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The Toronto Maple Leafs have a good problem for a change, as the growth of their prospect pool means they have to find options other than the American Hockey League to develop some of their young players.

Earlier this month, 2014 draftee Pierre Engvall signed a two-year deal to play with HV-71 (the Swedish Hockey League Champions) and on Saturday, defenseman Jesper Lindgren agreed to a two-year contract with HPK of the Finnish SM-Liiga.

The 20-year-old blueliner was selected 95th overall in the 2015 NHL Draft and played the last two seasons with MODO in Sweden’s second-tier league. Lindgren’s offensive totals jumped from three points to 24 last season.

Jesper Lindgren kvitterade till 4-4 för Modo mot Almtuna. Förlängning pågår just nu. pic.twitter.com/F6nmUfmF1a

— C More Sport (@cmoresport) January 25, 2017

Toronto is looking for the young defenseman to face tougher competition and get more playing time to help in his development. With the addition of blueliners Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman to go along with prospects Travis Dermott and Andrew Nielsen, Lindgren may have been challenged to get consistent playing time and being shuttled between the ECHL and AHL may have hindered his growth.

NHL clubs retain the rights of drafted players from Europe for four years, which means that Toronto retains the rights on Lindgren until June 2019, which means that the Leafs can sign him after the completion of the SM-Liiga’s season and before Lindgren becomes a free agent.

Moves such as these allow Toronto more room to lock up players who will re-enter the draft or become free agents if they are not signed by the June 1 deadline, such as 2013 fifth rounder Fabrice Herzog and a pair of 2015 selections, defenseman Stephen Desrocher and winger Nikita Korostelev.

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