Flyers sign forward Jack Berglund to a three-year entry-level contract
Berglund will report to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL for the remainder of the season.
Let the reign of Jacks begin.
On Thursday, the Flyers signed center Jack Berglund to a three-year entry-level contract beginning next season. He has signed a professional tryout agreement with Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League and will join the team for the remainder of this season. The Phantoms have five games left on their schedule, including two home games this Saturday and Sunday at the PPL Center.
Berglund is the fourth player from the 2024 draft class signed to an entry-level contract, joining Jett Luchanko, Spencer Gill, and Noah Powell. He is also the sixth prospect inked in the last month, alongside forwards Powell, Porter Martone (2025 draft class), Cole Knuble (2023), Alex Čiernik (2023), and undrafted Riley Thompson. And as for the other Jacks, the Flyers also have Jack Murtagh and Jack Nesbitt, who were selected in 2025, in the system.
Flyers general manager Danny Brière told The Inquirer in early March the team was hopeful that Berglund, who turns 20 on Friday, would sign after his season ended with Färjestad BK, which plays in Sweden’s top league. The team based in Karlstad, Berglund’s hometown, was recently the victim of the first reverse sweep in SHL history by Rögle BK.
Drafted by the Flyers in the second round in 2024, Berglund completed his first full SHL season with 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in 40 regular-season games and three assists in seven playoff games.
The Flyers could see Berglund eventually slotting in as a middle-six center. The 6-foot-4, 217-pound pivot’s play at World Juniors for his country opened some eyes.
“Jack Berglund is probably the one who has made the biggest jump for us development-wise. I thought he was the best player at the World Junior Championship,” Brière said in a post-trade deadline Q&A.
“I know he didn’t get voted as the best player, I think, because there were bigger names that were there, guys that were drafted much higher than him. But when you watched the game, night after night, he was the captain of that team; he was their No. 1 center; he was on the first power play in front of the net; he was the first PK.”
Berglund finished tied for the team lead in scoring with 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in seven games and led the tournament with a plus-9. Sweden won gold for the first time since 2012.
“I remember that game in the semifinals, against Finland, it went to overtime, and in overtime, there are two minutes left, and his team got a penalty,” the GM said.
“He was on the ice for two minutes, killing the four-on-three, not because he couldn’t get off the ice — there’s three faceoffs, and they left him there. That’s how important and critical he was. And then he scored a clutch goal in the shootout, where he needed to score to extend the shootout. And that takes a lot of confidence to do that."
The Flyers see the son of former NHL player Christian Berglund as a well-rounded player with good strength and the ability to win battles thanks to a high compete level. He has a solid 200-foot game despite some early questions about his skating. That’s a bit of a characteristic of Flyers draft picks these days, but the organization isn’t worried about his skating and sees it improving day by day. The Flyers view the player, whom assistant general manager Brent Flahr called a “big, strong horse out there,” as someone who is still developing his game.
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“Jack could skate in a straight line. His foot speed and everything had to improve, turning and that,” Flahr said in December. “But a lot of it’s strength, a lot of it’s just his body linking up for a big 6-4 guy. And as he gets older and stronger, he’s skating more than fine, and it’s something that he’s always going to have to work on, the quickness and agility.
“I compared his skating, when I saw him play as a young player, to a player that we had in Minnesota a long time, Mikko Koivu, who was a great player. He’s someone that he could pattern his game after because Mikko was a great two-way player, but he’s big and strong, and as a young player, people worried about his foot speed and whatnot, and he just became a really good pro for a long time that you can win with.”