One year ago, it was looking like Freddy Claesson might be heading back to Sweden after the 2016-17 season in Binghamton/Ottawa. He had played 16 decent games in the NHL, but he was at best the 7th defenseman on the depth chart, and nobody was expecting him to crack the main roster.
In fact, he was ranked fifteenth in the Top 25 Under 25, behind guys like Gabriel Gagne, Matt Puempel, Nick Paul, and Curtis Lazar, simply because they seemed like better shots to stick at the NHL level.