NHL Free Agency: Calgary Flames Top Five Targets

2. Carl Soderberg

Mar 19, 2015; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Boston Bruins center Carl Soderberg (34) prepares to shoot on Ottawa Senators goalie Andrew Hammond (30) in the first period at the Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports

Returning to the forward ranks, a perfect fit for the Flames next season would be Carl Soderberg, The Boston Bruins player played some center and some left wing in the past two seasons with the club and has proven to be a solid source of depth offence.

Soderberg only has two years of NHL experience and is 29 years old. You’d expect someone with just 161 games of NHL experience to be younger, but Soderberg had a great career in his home country of Sweden before signing on with the Bruins late in the 2013 season.

Soderberg was one of the best players in the Swedish Elite League for many years, and scored 48 points in 73 games as a rookie in 2013-14. He followed that up with 13 goals, 31 assists and 44 points in 81 games for the struggling Bruins this season, mostly as a third line center/winger.

The Flames are stacked down the middle with Monahan, Bennett and Backlund, but you can’t have too many versatile players and Soderberg could be a perfect fit on the second line with Bennett, no matter who plays the center ice position and which one of them plays left wing.

It’s hard to peg what Soderberg will make on the open market, as he is a very versatile, reliable two way forward, but he also only has two years of NHL experience. There will be many suitors in a thin free agent class, but I’d expect a four year deal at $4.0 million per year would be enough to get a deal done with the Swedish forward.