Under-the-radar signing Oscar Eklind has legitimate NHL potential

The signing of big Swedish forward Oscar Eklind to a one-year, $950,000 entry-level contract came somewhat out of the blue earlier this month, overshadowed by the Philadelphia Flyers' ultimately unsuccessful attempt to secure a playoff berth. It was quite fitting for a player who has made a habit of coming out of nowhere throughout his career.
If you want an indication of how late a bloomer the now 25-year old Eklind is, it helps to compare him to Joachim Blichfeld, who was born just three days after Eklind in the summer of 1998 and was Eklind's most talented peer in the Malmö Redhawks' system. In Eklind's draft year, he bounced between their U18 and U20 teams, scoring just three points in 1...