Mighty Duck Forward Carnback Looking Into a Return to Sweden

Mighty Duck forward Patrik Carnback is pursuing opportunities to play in Sweden, agent Neil Abbott said Wednesday, the day after the NHL rejected the players’ latest bargaining proposal, signaling a potentially lengthy lockout.

However, it’s unclear whether the Swedish Elite League will accept NHL players.

“I’m still waiting for an official statement from the NHL,” Tommy Topel, president of the Swedish league, told the Associated Press on Wednesday. “I expect an overnight fax. We have to listen to the NHL first because we have an agreement.”

Duck General Manager Jack Ferreira has said Carnback would be violating his contract if he plays in Europe, but Abbott said he will ask Ferreira to loan Carnback to a team in his native Sweden.

“I think this season is going to be shot, to tell the truth,” Abbott said. “I don’t think there’s any realistic chance of the NHL playing in the short term, meaning the next two to four months.”

Carnback, 26, played professionally in Sweden for six seasons before getting 12 goals and 11 assists for the Ducks in his first full NHL season. But Abbott said he is advising Carnback to play abroad because he hasn’t developed into a top NHL player and because he was preparing to play out the option year of a contract that was scheduled to pay him $200,000 this season.