With the Pittsburgh Penguins entering the offseason for a third consecutive year without a playoff appearance, TribLive will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 56 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until future seasons — with the organization.
Starting with Noel Acciari and going on through to Philip Tomasino (regrettably, there is no Z on the payroll), every player will be profiled in alphabetical order.
This series is scheduled to be published Mondays through Saturdays leading up until June 24, four days before the start of the NHL Draft. In the event of a transaction, that schedule will be altered as necessary.
(Note: All contract information courtesy of Puckpedia.)
Filip Hallander
Position: Center
Shoots: Left
Age: 24
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 190 pounds
2024-25 SHL regular season statistics: 51 games, 53 points (26 goals, 27 assists), 19:05 of average ice time per contest
2024-25 SHL postseason statistics: Six games, zero points (zero goals, zero assists), 21:44 of average ice time per contest
Contract: Signed to a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $775,000 that begins with the 2025-26 season. Pending unrestricted free agent in 2027.
Acquired: Trade, July 17, 2021
This season: Citing a lack of playing time at the NHL level and family concerns, Filip Hallander abruptly left the Penguins in the 2023 offseason and punctured a hole in a pool of prospects that was barely ankle-deep to begin with.
Two years later, the Penguins’ prospect pool has risen to about a knee’s height, and the return of Hallander has boosted that depth.
Hallander signed a five-year contract with Timra IK of the Swedish Hockey League in 2023 but the Penguins extended a qualifying offer to him at the time, ensuring they would retain his NHL rights until he turned 27.
In the meantime, his game — particularly the offensive side of it — grew substantially while skating in his native Sweden.
After a solid — but hardly spectacular — 2023-24 campaign, his offensive production erupted in 2024-25 while playing under coach Olli Jokinen, a former NHL All-Star forward.
Alternating between the left and right wings, Hallander finished second in the SHL in scoring and even broke Timra’s single-season record for scoring, surpassing a mark previously established by star NHL forward Henrik Zetterberg.
Mål nummer 21 av Filip Hållander för säsongen som därmed tangerar Mika Pyröäläs föreningens målrekord i högsta serien #timraikpic.twitter.com/QT84Rw77oG
— Timrå IK (@timra_ik) February 20, 2025
(Note: The record Hallander broke was for seasons in which Timra participated in Sweden’s top league and not when it was relegated to a lower league).
In the postseason, Timra was beaten by Frolunda, 4-2, in a best-of-seven series in the opening round and Hallander failed to produce a point.
On April 29, the Penguins re-signed Hallander to a two-year contract.
The future: Hallander has had a pretty circuitous tenure with the Penguins who brought him to the franchise on three different occasions.
After selecting Hallander in the second round (No. 58 overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft, the Penguins traded him to the Maple Leafs as part of a multi-player deal in August of 2020.
Not even a year later, they traded to bring him back from Toronto in July of 2021 in a deal that was primarily related to management of the roster leading into the expansion draft for the incoming Seattle Kraken.
Following two seasons in North America in which he appeared in only two NHL games, he bolted to Sweden before re-signing with the Penguins late last month.
So, will Hallander, who turns 25 on June 29, finally break through as a full-time NHLer this time?
First, the fact he was signed to the one-way contract should suggest he has a pretty good chance of that. Additionally, he would not have reneged on his contract with Timra — as permitted based on the transfer agreement between the NHL and Swedish Ice Hockey Association — without some assurance he would get significant consideration for steady work with the NHL club.
Where exactly he fits is another matter, especially considering the Penguins are in the midst of a search for a new coach.
Beyond that, it’s fair to wonder what kind of player the Penguins are getting back. Upon being drafted and during his two seasons in the American Hockey League with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Hallander was primarily projected as a sturdy third-line defensive winger.
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Though, after one season as a dominant offensive force in Sweden, he is clearly a different type of player. At the same time, how will that offensive acumen he displayed on a bigger rink translate to the tighter confines of the NHL?
There are plenty of questions as to what Hallander can offer the Penguins. But his return certainly provides plenty of optimism.