Dallas Stars land highly-coveted Swedish forward Fabian Brunnstrom

by Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

DALLAS — Before the puck dropped Thursday in Detroit, the Stars scored a victory over the Detroit Red Wings and several other NHL teams by landing highly touted free agent forward Fabian Brunnstrom of Sweden.

"In the end there was no wrong decision for Fabian," his agent J.P. Barry told The Canadian Press. "All the organizations were extremely professional in laying out the opportunity for him to play for their club. Dallas was involved from the beginning, and in particular (co-GM) Les Jackson did a good job overviewing the benefits of Dallas.

"When Fabian visited Dallas and got to meet everybody, including the players, he just felt it was the best overall fit for him."

The Red Wings, Montreal and Toronto were among the other teams in the hunt for the 23-year-old forward, a late bloomer who was never drafted. A couple of teams were said to make late pushes for Brunnstrom's services as well.

The deal is believed to be a two-year entry-level contract that is worth $875,000 per year, but carries bonus incentives that could push it to $2.5 million.

An official announcement could come Thursday night or Friday.

Brunnstrom had 37 points (nine goals, 28 points) in 54 games with Farjestads of the Swedish Elite League this past season.

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