Whatever Happened to Former Maple Leaf Pontus Åberg?

Every once in a while, I come across a former Maple Leafs player and have one of those, “Whatever happened to that guy?” moments. Pontus Åberg is one of them. Toronto signed Åberg as a free agent in July 2019, hoping the Swedish winger might provide some inexpensive scoring depth. He was 25 at the time and had already bounced around the NHL, but there was always a little something interesting about his game. He could shoot, he could score, and he had enough skill to make you wonder if there was more there.

Unfortunately for Åberg, Maple Leafs fans didn't get to find out.

He played just five NHL games with the Leafs that season, picking up one assist. Most of his time was spent with the Marlies, where things went considerably better. Åberg scored 20 goals and added 24 assists for 44 points in 55 games. That's pretty good production. But it wasn't enough to establish himself as an NHL regular.

Åberg's NHL career eventually included 132 games with Nashville, Edmonton, Anaheim, Minnesota and Toronto. He scored 17 goals and 44 points. His best stretch came with Anaheim in 2018-19, when he scored 11 goals and 19 points in just 37 games. And that tells you a little bit about his career. There was always enough offence to make teams interested. There just wasn't quite enough consistency to make somebody decide he was a permanent part of the plan.

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After the Maple Leafs, Åberg played around Europe.

After Toronto, Åberg went on a pretty good European hockey tour. He played in the KHL, the AHL, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. He eventually found something that looked a lot more like home in the Swiss National League. And he's still producing. In 2023-24, he put up 17 goals and 37 points in 64 games with Barys Astana in the KHL. He returned to Switzerland after that, and in 2025-26 he split his season between the ZSC Lions in Zurich and EHC Kloten.

He finished with 20 points in 41 games for Zurich and then added three points in six games after being loaned to Kloten late in the season. Apparently, Kloten liked what they saw. In March 2026, Åberg signed a two-year contract with the club that will keep him there through the 2027-28 season.

So whatever happened to Pontus Åberg?

He didn't become the NHL scorer some people thought he might become. But he didn't disappear either. He found another hockey life. And maybe that's something we don't talk about enough when we look at former NHL players. Making it in the NHL isn't the only measure of whether somebody had a good career. Åberg has played professional hockey in several countries, found a place where his offensive game works and, at 32, is still earning a living doing something he obviously loves.

Sometimes the hockey story isn't about making it to the top. Sometimes it's about finding the place where you belong.

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