Mike Hardman’s next stop appears to be Sweden.
According to Expressen, the former Devils depth forward has verbally agreed to a contract with HV71 of the SHL. No official deal has been announced yet, but the team’s sports director did not deny the report.
Hardman, 27, spent the 2025-26 season with the Utica Comets, where he skated in 58 games and posted 10 goals and 11 assists in a bottom-six role. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound undrafted power winger spent two seasons in the Devils’ organization and also logged most of the 2024-25 campaign in the AHL.
His NHL stint with New Jersey was brief. Hardman appeared in two games as an injury call-up in 2024-25 and picked up one assist.
That was part of a career that now includes six NHL points in 39 games. He finished that same season in Utica, where he produced 18 goals and 35 points in 58 games.
Hardman never locked down a permanent NHL job, but he did carve out a useful role as an AHL stopgap over the last two seasons. Even though he didn’t make the cut for a reshaped Utica roster, he still managed solid production for the level of talent around him.
At HV71, he’ll join another former Devil in Santeri Hatakka, who became something of a cult favorite in New Jersey circles. HV71 is coming off a second-to-last finish in the SHL in 2025-26, and the expectation is that Hardman can give them some value in a middle-six role while also contributing on the penalty kill.
The fit makes some sense on paper. The AHL and SHL are viewed as fairly close in quality, and modern NHLe models tend to give the edge to the overseas league. Hardman produced at a respectable pace, so he should have a chance to help.
It is a little surprising, though, that he didn’t land at least an AHL deal elsewhere after the Comets moved in a different direction. He now qualifies as a veteran in the minors because of his 318 professional games, and maybe that played a part. Or maybe teams just didn’t see him as a strong enough fringe call-up option.
Either way, Hardman looks headed for SHL action in 2026-27.
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