32-year Old NHL Veteran Leaves North America And Signs in Finland
Mark Pysyk has played in over 500 NHL games, but now the former first-round draft pick is officially headed overseas after struggling to make it back to the NHL over the past two years.
While not one of the biggest names in the NHL, Mark Pysyk carved out a solid career for himself in the league between 2012 and 2022, playing in over 500 games for the Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars.
He was last seen over the last 12 months playing with the AHL's Calgary Wranglers and Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins while struggling to make much of an impact, and now, the 32-year old is pursuing a new opportunity.
After struggling to find a new opportunity at the NHL level, Pysyk is now officially heading overseas, joining SaiPa of the Liiga, better known as the Finnish Elite League in Finland for the rest of this season.
Throughout that NHL career, the talented defenseman scored 28 goals and 104 points, and while he may have never lived up to the billing as a former first-round draft pick, he's certainly been a very steady player no matter what level he's played at.
In 29 games for the Calgary Flames AHL affiliate a season ago, Pysyk played solid defense and tallied 4 assists, so now he will look to use this new opportunity in Finland to reinvent himself and become what many believed he could have been in the NHL.
While the talent in Liiga may not be at the level of a competition like the KHL, this is certainly another opportunity to prove himself, and perhaps in a larger role than he saw in the AHL as well.
We wish Mark all of the best as he looks to continue his professional hockey career, and whether he makes it back to the NHL or not, he's got a very solid career from the past decade to look back on.
