The San Jose Sharks have signed European forward Antti Suomela to a one-year entry-level contract. The 24-year old was only eligible to sign a deal of that length, after spending the last several seasons in Finland’s Liiga.
Some make recognize Suomela’s name from the recent IIHF World Championship, where he played four games for Finland and registered one goal. That appearance came after leading his entire league in scoring with 60 points in 59 games, and helped JYP to a Champions League title. Several teams were after Suomela, but the Sharks have landed the 6’0″ center and could potentially insert him directly into their lineup.
Though there is obviously no guarantee that he’s ready for the NHL, the Sharks do have both Joe Thornton and Eric Fehr scheduled for unrestricted free agency in a few weeks. The team is expected to try and re-sign Thornton, and after Fehr’s emergence as a solid fourth-line option they may try to do the same thing for him. If they can’t however, Suomela offers an interesting option for a center that can start down in the lineup to shelter his transition to North America. The talented offensive player could inject some more secondary scoring into a Sharks group that lacked it at times, and at the very worst gives them more depth down the middle.