Canucks close in on Brunnstrom

The Vancouver Canucks stumbled in their run toward a playoff position, but have won the race for late-blooming Swedish forward Fabian Brunnstrom.

The Canucks are reportedly close to signing the 23-year-old unrestricted free agent winger to a multi-year contract.

— Ben Kuzma, Vancouver Province

It's going to be really, really interesting what sort of contract he gets.

Brunnstrom's a pretty interesting case. Undrafted, 23 years old, and without hardly any experience in Sweden's top division, he's nonetheless become the subject of a bidding war between the majority of NHL teams.

The guy's almost like a phantom at this point. Just try and find pictures of him online, or references to his hockey background, and it's pretty meager pickings. His numbers this season in the SEL are pretty good, but he's been playing second fiddle on a good, high-scoring team in Farjestads.

I haven't seen him play — his first game with the national team came at 23, so he missed the world juniors — and these are pretty general comments. What's certain is that, with this many NHL teams willing to pony up with a contract offer, you can assume he can play at that level.

Has a player ever just appeared on the scene quite like this?
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