13th year veteran center Erik Christensen(24) signs for a fourth season with HV71 of the SHL, where he set a career high 31 assists mark just a couple years ago.
After finishing 2011/2012 with Minnesota Wild, the unrestricted free agent left for the KHL joining HC Lev Praha but left 12 games into his second campaign and headed to Sweden in hopes of finding better fortunes.
He has been fairly lucky in the country scoring 35 goals and 60 assists in 126 games with a +9 rating, adding another 9 points in 11 playoff contests.
The 32-year old will turn 33 at the midpoint of the current calendar and may be considering his next move once he hangs up the skates of a long and must be very satisfying hockey career.
Erik Christensen(40) Minnesota Wild
It had been only a couple of seasons since 8th year center Erik Christiansen(40) played in the AHL, but before that it had been a few years when he appeared in 16 games with the affiliate of the team he was originally drafted and signed by, Pittsburgh Penguins (3rd round of 2002, #69 overall).
His only full season in the minors was his rookie campaign in 2004/2005, the year of the NHL lockout.
In his third season with New York Rangers, he came out of the gate slow and was eventually squeezed out of the lineup as the Blueshirts were looking for that right winning combination to click.
After many healthy scratches, he was finally demoted to Connecticut Whale on a “conditioning stint”.
In 5 games he scored a pair of goals and added an assist.
Looking to add some punch to their now struggling team, Minnesota Wild stepped in and gave up a prospect for some help up front they hope will pay immediate dividends.
He’s played 359 NHL games scoring 62 goals and 94 assists.
We shall see. . .