The Sharks have set the table for general manager Mike Grier’s first draft pick to make his North American debut.

Filip Bystedt, San Jose’s first-round pick (No. 27 overall) in last year’s NHL Draft, has signed a three-year entry-level contract, the team announced Monday.

The deal carries a base salary of $925,000 at the NHL level and includes a performance bonus of $83,300, per a source.

The 19-year-old Swedish center was named the rookie of the year in his home country’s league last season, notching 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) in 45 games for Linköping HC.

He also tied for his country’s team lead in points with 10 (four goals, six assists) at the World Junior Championships last winter. Sweden fell in the bronze medal game to the U.S., but Bystedt scored a tying goal late in that game to force overtime.

Prior to being drafted by the Sharks last summer, Bystedt dominated the Swedish junior division, scoring 33 goals and adding 16 assists in 45 games. He also played 15 games at the senior level that season, with one goal and an assist.

Bystedt participated in the Sharks’ development camp last summer in San Jose after being drafted.

The contract would allow Bystedt to join the Sharks or the Barracuda in the fall, but does not require him to do so. If he does not play 10 games with the Sharks during the 2023-24 season, Bystedt’s three-year deal slides back to the next season.

— Michael Nowels and Curtis Pashelka

Soccer

Five Quakes get international duty call-ups >> The San Jose Earthquakes will have five key players head off to join their national teams soon and miss key matches.

Defenders Carlos Akapo (Equatorial Guinea) and Miguel Trauco (Peru) as well as midfielder Carlos Gruezo (Ecuador) and Jamiro Monteiro (Cape Verde) will all miss Saturday’s home match against the Portland Timbers because of the call-ups.

Trauco and Gruezo will also miss the Quakes’ following match on Wednesday, June 21 at Houston because of the call-ups.

Midfielder/forward Cade Cowell will also head off to join the United States’ national team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, though he won’t leave until after Saturday’s match against Portland.

Cowell already was away from San Jose for a month playing for the U.S. U-20 team in the U-20 World Cup in Argentina. Now, he could miss as much as another full month if the Americans advance to the Gold Cup final in mid-July.

After last weekend’s 2-1 win over reigning Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia, the Quakes sit in fifth place at 26 points, but are only three points behind Western Conference leaders St. Louis City.

— Alex Simon

College sports

Oklahoma softball ace announces transfer plans >> Just days after leading Oklahoma’s softball team to its third straight national title, pitcher Jordy Bahl announced on social media that she is transferring and heading back to her home state of Nebraska.

Bahl is from Papillion, a suburb of Omaha. She said in the post that she’s homesick and wants to help grow the sport in a state she feels is overlooked at all levels of softball.

Bahl was a first-team National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-American this season and a Top 10 finalist for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. She finished this season with a 22-1 record and an 0.90 ERA. In 2022, she was NFCA Freshman of the Year and a first-team All-American. In her two years at Oklahoma, she won two national titles and finished with a 44-2 record.

She pitched 24 2/3 scoreless innings at this year’s Women’s College World Series and was named its Most Outstanding Player. She went 4-0 at the World Series in Oklahoma City and earned the save in the decisive championship series victory in Game 2 against Florida State.

Bahl did not say which school she will play for, but there are three Division I programs in the state: Nebraska, Creighton and Omaha. Nebraska and Omaha reached the NCAA Tournament and lost in regional play this season. Creighton went 22-31.

NCAA champions have day at White House >> Vice President Kamala Harris saluted more than a thousand U.S. college athletes from championship teams who gathered at the White House South Lawn, saying that sports have a “very special way of bringing people together.”

President Joe Biden had been scheduled to greet the athletes, but he had a root canal and was unable to attend the outdoor event on an overcast morning. The first of its kind assembly comes as collegiate sports have increasingly spilled into the political arena.

There was the recent drama over the champion women’s basketball team from Louisiana State University going to the White House after first lady, Jill Biden, suggested that the runners-up from the University of Iowa should also come. The LSU team ultimately went to the White House despite initial resistance from star Angel Reese who said the team should visit former president Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, instead. Collegiate sports have also faced questions about the participation of transgender athletes.

The focus on Monday was on the role that athletes play in U.S. society as role models.

“You inspire so many across our country, people you may never meet,” Harris said. “You remind all of us of what we can achieve.”

The event included 52 teams from 19 different sports, including the men’s gymnastics and women’s water polo teams from Stanford University.