By: Mark Allred | Follow me on Twitter @BlackAndGold277
The Norran.se website in Sweden and Dominic Tiano‘s official Twitter account below mention that current Boston Bruins forward Jesper Froden could be returning to his native Sweden for the upcoming 2022-23 Swedish Hockey League season. The undrafted 27-year-old signed a one-year two-way contract with the National Hockey League Boston Bruins back on June 14th, 2021, after leaving the Skelleftea AIK club in the SHL. Well, if these rumors are true, Jesper will be heading back to Skelleftea, where he spent two seasons posting 34-35-69 numbers in 101 games.
Froden’s one-year entry-level contract was worth a salary cap hit of $842,500 at the NHL level and $80,000 in the AHL. Adding onto Jespers’ one-year deal was a signing bonus of $92,500 and a performance bonus of $82,500. This low-risk, potentially high reward addition to the organization was most likely heavily recommended by Bruins European Scouting Director P.J. Axelsson and fellow B’s scouting colleagues in the area Victor Nybladh and Svenake Svensson.
During the 2021-22 season, Jesper spent most of his first season in North America with Boston’s top minor-pro affiliate, the Providence Bruins. The 5′-10″ 176-pound right wing appeared in 49 games with the AHL club, posting 16-18-34 numbers. Froden even had a seven-game cup of coffee with the parent NHL Bruins team, where he contributed his first career NHL goal on April 14th when the Boston Bruins played the Ottawa Senators at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Froden is still under contract with the Boston Bruins organization, and anything can happen regarding this recent rumor. Boston currently has 31 of 50 contracts signed so there’s plenty of room to bring him back if he doesn’t want to return to his native country quite yet. While being a solid pro in the AHL as a rookie and his short-term contributions to the NHL B’s this past season, he might’ve not met the expectations set by the organization in his one-year deal. Froden might’ve already been made aware of him not returning for the upcoming season during last week’s year-end exit meetings. That could’ve sparked these rumors in his native country that a return home is probable. Jesper will become an unrestricted free agent this coming July 13th, 2022, at noon.
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