Penguins forward Filip Hallander returns to Sweden to resume training following blood clot

Pittsburgh Penguins rookie forward Filip Hallander has returned to his native Sweden to begin offseason training after being sidelined for the majority of the 2025-26 campaign due to a blood clot in an unspecified leg.

Hallander will be reevaluated by the team’s medical staff at an unspecified date in the offseason to determine his status for training camp in September, according to a team spokesperson.

Hallander last played an NHL game Nov. 3. By Nov. 7, the team announced he was placed on injured reserve due to the blood clot.

A three-month recovery followed before he was able to resume practicing in February.

“When something that’s so close to you almost gets away from you, you love it even more when you get the chance to do it again,” Hallander said Feb. 17. “Obviously, I’ve been healthy enough to practice (without contact) and be surrounded with a lot of good people here. I’ve been doing all that stuff really good.

“But you have a lot of time to think and to work on yourself. It’s weird to say, but it’s probably been the best three months after all.”

By Feb. 18, he was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League for conditioning purposes. After three games and one goal with that club, he was recalled to the NHL roster Feb. 27. But from that point, team officials largely declined to offer a substantive update on Hallander’s status until Friday.

Hallander, 25, appeared in 13 NHL games this season and posted four points (one goal, three assists) while averaging 13:09 of ice time per contest.

The Penguins selected Hallander in the second round (No. 58) overall in the 2018 NHL Draft. After spending the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons primarily with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Hallander left the organization in 2023 to sign with Timra IK of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL).

Following a productive 2024-25 season with Timra in which he was second in the SHL in scoring with 53 points (26 goals, 27 assists), he opted to re-sign with the Penguins on April 28, 2025, agreeing to a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $775,000.