a Canadian for his first season of European hockey. Maple, Ontario native Adam Mascherin will be joining the northern club for his first taste of SHL action. The 23 year old was drafted 38th overall in 2016 by the Florida panthers, however, having not signed a contract with the Panthers by the June 1st deadline, he was re entered into the draft and selected 100th overall by the Dallas Stars in 2018. Mascherin has since spent the last three season playing in the AHL with the Texas Stars. Last season saw him score 18 goals and add 16 assists in 37 games played.
"It feels great to come to Skellefteå! It will be a big change of course but I look forward to the challenge, then I have an old teammate in Rickard Hugg so it will be fun to be reunited with him and hopefully he can show me around and so on. In any case, I have heard that I am coming to a big hockey city." "I want to take my offensive production with me and will do my best to contribute points and help the team win matches. I want to create a lot of space on the ice but also contribute with some fun jokes and a good atmosphere in the locker room, I find that important. Hopefully I get to meet some supporters and hopefully they can appreciate seeing me play for Skellefteå AIK." says the 23 year old.
Adam also boasted a very successful junior career with the Kitchner Rangers in the Ontario Hockey League.
Departures
This week saw multiple players leaving the league, first and foremost of which is long time SHLer Karl Fabricius.
With 905, Fabricius is second all time when it come to games played in the league, having spent the vast majority of that time with Luleå. His career in Swedens top league started back in 2000/01 and since then has spent all but three season with the leagues northern most club. In his SHL career he scored 108 goals and added 141 assists.
Daniel Olsson Trkulja and Rickard Palmberg will also be saying goodbye to the SHL as they have found work in Norway and Switzerland respectively. Trkulja will be joining Sparta Sarpsborg and Palmberg has signed with HC Thurgau.
The final news of the week concerns two players from Brynäs. Although neither Jaedon Descheneau nor Niclas Andersén have signed with other teams, it has been made clear they will not be returning to Brynäs for the upcoming season.