On October 27, 2022, the Boston Bruins traded Jack Studnicka to the Vancouver Canucks for Goaltender Michael DiPietro and prospect Jonathan Myrenberg.
I would venture to guess most Bruins fans had never heard of Myrenberg and took to the internet to find out more. They soon found out that Myrenberg was considered one of the Canucks top blue line prospects. After all, 6’3” right shot defencemen that can skate and move the puck don’t grow on trees. And of course, I have been keeping you up to date here in my weekly prospect updates.
Last week, Myrenberg signed a two-year contract extension with Linkoping HC of the Swedish Hockey League and will run through the end of the 2025-2026 season. Since Myrenberg was drafted in 2021, that means the Bruins hold his rights only until June 1, 2025.
What this means to the Bruins can get rather complicated, but I will try and explain it to you.
Under the NHL-IIHF transfer agreement, any player playing for a squad in an IIHF sanctioned league (which the SHL is) can opt out of their contract by June 15 of each year. However, under the NHL-SHL transfer agreement, players drafted in the 2nd round or later are not eligible to play in the AHL until the age of 21. Myrenberg was drafted in the 5th round and is still 20 years of age, so like Matthew Poitras (have you heard of him?) it’s the NHL or back to junior, or in this case Sweden.
Now, the NHL and SHL signed a new transfer agreement in April of 2022. Under the new agreement, players drafted in the 2nd round or later must make the NHL squad or be sent back to Sweden until the age of 24. Players who have already signed an NHL contract are grandfathered so it does not apply to them.
You may be asking yourself how this is fair to NHL teams. If you draft a player from Sweden at the age of 18 and only hold his rights for 4 years, you can’t bring him to North America to develop under your guidance for two years after your rights expire. Unless he’s a first-round pick.
Well, there are a couple of options.
First, the Bruins could, in this case, try and get Myrenberg’s release and approval from Linkoping to play in the AHL and that costs money. And lots of it. A whopping 45% increase over the previous transfer agreement. Furthermore, if they signed him after August 15, you can add another $100,000 to the price tag.
Second, and the most likely solution for the Bruins (or any other team in the same situation) you could sign him to his ELC and loan him back to Linkoping to further his development in Sweden. But that too comes at an expense. His contract would count towards the 50-contract limit and I’m not so sure a lot of NHL teams would want to do that.
That all said, I like how Myrenberg has developed and continues to develop and I don’t think playing in Sweden will hinder his development one bit. In fact, I wouldn’t hesitate to say that at this point, Myrenberg may just be the Bruins top right shot defenceman in the system.
At least he’s worth keeping tabs on.
Dom - Hockey 
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