Veteran Ehrhoff still looking for NHL job
A strong World Cup showing helped Dennis Seidenberg land another NHL contract.
Will it do the same for fellow Team Europe defenceman Christian Ehrhoff?
It hasn’t yet, but that doesn’t mean it still won’t.
As of Thursday afternoon the veteran of 789 National Hockey League games was still without a deal. But, judging from his play during this best-on-best tournament, the 34-year-old Ehrhoff could still be of use to an NHL club looking to plug holes on the back end.
In six games, Ehrhoff, who logged 13:56 of ice time a night while being paired with Mark Streit, led all Team Europe defenceman with three assists and three points and was tied for a team-best plus-2. He has showed he’s not afraid to sacrifice his body, recording a team-high four blocked shots during a Game 1 loss to Canada on Tuesday. He had one blocked shot in Thursday’s 2-1 loss, giving Team Canada the series in straight games.
“I think he’s played really well for us,” Europe and L.A. Kings captain Anze Kopitar said Thursday ahead of Game 2.
“Obviously things in L.A. didn’t work out for him. It’s definitely nice to see right now that he’s been playing good and he’s been a big part of our blue line. Hopefully he will get a job after this.”
Both Seidenberg and Ehrhoff came into the tournament without NHL deals, and both have played well. Seidenberg’s contribution was recognized by the New York Islanders on Wednesday when they signed him to a one-year contract worth a reported $1 million.
There is no reason to think Ehrhoff shouldn’t be able to land something similar.
Well, there may be a couple of reasons clubs are hesitating on the puck-moving defenceman.
Heading into the off-season, it appeared the former 50-point man’s career might be over. He managed just 15 points in 53 games in 2015-16 with three different teams, including the AHL’s Ontario Reign, and the Kings and Chicago Blackhawks gave up on him. All this after being bought out of the last seven years of a 10-year, $40-million contract with the Buffalo Sabres in the summer of 2014.
And then there were the concussion issues that limited him to 49 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2014-15.
But judging from this tournament, though it is a small sample size, Ehrhoff appears to be back, and several teams are reportedly interested.
“Once the tournament is over I’m going to talk to my agent, and we’re going to figure out the next step,” Ehrhoff said. “Right now my focus is solely on Team Europe.”