- Nils Åman signed a three-year contract with Djurgården of the SHL, the club announced Tuesday
- The 26-year-old center leaves the Canucks organization after four seasons and 132 NHL games
- Read below for the contract details, his AHL numbers, and what he said about the move
Nils Åman is headed back to Sweden.
The former Vancouver Canucks center signed a three-year contract with Djurgården of the SHL on Tuesday, the club announced. The deal ends his four-year run in North America and brings him home as an unrestricted free agent.
The club shared the news Tuesday:
Åman reached free agency the hard way. Vancouver said on June 29 that it would not send him, or any of its other restricted free agents, a qualifying offer.
That non-tender fit a front office that has spent the whole summer trying to cut payroll in Vancouver.
He is coming off the best pro season of his career. Åman put up 41 points (six goals, 35 assists) in 55 games for the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks, a personal high.
Across four years in the organization, the 26-year-old skated in 132 NHL games and another 123 in the AHL. Vancouver signed him out of Leksands IF in 2021 after taking him in the sixth round of the 2020 draft.
Djurgården sporting director Marcus Due-Boje said the bidding for Åman ran hot.
“It feels fantastic to be able to add Nils to Djurgården for the coming three seasons,” Due-Boje said, calling him “a big center who is skilled all over the rink.”
For his part, Åman framed the move as the right step, not a fallback.
“I feel that the club has something exciting going on, and it’s a journey I want to be part of,” Åman said. “For me it also feels like exactly the right step in my development and career to join such a big organization.”
Camp opens in late July, giving Åman time to settle in before the SHL season starts.
