At this point, it's hard to say whether the Swedish Eliteserien will appeal the ruling, but Sportsnet's Luke Fox did an excellent job of summarizing oodles of Twitter quips from the usual European hockey experts regarding the news that the Eliteserien can no longer prevent its teams from signing short-term contracts with NHL players:

The Swedish Elite League’s Aug. 23 decision to not accept rental players from the National Hockey League in the event of the North American pros being locked out was overruled Friday, reports Aftonbladet.

Due to an anti-trust ruling by the Swedish Competition Authority, which could still be appealed, the SEL must permit its clubs to sign members of the NHLPA to short-term contracts or be fined 20 million Swedish krona (roughly $2.99 million Canadian).

"The hockey league’s decision can be likened to a cartel,” Per Karlsson, senior counsel at the Competition Authority, said in a statement on Friday, reported by the Globe and Mail. “The decision means that ice hockey clubs that are affiliated to Swedish Hockey AB (Elitserien) must decide themselves if they want to sign contracts with locked-out NHL players or not.”

Continued, and Greg "Puck Daddy" Wyshynski dishes player-signing scuttlebutt...