There was a time that Filip Hallander was considered one of the top -- if not the top -- forward prospects in the Penguins' organization.
Hallander, now 21 years old, was the Penguins' second-round pick in the 2018 draft.
Hallander's time in the Penguins organization ended before he ever played a game in Pittsburgh, when he was included as one of the pieces shipped off to Toronto in last summer's Kasperi Kapanen trade.
"Hallander is a good prospect," then-GM Jim Rutherford said at the time. "We don't see him at the level of Kapanen and we don't see that he can come in and make an impact in the next few years, when we're still in our window of contending.
"When you talk about draft picks or young prospects who are going to play down the road, that's not going to accomplish what we're trying to accomplish. We got a player who can come in now and play within this window of us contending, and that's our goal."
Hallander has another shot at making an impact in the organization after the Penguins re-acquired him, along with a 2023 seventh-round pick from the Maple Leafs in exchange for Jared McCann on Saturday.
Hallander has two year remaining on his entry-level contract and has a cap hit of $764,167 at the NHL level. He is exempt from the expansion draft.
Hallander has yet to play in North America and is expected to make his North American professional debut next season. Hallander expected to play in North America during the 2020-21 season with the Leafs organization, but the circumstances and delays that came as a result of COVID-19 prevented that. The Leafs loaned Hallander to his SHL team, Lulea, to start the season since the SHL season started on time in the fall. The Leafs initially intended to bring Hallander over for NHL training camp in mid-December. But by the time December came around, it was clear that the AHL season wasn't going to begin until February, so it didn't make much sense for the Leafs to bring Hallander over for camp, then make him sit for a month-plus until the AHL season began. The Leafs and Hallander mutually agreed that it was best for Hallander's development to let him finish the year in Sweden.
Hallander, who is left-handed, is capable of playing both center and wing and primarily played top-line left wing last season in Sweden, averaging over 17 minutes per game. During the Penguins' last development camp in 2019, director of player development Scott Young said that the organization projected Hallander as a power forward winger.
“We see him as an up-and-down (the lineup) winger with a powerful stride,” Young said. “A strong kid, at this point, who’s going to turn into a strong man. A stronger man. … He’s going to be a power forward.”
Hallander is 6 foot 1 and 196 pounds.
Hallander set a career-high in goals last season, finishing tied for No. 2 in team goals on Lulea with 13 in 51 games. His 24 points ranked eighth on the team.
Something notable about Hallander's season was that he was shooting the puck more on average. In 2019-20 he averaged 1.81 shots on goal per game. In 2020-21, that rose to 2.47 shots on goal per game.
He had two goals and one assist in Lulea's playoff round against Skelleftea. He saw a big leap in ice time in the postseason, averaging 19:24 per game. The goals were the first playoff goals of Hallander's SHL career, and both came in Game 2 of the series. The latter was an empty-netter, and was an impressive shot, as far as empty netters go:
Hallander made his World Championship debut this summer, appearing in five games and recording one primary assist for Sweden.
Since Hallander was originally intending on making the move to North America last season, it's probably safe to say that he'll be playing somewhere in the Penguins organization next season. I'd start him in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to ease that adjustment into the North American game, but he could be someone that pushes for an NHL spot midseason.
