In an unexpected move, the Senators signed a Swedish defenseman today to a 2-year ELC. His name is 23-year-old Olle Alsing:
News Release: #Sens sign defenceman Olle Alsing to a two-year entry-level contract: https://t.co/cGB2S6ovTi
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) May 10, 2019
Communiqué : Les #Sens accordent un contrat d’entrée au défenseur Olle Alsing pour deux ans : https://t.co/5Hzyf9wORx
Alsing is a left-handed defenseman and spent last year with Djurgardens in the SHL, and was with Leksands in both the Allsvenskan and the SHL in the two seasons prior to this one. Here are his career stats in Sweden:
I can't say I have ever heard of him before, but his point totals look fair for a young defenseman in a men's league. According to Bruce Garrioch, other teams were interested as well:
The #Sens have signed Swedish defenceman Olie Alsing to a two-year deal. Lots of teams were after him.
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) May 10, 2019
It's interesting that this is yet another left-handed defenseman, and I was hoping when I looked him up that he was going to be right-handed. Nevertheless, he adds more depth to the organization, and I'm sure he will begin the year in the AHL. This signing might be inconsequential overall, but I'm always for the team signing free agents from Europe, as that is still an underdeveloped market even though the occasional star player such as Artemi Panarin or Evgeni Dadonov comes through that route.
I'm interested to see what Alsing can do at development camp in June.