The Penguins liked Filip Hallander enough in 2018 to invest a second-round draft choice in him.
And they like him enough now to have traded forward Jared McCann to Toronto for Hallander and a seventh-round draft choice in 2023.
Dealing McCann resolved an expansion draft issue for Ron Hextall, who has to submit the Penguins' protected list for that draft to the league office by 5 p.m. Saturday.
While it's not clear whether McCann was ticketed for a spot on that list -- the trade suggests that he was not -- he likely was part of the small cluster of players contending for one.
“We are excited to add Filip back to the organization," Hextall said, in a statement released by the team. "He is a well-rounded player with good size who plays the game the right way."
Hallander, who went to Toronto in 2020 in the Kasperi Kapanen trade, has yet to play in North America.
He is 21, 6-foot and 190 pounds.
Hallander has a solid two-way game and is capable of playing center or wing. He had 13 goals and 11 assists in 51 games with Lulea FC in Sweden in 2020-21.
He is signed through the 2022-23 season, with an entry-level salary-cap hit of $764,167.
McCann had 14 goals and 18 assists in 43 regular-season games in 2020-21, and no goals and one assist in six playoff appearances.
He has one year remaining on a contract that carries a salary-cap hit of $2.94 million.
The Penguins did not retain any of his salary and are now believed to have just under $4 million in cap space available.
Getting McCann off the payroll enhances the chances that Hextall will be able to re-sign unrestricted-free-agents-to-be like Cody Ceci, Frederick Gaudreau and Evan Rodrigues, as well as potential restricted free agents such as Zach Aston-Reese and Radim Zohorna. (Although not all of them without opening more cap space, of course.)
Initial reports out of Toronto suggest that while McCann is a candidate to get onto the Maple Leafs' protected list, there was no immediate guarantee that he will not be left exposed for the expansion draft Wednesday.
The protected lists are scheduled to be released by the league Sunday morning.
Hextall is expected to speak with reporters after they have been announced.
