The Ottawa Senators have signed forward Eskild Bakke Olsen to a one-year, entry-level contract carrying a cap hit of $910,000, the team announced Monday. The 24-year-old will be an RFA when the deal expires after the 2026-27 season, per puckpedia.
Bakke Olsen is a 6-foot-2, 203-pound forward from Hamar, Norway, who made his professional debut with hometown club Storhamar in the 2019-20 season. He spent three seasons there before heading to Sweden, where he quickly made his mark in HockeyAllsvenskan with BIK Karlskoga, leading the club in scoring in back-to-back seasons with 37 points in 49 games in 2023-24 and 53 points in 48 games in 2024-25. That production earned him a promotion to the SHL, where he ranked second on Linköping HC with 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists) in 51 games last season.
The signing comes on the heels of a strong showing at the 2026 IIHF World Championship, where Bakke Olsen posted two goals and three assists in 10 games for Norway. He was part of a historic run that saw the Norwegians claim the country’s first-ever IIHF medal, defeating Canada 3-2 in overtime in the bronze medal game in Zurich. Bakke Olsen scored the opening goal against Canada in preliminary-round play and was named the player of the game.
The undrafted forward caught NHL attention during the tournament, with reports that several clubs had begun to show interest. Ottawa acted, buying out the remaining term on Bakke Olsen’s three-year SHL deal with Linköping which would have kept him in Sweden through 2027-28 to get the ELC signed.
Bakke Olsen becomes one of a small number of Norwegian-born players to sign an NHL contract, joining a group that has grown in visibility in part due to Norway’s rising international profile. He’ll enter training camp this fall competing for a spot in the Senators’ lineup or their AHL affiliate in Belleville.
