NHL or Sweden for Oskar Sundqvist this year?

The Post-Gazette had a nice piece on Pens prospect Oskar Sundqvist today:

"He's been impressive," said John Hynes, who is coach of the Penguins' minor league team in Wilkes-Barre and who is running their bench in this tournament.

Sundqvist's size -- he is 6 feet 3, 209 pounds -- is an obvious asset; his wingspan is especially valuable when killing penalties and playing in his defensive zone.

His hockey sense is almost as evident, and no less significant.

"He's a really high hockey IQ kind of player," Hynes said. "So he understands the game quite a bit."

Sundqvist himself re-tweeted a link to a Swedish article, mostly based on the PG article about how Sundqvist has impressed WB/S head coach John Hynes. But this part (translated) at the end stood out:

The idea is to Sundqvist will be lent to Skelleftea this season, but the visit turns out well in North America , he can remain in the NHL.

Seems interesting, most had suspected Sundqvist might be sent back to his team in Sweden, rather than play in the AHL, and this article confirms that is the thinking.

The Penguins have 12 forwards on one-way contracts, so Sundqvist would likely have to beat out all of the bubble players like Daniel Carcillo, Adam Payerl, Dominik Uher, Jayson Megna and Zach Sill to remain in the NHL this season. It would seem possible, but still a long-shot. However, if the camp is wide open and Sundqvist continues to impress, it'll be worth watching.