The San Jose Sharks have signed Max Veronneau to a one-year contract, bringing him back to North America after two seasons overseas. The financial details were not released by the team but Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group reports that the two-way deal has an NHL salary of $750K. PuckPedia provides even more details, confirming that the deal is for 2022-23 and includes a minor league guarantee of $400K.
Shin Larsson, the Sharks supervisor of European scouting, released a statement on the deal:
Max had a great season this year in Europe, leading the Swedish Hockey League in goals and being named the SHL’s Most Valuable Player. He has produced at every level offensively and previously was an ECAC Champion with Princeton. We look forward to him joining our organization.
Veronneau, 26, certainly did have a great season in the SHL. In 51 games he scored 34 goals and 60 points, showing just why he was so coveted out of Princeton University in 2019. At that time, he was one of the top undrafted free agent targets for several NHL teams and ended up signing a two-year entry-level contract with the Ottawa Senators. After two frustratingly inconsistent years, which included a trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs just weeks before professional sports shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Veronneau was left unqualified and became an unrestricted free agent once again.
After spending last season with Oskarshamn IK in the SHL, this year he moved to Leksands where he dominated the league in almost every offensive category. His return represents an interesting lottery ticket for the Sharks, and at the very worst a strong contributor for the San Jose Barracuda.