As the days get closer to the NHL Rookie Draft and to July 1st, expect GM Brian Burke’s management team to be extremely active and for player transactions to become more frequent. The first such move was reported today by the Swedish website Hockeyexpressen.se(http://hockey.expressen.se/elitserien/1.2001895/wallin-atervander-till-farjestad). Unrestricted free agent-to-be Rickard Wallin is returning to the Swedish Elite League. At least that is what some of the text(after being filtered through a free Swedish to English online translator) indicates :

Wallin returns to Farjestad …..Rickard Wallin has decided to move home and leave Toronto, signing a four-year contract. “Farjestad is my club in Sweden and I have always said that if I play somewhere in Europe, it would be Färjestad,"

Wallin will be hard to replace, on top of the gaudy offensive stats he put up(2 goals and 7 assists in 60 games), the quality job he did as rookie goalie Jonas Gustavsson’s valet cannot be undervalued.

All kidding aside, Wallin was a non-contributor for most of the season and when injury and trades gave him more responsibility and ice time, his production remained miniscule. A young player like John Mitchell or Christian Hanson or a player acquired via trade or free agency will likely replace Wallin as the 3rd or 4th line center. The article also indicated that former Marlie and Leaf Jonas Frogren has also signed a contract with Farjestad next season.

From the desk of Michael Augello

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