A free agent defenseman has decided to take his talents overseas. Oscar Fantenberg, who spent the 2019-20 season with the Vancouver Canucks, has signed a one-year contract with SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL. The deal carries him through the end of April 2021.
Fantenberg, 29, has actually played in the KHL before, suiting up 44 times for Sochi HC in 2016-17. That’s the season which landed him an NHL contract, signing a one-year entry-level deal with the Los Angeles Kings almost immediately after it ended. Since then, the two-way defenseman has played in 147 NHL games, split between the Kings, Canucks, and Calgary Flames.
Perhaps his most impressive hockey came just this summer for the Canucks, where he played 16 postseason contests. While he’ll never be a top-four option in the NHL, it did appear as though he could be a useful depth piece for the next several years.
With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if his name pops up again after the KHL season ends, given that the NHL schedule will likely not be finished by the beginning of May. He’ll also be a candidate to return for the 2021-22 campaign, if he decides to try his hand in North America once again.
Huh I thought fantenberg played with Edmonton at some point. Guess I was wrong.