After spending the 2020-21 season in the minor leagues, Jordan Weal is heading overseas. The veteran forward has signed a two-year contract with Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL.
Weal, 29, has played 218 regular season games in his NHL career, suiting up for the Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers, Arizona Coyotes and most recently the Montreal Canadiens. In the 2019-20 season he registered eight goals and 15 points in 49 games for the Canadiens, even suiting up twice in the postseason. A high-end minor league scorer, Weal won the Calder Cup in 2015, earning playoff MVP honors along the way. In 298 career AHL games, he has recorded 244 points.
That bodes well for his time in Russia, though this is an obvious departure from the norm for Weal. He has spent his entire career to this point in North America, but now ready for a new adventure. If he’s able to play up to a high standard over the next two years, the undersized forward is still young enough to potentially make a return to the NHL (or at least the AHL) at some point down the road.