Jimmy Vesey Signs With NL’s Genève-Servette HC

Genève-Servette HC of Switzerland’s National League has agreed to a two-year deal with winger Jimmy Vesey, according to a team announcement. Vesey was reportedly considering offers from Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League but will instead move to Western Europe.

It will mark Vesey’s first season overseas following a four-year run with Harvard from 2012-16 and a nine-year NHL career. There presumably wasn’t much interest from NHL clubs this summer in making it a 10-year one. The Boston native had solidified himself as a solid bottom-six piece with PK deployability in recent years but fell out of a regular role in 2024-25, scoring only eight points in 43 games between the Rangers and Avalanche while averaging a career-low 10:39 per game.

Now 32, Vesey was a third-round pick by Nashville in 2012 but opted not to sign with the club. He tested free agency in 2016 following a standout senior season as Harvard’s captain, winning the Hobey Baker Award after scoring 24 goals and 46 points in 33 games. He landed with the Rangers, but his offensive tools never really clicked. He’s only cracked 30 points in a season once, scoring 17 goals and 35 points in 81 games for the Blueshirts in the 2018-19 season.

That ended his first stint in New York. He went on to spend the next three years with the Sabres, Maple Leafs, Canucks, and Devils before returning to Manhattan as a free agent in 2022. He only missed three games over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns but was a frequent healthy scratch for the Rangers last year, limited to six points in 33 games before being flipped to Colorado near the trade deadline in the Ryan Lindgren deal.

It’s rare that a player making the jump to Europe in his 30s manages to make a successful NHL return. While Vesey still likely has at least a few years of pro hockey left in him, they likely won’t be back in North America. Assuming he has played his final NHL game, he finishes with 101 goals, 93 assists, and 194 points in 626 appearances with a -58 rating. He averaged 13 goals and 25 points per 82 games.