On Monday the Calgary Flames signed two international free agents in German forward Yasin Ehliz and Swedish defenseman Marcus Hogstrom.
Both signed one-year, two-way contracts. Ehliz' is worth $650,000 at the NHL level while Hogstrom's is worth $700,000. Hogstrom's AHL salary is more than double that of Ehliz, according to CapFriendly.
Ehliz is a 5'10', 25-year-old winger who has spent the last seven years playing for Nuermberg of the DEL.
His numbers have mostly been good, relatively speaking, but he never averaged more than a point per game and has been out-produced by the likes of John Mitchell and Steven Reinprecht in recent years.
Geoff Ward was likely a driving factor behind the Ehliz signing. He coached Ehliz several times at the World Hockey Championships and went against him years ago in the DEL. Suffice to say, Ward is familiar with Ehliz.
My bet is the latter wanted to try something new and picked a spot where he has an in to try and improve his chances of finding success.
As for Hogstrom, the 29-year-old finished tied for 13th among SHL defenders in scoring.
The intel I have received is Hogstrom was one of the better two-way defenders in the league last season. He was responsible for chewing up the toughest minutes available while also producing some offense.
Hogstrom was described to me as a solid, but not flashy, skater who probably needs to quicken his decision making with the puck if he's going to seriously push for a roster spot.
I'm sure both players will be given fair looks in camp but I think it's fair to say the signings were made with Stockton in mind.
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