The Niagara Falls Review

Veteran NHL defenceman looking for a playoff team willing to take a chance

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MICHAEL TRAIKOS

POSTMEDIA NETWORK

TORONTO — James Wisniewski still doesn’t know how he ended up in Russia.

A year ago, he was earning $5.5 million as a power play specialist who had once ranked top 10 in scoring amongst defencemen. “And then — poof! — I was gone,” he said.

It’s a reality that many veteran NHLers are experienci­ng these days. From Brooks Laich and Milan Michalek to David Booth and Brandon Prust, more and more establishe­d players are being pushed out of the league as teams turn to younger and cheaper talent to fill roster spots.

“I thought when my career came to an end, I would see it coming,” said Wisniewski, 33. “But I didn’t see this coming. I still don’t understand what happened. I think I can play.”

In 2013-14, Wisniewski scored 51 points for the Columbus Blue Jackets. The following year, he had eight goals and 34 points in 69 games. But after tearing his ACL on opening night in 2015-16, an injury that forced him to miss the rest of the season, the Carolina Hurricanes bought out the remainder of Wisniewski’s contract.

What happened next was a lesson in the harsh realities of the NHL.

With Carolina more interested in developing Noah Hanifin, now 20, and Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce, both 22, the team didn’t have a need for Wisniewski. He had a profession­al tryout with the Tampa Bay Lightning. But after missing pretty much the entire season, no one was willing to take a chance on an aging player who was coming off a serious knee injury.

Out of options, Wisniewski signed a contract with Admiral Vladivosto­k in the KHL, primarily to keep his skills sharp and show GMs he wasn’t just sitting around and doing nothing. He expected to be there about a month; he had an out clause for when — not if — an NHL team came calling.

One month turned into two, then three. No one called. At times, he felt like no one even knew he was still playing. Vladivosto­k, a port city on the southeaste­rn tip of Russia, wasn’t exactly Siberia, but it might as well have been when you consider how cut off he was from the rest of the country.

“I was practicall­y in China,” said Wisniewski, who had a goal and four points in 16 KHL games. “It was a 45-minute flight to Tokyo and an hour flight to Seoul, South Korea. I’ve never seen travel like that. Our flights to Moscow were 10 hours and then we’d have to switch planes and take a two-hour flight to Minsk, Belarus. We had a 17-hour travel day one day.

“We used to bitch and complain about going to Detroit or out east,” said Wisniewski, of his days with the Anaheim Ducks. “That’s a fourhour flight. Big deal. That was like our closest flight in the KHL.”

If the travel was bad, the compensati­on was even worse. Three months passed before Wisniewski saw his first pay cheque. He’s still owed two-thirds of his salary.

“That’s almost how every team is there,” he said. “The big clubs are pretty good, like SKA or CSKA. They pay their guys on time. But on time would be a week or two late.”

With no money coming in, Wisniewski left the KHL to play in Switzerlan­d for HC Lugano in the Spengler Cup. The team lost to Canada in the final and Wisniewski was named to the tournament’s all-star team. But it didn’t matter. Two more months passed before he received an offer.

It wasn’t the NHL, but rather a minor-league deal with the St. Louis Blues’ AHL-affiliate in Chicago.

“I was hoping NHL teams would be like, ‘Oh, he’s playing games.’ But I came to find out that when you’re gone out of North America, you’re kind of out of sight, out of mind,” said Wisniewski. “That’s why I really wanted to come back. All of a sudden to be out of the NHL is a shock. I didn’t think it was going to go down like that.”

In three games with the Wolves, Wisniewski has two goals and an assist. He looks like the offensive defenceman who was a top producer in the NHL not that long ago. All he needs is a chance. And with the March 1 trade deadline approachin­g and the Blues reportedly dangling free agent defenceman Kevin Shattenkir­k, he might end up getting one again.

“That’s what I’m hoping for,” said Wisniewski. “That’s why I’m playing in the American League. Hopefully a playoff team recognizes that and takes a chance on me and I can prove everyone wrong once again in my career. I feel like I’m not that far from having a 51-point season.”

 ?? COLLEEN DE NEVE/POSTMEDIA FILES ?? James Wisniewski, seen in this 2015 file photo, has bounced from Russia to Switzerlan­d to the AHL this season while hoping for another shot at the NHL.
COLLEEN DE NEVE/POSTMEDIA FILES James Wisniewski, seen in this 2015 file photo, has bounced from Russia to Switzerlan­d to the AHL this season while hoping for another shot at the NHL.

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