Calgary Flames and Abbotsford Heat defenceman Staffan Kronwall has opted to end his tenure with the American Hockey League’s Heat, and instead return to his home club in Sweden.  It’s a decision that comes with the blessing of both teams, and is probably mutually beneficial for both sides.

Krownall, the brother of Detroit’s Niklas, joins Djurgardens IF in Stockholm in a situation similar to the one we saw with former Flames forward Marcus Nilson.  Kronwall joined the Flames on July 2nd of 2009 after signing with the team as an unrestricted free agent.  He played 11 games in Calgary last season, scoring once and adding two assists, however most of his time was spent in Abbotsford.  With the Heat last season, Kronwall played in 44 regular season games putting up five goals and 28 points.  In nine Heat playoff games, he added two assists.

The writing was on the wall right from the very start of training camp this season for Kronwall, in that it was going to be extremely difficult for him to crack the Flames roster.  With so many one way contracts already, Kronwall was placed with the second group of skaters to start camp, away from the veteran and established NHL’ers.  The emergence of T.J. Brodie through camp made it even more difficult for Kronwall to elevate onto the big roster.

He played just one game with Abbotsford this season before making his decision to return to Sweden.