Second New York Rangers prospect in the last 24 hours leaves the team
For the second time in the last 24 hours, a New York Rangers prospect has decided to leave the team and head back overseas to Europe.
Earlier today, it was announced that Karl Henriksson, a second round pick of the Rangers in 2019, has left the team and has joined Swedish Hockey League club Vaxjo Lakers.
In a post on X on Friday afternoon, the 2023-24 Liiga runners-up Lahti Pelicans announced that they've agreed to terms on one-year contract, with an option for an additional year, with New York Rangers goaltending prospect Olof Lindbom.
Note: the quote in this story are translated from Finnish.
Lindbom, 23, was the highest drafted goaltender in 2018 when the Rangers took him with the 39th overall pick. At the time, the pick was a bit of a reach by then-General Manager Jeff Gorton and given how his time in North America has gone, that statement may be even more true today.
The Stockholm native came over to North America in 2022 and has spent the majority of his time in the ECHL with the Jacksonville Icemen and Cincinnati Cyclones. He also appeared in seven regular season games and one playoff contest for the American Hockey League's Hartford Wolf Pack.
In 29 games in the ECHL for Cincinnati this season, Lindbom had a record of 10-15-3 with a 3.56 goals against average, an .884 save percentage and one shutout.
With free agency looming, it'll be interesting to see if New York Rangers General Manager Chris Drury issues qualifying offers to both Olof Lindbom and Karl Henriksson.
| POLL | ||
Will Olof Lindbom return to North America one day? | ||
| Yes | 37 | 31.4 % |
| No | 81 | 68.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
