Penguins A to Z: Jesper Lindgren remains a worthwhile project
With the Penguins in the midst of their offseason, the Tribune-Review is looking at all 48 players currently under NHL contracts to the organization in alphabetical order, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.
Jesper Lindgren
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Right
Age: 23
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 176 pounds
2020-21 HockeyAllsvensken statistics: 25 games, 18 points (one goal, 17 assists)
Contract: Third year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $775,833. Pending unrestricted free agent this offseason
Acquired: Trade, Aug. 25, 2020
2020-21 season: As was usually the case with any multi-player trade former Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford orchestrated, the transaction he crafted to reacquire top-six winger Kasperi Kapanen came at a price with regards to the future.
When the Penguins brought Kapanen back in late August, they did so by sending their first-round pick (No. 15 overall) and forward prospect Filip Hallander, a second-round pick (No. 58 overall) in 2018, to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The deal was about winning now at the expense of a pool of future assets that was already shallow.
But Rutherford found a way to palliate that aspect of the trade by getting the Maple Leafs to include Jesper Lindgren in the transaction.
A fourth-round pick (No. 95 overall) in 2015 of the Maple Leafs, Lindgren was by no means a top-end prospect, but he offered legitimate hopes of becoming a steady NHLer as a slick puck-mover off the back end.
And as a right-handed defenseman, he filled a hole every NHL team has.
By the time the Penguins swung the trade, the Maple Leafs had already loaned Lindgren to MODO of the HockeyAllsvensken, the second-tier league in his native Sweden. And since most leagues in North America were on hiatus in the fall due to the pandemic, the Penguins honored the loan so Lindgren could get some valuable playing time.
While MODO ended up being one of the worst teams in the HockeyAllSvensken last season, finishing in 12th place (of 14 teams), Lindgren was one of that squad’s best players.
Averaging 22:33 of ice time per contest, Lindgren led MODO in scoring for most of the season until his loan was terminated in mid-January and he was summoned to North America to join the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League (AHL).
Unfortunately, Lindgren’s season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton came to an end before it even began.
During the team’s first preseason game, a 5-1 road win against the Binghamton Devils on Jan. 31, Lindgren, who opened that contest on the top pairing, crashed into the boards and suffered an unspecified shoulder injury that required surgery.
As a result, he spent the entire 2020-21 AHL season on the sidelines.
The future: As a pending restricted free agent, Lindgren isn’t one of the Penguins’ most important issues to deal with this offseason.
They can easily extend him a qualifying offer and retain his NHL rights, should they choose to do so. But what kind of future does he have with the organization?
In the immediate sense, he could be in line to be on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s top defensive pairing, assuming he makes a full recovery from his shoulder ailment by the time the AHL season opens in October.
As far as any long-term forecast, he has a ways to go before he’s a serious candidate for NHL action. To date, his only professional experience in North America has been limited to 34 AHL games with the Toronto Marlies.
Regardless, as a right-handed defenseman — always a precious commodity — who can skate and is willing to get combative, he remains a worthwhile project.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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