It was reported in March that Lukas Bengtsson, one of the Penguins' top defensive prospects, was considering leaving the organization this summer and returning to Sweden for next season.
Some reports said that Bengtsson had already reached a verbal agreement with an SHL club, Linköpings HC.
At the time, Bengtsson wasn't open to discussing his plans, only saying “My focus is on this season and to play as good as I can.”
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's season ended on Thursday night after being swept by the Charlotte Checkers in the first round, and Bengtsson is set to become a restricted free agent this summer.
He is still undecided on if he'll return to Sweden next season, telling reporters at Friday's locker room cleanout day that he'll "see what happens" over the summer.
Bengtsson only played in 37 games this season due to two upper-body injuries — an improvement over last season's total of 16 games. Despite missing so much time, Bengtsson still feels as if he was able to grow as a player.
"I understand the game more," he said of this season. "But of course it would be nice to get even more games. It always sucks being injured, especially after the last year I had. Definitely learned more and had more games, so it was fun."
Wilkes-Barre lost defensemen Jarred Tinordi and Kevin Czuczman to injury during Game 2, and defenseman Zach Trotman to injury during Game 3. As a result, Bengtsson and the other Wilkes-Barre defensemen were forced to make up for those minutes. Not an easy task in the postseason, especially since Bengtsson was playing with a cold. He said that it was "tough to get the lungs going" in the final games.
He still enjoyed himself this season despite his luck with injuries, thanks to his teammates.
"This group of guys, I really enjoyed it every day," he said. "It was a really nice team to be around, I feel like we had a really good team spirit. Just to be around this team every day was a lot of fun. I hoped that we could have gone farther, I felt that we had a good chance this season. Sometimes it's just not working out."
Bengtsson is still disappointed over Wilkes-Barre's early exit, but is looking forward to next season — wherever that may be.
"We had a really good season and it ended too quick," he told reporters. "Definitely should have got the first game in Charlotte to give them a harder series. We started off every game with a lead, too, and couldn't hold on to it the whole game. It's tough. It'll take some days, but you just got to regroup yourself and get ready for next year."