Habs Sign centre Lukas Vejdemo to a two-year entry-level

[Tankdriver]

From Gazette:


The Montreal Canadiens announced Wednesday that they’ve signed 22-year-old Swedish centre Lukas Vejdemo to a two-year entry-level contract (2018-19 and 2019-20).

The contract comes with a cap hit of $792,500, which includes a $92,500 signing bonus in each of the two years. It’s a two-way deal. Vejdemo will earn $70,000 a season if he plays in Laval with the AHL’s Rocket.

Vejdemo tallied a career-high 10 goals and 22 points in 47 regular-season games with Djurgarden of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) during the 2017-18 campaign, adding an assist in seven games during his team’s playoff run.

The Stockholm native’s first season in the SHL was in 2014-15. Vejdemo has played 150 regular-season games for Djurgarden.

His SHL totals are 19 goals, 28 assists and 47 points, posting a plus-16 differential.

Vejdemo was selected in the third round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft by the Habs, 87th overall.

[seventeen]

Mitch Brown, who spends a lot of time following the Habs draft picks, thinks Vejdemo is still a stretch. It's unlikely he'll make the team next year and because he has a contract with Djurgarden, he'll have to return to Sweden rather than play with Laval.

The concern is over his offense. While his point totals are reasonable for the ice time he got and in a tough, defensive type league, he only picked up 7 points in the second half of the season. He's a good skater, however, so who knows? Maybe he's a late bloomer.

[blny]

I had posted this in the prospects thread, so there's some chatter there as well.

[NWTHabsFan]

May 3, 2018 12:25:36 GMT -5 seventeen said:

Mitch Brown, who spends a lot of time following the Habs draft picks, thinks Vejdemo is still a stretch. It's unlikely he'll make the team next year and because he has a contract with Djurgarden, he'll have to return to Sweden rather than play with Laval.

The concern is over his offense. While his point totals are reasonable for the ice time he got and in a tough, defensive type league, he only picked up 7 points in the second half of the season. He's a good skater, however, so who knows? Maybe he's a late bloomer.

He was playing on the third line for most of the second half, so his role did change.

He does have good skating skills and was on a very reasonable points pace earlier on this season. He did end up with more goals and more points this year compared to his totals from just over 2 years of SHL play prior to this season, so he showed some real nice progression this past year. Given his role and the league, that was not bad at all.

I think it is a definite stretch to think of him as a threat for a top six role, but he should be in the mix for a bottom six centre. It will be interesting to see how he does on the smaller ice surface and potentially with better linemates than he might have had in a third line SHL role.

Here is another piece on him with audio interview.

www.habseyesontheprize.com/2018/5/3/17314936/lukas-vejdemo-montreal-canadiens-interview-prospect-habs-sweden-laval-rocket

[NWTHabsFan]

Lukas keeping his options open for this fall if he does not make the Habs' roster. A very smart approach. If Sly was still there, I know where I would recommend he play, but that should all change now depending on who takes over the reigns of the Rocket for next season. He is under contract next season in the SHL, but he will have an out clause now that he has signed an NHL deal. Similarly, it sounds like he has an out clause in his NHL deal (similar to Lehkonen) that enables him to play in either the SHL or AHL if he does not make the big club (which is the most likely scenario).

[seventeen]

Good size + good skater = good foundation.

[NWTHabsFan]

Nothing really new here, but I wish him well. A very under the radar guy. May stay there, but at least we get a chance to see what he can do. The kid can skate and has pretty good hockey sense.

www.nhl.com/canadiens/news/lukas-vejdemo-has-his-sights-set-on-earning-a-roster-spot-with-the-canadiens-this-fall/c-298427772