The Carolina Hurricanes have added an intriguing KHL player, signing Swedish forward Malte Stromwall to a one-year, two-way contract with a $750K cap hit and a $175K total guarantee. Hurricanes GM Don Waddell had the following to say about his newest free agent addition:
“This is a player we’ve been tracking for a while, Malte is a tremendous skater with high-end skill coming off a very productive season in the KHL.”
Waddell is certainly right about Stromwall, as he enjoyed a breakout 2021-22 campaign in the KHL. Stromwall, coming off of a disappointing 21-game run with SKA St. Petersburg to end 2020-21, came to Dynamo Minsk and made an immediate impact. He finished second on the team in scoring with 19 goals and 32 points in just 38 games, doing so on a flawed Minsk team that finished second-to-last in the KHL’s Tarasov Division. Stromwall saw significant time on Minsk’s power play as their most reliable goal-scoring option.
Stromwall doesn’t have extensive experience in North America, and his last stint on this side of the pond was several years ago, when he played in the New York Rangers organization. Stromwall looked out of place on North American ice and had only six points in 44 AHL games. The Hurricanes are adding Stromwall with the hope that he can be more productive this time around.
He’ll head to their training camp with an outside chance to make their team if he plays extremely well. In all likelihood, though, Stromwall will head to the defending Calder Cup Champion Chicago Wolves and look to prove that he can be an offensive difference maker on smaller North American ice surfaces.
Intersting to see the Hurricanes add a lot of talent from the KHL: first at the draft, now with this signing. Might have scouts who see something in these players that others don’t.