After being bought out by Detroit back in the offseason, veteran winger Justin Abdelkader has found a place to play. EV Zug of the Swiss NLA announced that they’ve signed the 33-year-old to a contract for the remainder of the 2020-21 season.
In his prime, Abdelkader was a capable top-six power forward, twice reaching the 40-point mark while recording at least 100 hits in all of his 11 full NHL seasons. However, his offensive production dried up considerably in recent years including a goalless 2019-20 campaign where he managed just three assists in 49 games which resulted in the Red Wings opting to pay him more than $6MM in total over the next six years to get out of his contract.
If Abdelkader can have some offensive success overseas, it’s not entirely implausible to think that a team could view him as a possible fourth line fit or PTO candidate for 2021-22 so there could be a lot at stake for him over the next couple of months. However, he’ll have to wait a little while before he can get overseas as he will now look to get his work visa approved.
Nice guy but he’s done.
Kind of surprised nobody was willing to take him on at the minimum. A lot of teams could use depth and he could be serviceable on the 4th line.