Once a promising prospect in the Kings’ pool, Tyler Madden is off to Germany on a one-year deal with the Straubing Tigers of the DEL, the team announced.
Madden, 25, heads to Germany’s top league on the heels of a few years of stagnation in the minors. The son of longtime NHL center John Madden was a third-round pick of the Canucks in 2018 and quickly made a name for himself in college at Northeastern, turning pro after a sophomore season in which he had 37 points in only 27 games.
A few weeks before leaving college, Madden’s signing rights were sent to Los Angeles in the trade that sent Tyler Toffoli to Vancouver. He quickly signed his entry-level contract, but the pandemic delayed his professional debut.
After playing just 14 games with AHL Ontario in 2020-21 as a result, Madden looked like he was well on his way to a full-time NHL role the following season when he put up 31 points in 48 games for the Reign. Unfortunately, that was the peak of the New York native’s production.
Madden’s AHL points per game totals went from 0.65 in 2021-22 to around 0.46 over the following two seasons, resulting in him never getting an NHL call-up. Midway through last season, the Kings traded him to the Wild in exchange for minor-league defenseman Joseph Cecconi.
He finished the season with two goals and 10 points in 20 games for AHL Iowa, not enough to convince Minnesota to give him a qualifying offer. He became an unrestricted free agent on July 1 as a result and presumably didn’t receive any NHL two-way offers that intrigued him.
The 2019 World Juniors silver medalist now heads to Straubing, where he’ll potentially look to fuel a return to North America with a strong performance. If not, it might be the start of a lengthy European career.
The Tigers have been in Germany’s top league since gaining promotion from the second division in 2006, but have largely been a middle-of-the-pack team over the last two decades. They’ll hope Madden offers them an offensive infusion after their top scorer last season, Josh Samanski, left to sign an entry-level contract with the Oilers.