BREAKING: Former Stanley Cup champion signs in Europe to continue his hockey career

We are seeing more and more that the National Hockey League is becoming a young mans game, so it's becoming harder for non-superstar veterans to hold a roster spot in todays game.

That is the case for this veteran player who made a name for himself as a two-way player with the Detroit Red Wings over his career.

Drafted in the 2nd round 42nd overall back in 2005, Justin Abdelkader made his debut in 2008 with the Red Wings, and went on to be with the team during their Stanley Cup run.

Abdelkader did not play enough games in the regular season to have his named engraved on the cup, but he did get a picture with the team and the trophy, had his moment to skate around with the cup and the Red Wings awarded him with a Stanley Cup ring.


He went on to play 739 all with the Detroit Red Wings, scoring 106 goals and 252 points over his career. He represented Team USA at the World Championships on multiple occasions, played for Team USA at this past Olympics and even made the USA World Cup roster over players like Phil Kessel who dominated at the Olympics, due to the team wanting to have a great two-way play to try and defeat Team Canada.

He has not been in the NHL since 2020, playing in the Swiss league and AHL last season, and it has now been announced that Abdelkader has signed back with EV Zug, where he won the League Champsionship during the 2020-21 season.

🖋️ #donedeal - Der #EVZ reagiert auf den Ausfall von Carl #Klingberg und verpflichtet Justin #Abdelkader bis mindestens Ende Jahr.

📰 Zur Medienmitteilung: https://t.co/iv7zgXU24i#fürblauundwiis #welcomeback pic.twitter.com/js2bMBtJ4y— EVZ (@official_EVZ) November 21, 2022