Swedish defenseman Robert Hägg,
30, has signed a one-year contract with
Brynäs IF, the
Gävle-based SHL club announced on Wednesday. Hägg
is returning to Sweden after spending the
past 11 seasons in North America, split between the NHL and AHL
in six different organizations.
“It feels really
good to come to Brynäs,” said Hägg.
“I have been in the USA for many years and felt that it was a good
time to return home to Sweden. I have had very good conversations
with Johan Alcén and the club has clear visions that match mine. In
the end, it was an easy decision when we got to that stage. I look
forward to getting to work.”
“Robert is a big,
solid player who has accumulated a lot of experience and we will
benefit greatly from that,” said Alcén, the club’s sports
director. “We like his whole aura when he is out on the ice where
he does not hesitate to step into the melée.
He is a humble and respectful person who really makes his
surroundings better and wants to win. He will fit in perfectly with
the group.”
Born in Uppsala,
Sweden, Hägg developed
in the MoDo system and he
was rumored to be heading to that club a few months ago; however,
MoDo’s relegation to the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan was probably
a factor in him deciding to play elsewhere.
Hägg
was chosen in the second round, 41st
overall, by the Philadelphia
Flyers in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. Between 2016 and 2025, he
played 345 NHL regular-season games for the Flyers, Buffalo
Sabres, Florida
Panthers, Detroit
Red Wings, Anaheim
Ducks and Vegas
Golden Knights, recording 63 points and 208 penalty minutes. He
added three assists in 14 playoff games, all with Philadelphia.
After
being a regular NHLer for six seasons, Hägg
only played seven games in the league over
the past two seasons. He
considered returning to Sweden last summer after a particularly sour
experience in Anaheim, which he shared with Swedish media, but
decided to give it
one more shot with Vegas.
Hägg
joins a Brynäs team that is coming off a
season in which it shattered all expectations. Just after being
promoted from the HockeyAllsvenskan, Brynäs finished first
overall in the regular season and made it to the SHL finals, where it
lost to Lulea in six games.
In
addition to Hägg,
the club’s roster includes ex-NHLers
Jakob
Silfverberg, Johan Larsson, Oskar
Lindblom, Christian Djoos, Axel
Jonsson-Fjällby, Mattias
Norlinder and goaltender Erik
Källgren.
Last year’s
team included defensemen Charles-Édouard
D’Astous
and Victor Söderström
–
however, D’Astous has signed with the Tampa
Bay Lightning and, although Söderström
is
under contract for another season with Brynäs,
it is expected that he might sign with the Chicago
Blackhawks – who
acquired
his NHL rights in the spring.
Photo © Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
Victor Söderström has been named the top
defenseman in the Swedish Hockey League for the 2024-25 season. As a
result, he has been awarded the Börje Salming
Trophy.
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