Lindblom begins new chapter with San Jose Sharks

Oskar Lindblom continues his NHL career in the San Jose Sharks. Lindblom, 25, was bought out of his contract with the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, and on Wednesday he was introduced by the San Jose Sharks in connection with the opening of the NHL Free Agency.

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– We had a really good conversation with the management of Sharks; it felt good from the start, Lindblom says to NHL.com/sv. I felt it was right to sign and I’m glad I did.

The Sharks did not disclose any financial details about the deal.

[Läs också: Lindblom klar för San Jose]

Oskar Lindblom, who after his successful fight against cancer has been one of the Flyers’ most noticed players in recent years, was immediately after the message from the Flyers disappointed that the club did not let him play the last year on the contract.

– It felt strange at first, Lindblom admits. You do not want to be bought out from a team when you only have one year left on the contract. But when I started thinking about what had happened, I realized that a fresh start might not be so stupid.

Lindblom has signed for two years in San Jose.

“Oskar will add an offensive edge in the middle of our forward set,” said Sharks’ newly appointed general manager Mike Grier, who has only had the job for a few days.

Mike Grier alluded to Lindblom’s victorious battle against Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of skeletal cancer. When the cancer news hit Lindblom on December 10, 2019, the entire NHL closed behind the young Swede: the slogan “Oskar Strong” spread through the league and inspired players in all teams. Not least the teammates in the Philadelphia Flyers.

And when Gävlesonen was in the team line-up for match 6 in the second round of the playoff series in the Eastern Conference 2020, against the New York Islanders on September 3, it was a proof of victory better than anything else. It was proof that Oskar Lindblom’s nine months long and victorious fight against the disease.

Something Grier thinks shows Lindblom’s strength as a person and as a hockey player:

Video: NYI-PHI, M6: Flyers, Isles applaud Lindblom

– He has overcome difficult obstacles already in his young career and we are happy to welcome him to the organization, Grier said.
Flyers tinged Lindblom, originally from little Hille / Åbyggeby IK north of Gävle in the fifth round (as 138th player in total) in the draft 2014. Lindblom played in Brynäs and SHL for three years after the draft, but already in 2016 he tried to play in North America in the Flyers Farmers Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He impressed with seven points (2 + 5) in eight games. In 2017, he left Sweden and the SHL for a season that Lindblom spent in both the Flyers (23 games) and the Phantoms (54). The following year, the breakthrough came with 33 points (17 + 16) in 81 games for the Flyers. And when the cancer news came, Lindblom was at the top of the Flyers’ internal scoring: 18 points, of which eleven goals, in the 30 matches.

After the comeback, Lindblom played 50 matches in the 2020-21 season. He scored 14 points and was awarded the Bill Masterton Trophy for his way of exemplifying perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. He was also a finalist for the prize in the 2019-20 season. Last season, Lindblom played 79 games and was registered for 26 points (12 + 14), sixth best in the Flyers who, however, missed the playoffs.

Now the adventure in Philadelphia is over. It continues in the San Jose Sharks.

– I feel that something really good is going on there (in Sharks), some young guys, some who have been for a while. I’m really happy, says Oskar Lindblom.

The deal with Oskar Lindblom was not the only Sharks did on Wednesday, when the league’s traditional Free Agent frenzy began. Most notable: that the Sharks stepped off the hill Brent Burns to the Carolina Hurricanes. Burns has been one of Sharks’ big profiles for eleven seasons at the club. Now he and the forward were shipped Lane Pederson to the Hurricanes in exchange for the forward Steven Lorentz23-year-old goalkeeper promise Eetu Mäkiniemi and a conditional choice in the third round of the draft 2023.

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