Bouramman signs NHL deal

Exactly where defenceman Gustav Bouramman will play the upcoming season has taken another turn.

The 19-year-old defenceman, who spent the past two seasons with the Ontario Hockey League's Soo Greyhounds, signed a three-year entry-level contract with the NHL's Minnesota Wild on Friday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Reports out of Sweden earlier this month had the veteran Greyhounds blueliner set to join Lulea of the Swedish league this season after the team had offered him a contact, a contract offer that is still thought to be on the table

Under terms of the NHL's Collective Bargaining Agreement, because Bouramman was drafted by the Wild while with the Greyhounds he would spend the season either with the Wild or the Greyhounds. Players who are under 20 are not eligible to play in the American Hockey League unless they have played four seasons in the OHL.

Greyhounds General Manager Kyle Raftis said that Bouramman will not attend the Greyhounds training camp, which opens on Aug. 30. The signing gives Minnesota more say in where Bouramman spends the 2016-17 season.

“They’re going to have a little bit more control on where he’s going to play now that he’s a signed player,” Raftis said.

“He’s going to go to their development camp,” Raftis said. “Then we’ll find out what they’re going to do with him.”

Raftis said he has had discussions with the Wild on Bouramman’s status for the upcoming season.

“They would like to see him in North America,” Raftis said. “They like the way his development is going.

“I think they would rather see him (in North America) but at the same time they have to see how everything plays out.”

StarTribune reporter Michael Russo tweeted on Friday that it’s “still to be determined whether he’ll play in Sweden this year or stay in North America.”

Raftis said Bouramman’s development was on an upward trend, specifically in the second half of last season.

“He came over and he’s always done what he does,” Raftis said. “He moves pucks really well and his skating has come a long way, jumping into holes and playing a little more up the ice. He got a little bit of a slow start last year. Sometimes players come back after they’re drafted and try to do a little too much. If you look at his last 30 games and into the playoffs, he really settled in well. His defending was a lot better and he was a lot more confident. He wasn’t just a player coming up the ice guessing, he had a plan. He was making really slick plays and that’s the way he has trended.”

Selected in the seventh round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, Bouramman scored six goals and 46 points in 68 games last season with the Greyhounds.