After some notable international signings earlier today, there’s more to cover. One is former Jets defenseman Nelson Nogier, who’s sticking in Europe for the third straight season after signing a one-year deal with Germany’s Straubing Tigers yesterday.
Nogier, 28, was a fourth-round pick of Winnipeg in 2014. He logged brief action with the Jets in the 2016-17 and 2018-19 campaigns, amounting to 11 total games of NHL experience with no points, a -1 rating and 5 PIMs. The 6’3″, 207-lb right-shot defenseman spent most of his time with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, where he posted 41 points in 242 games across six seasons with the organization.
After being traded to the Kings in a minor swap late in 2021-22, Nogier posted four points in 13 games for their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, before reaching unrestricted free agency that summer. He immediately headed overseas, heading to Kazakhstan with Barys Astana of the Kontinental Hockey League. That’s where he spent the last two seasons, amassing 20 points and a -14 rating in 117 appearances. Late in the European transfer period, with regular seasons about to get underway, he’ll look to make an impact in Straubing alongside former NHLers Justin Braun, Taylor Leier, and others.
Some more overseas moves:
- Former Lightning second-round pick Dominik Masin has signed in his native Czechia for the first time in his professional career, inking a three-year deal with HC Sparta Prague. Masin, now 28, logged 58 points in 273 appearances from the blue line for the Lightning’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, from 2016 to 2020. He never received a call-up, though, and headed overseas upon becoming a restricted free agent during the pandemic. The Lightning still held his signing rights up until February of last year. Masin spent parts of the last three years playing for Ilves in Finland, helping them to a third-place finish in Liiga in 2022.
- Former Golden Knights prospect Marcus Kallionkieli is returning to Poland, inking a one-year deal with GKS Katowice. The 23-year-old winger has had quite the peculiar ride, plagued by injuries for much of his time under contract with Vegas. Last year, the final one of his entry-level contract, the organization loaned him to Poland’s STS Sanok before reassigning him to Finland’s Kiekko-Espoo and then placing him on unconditional waivers for mutual contract termination in February. A fifth-round pick in 2019, the Finnish-Brazilian national had two goals in six games with their AHL affiliate in Henderson in 2020-21 and one goal in five games with the ECHL’s Savannah Ghost Pirates during an injury-truncated 2022-23 campaign.