Purcell tries something new, signs with Russian team

Forward from St. John’s inks deal with KHL’S Avangard Omsk

Teddy Purcell of St. John’s was on his way to Russia Tuesday, where he’s set to join Avangard Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League.

The 32-year-old Purcell, a veteran of 599 career NHL games with four different clubs, is said to have signed a oneyear contract with Omsk for $1.2 million US.

Omsk, in southwestern Siberia, has a population of about 1.15 million, making it Russia’s seventh-largest city

Avangard Omsk is the same KHL team for which Jaromir Jagr twice skated, first during the 2004-05 lockout and again as he took a three-year hiatus from the NHL (2008-11). Purcell reached out to Jagr — the two were teammates on the 2015-16 Florida Panthers — and the Czech star gave the city and organization a good review.

Purcell, 32, attended the Boston Bruins’ training camp on a professional tryout last month, but the organization decided against offering the veteran an NHL contract, opting instead to go with younger players.

Other than his turn with the Canadian national team at the 2012 world championship, this represents Purcell’s first overseas hockey venture.

Purcell turned pro in 200708, winning American Hockey League rookie of the year honours (another Newfoundlander, by the way, would win the same award three years later when Luke Adam of St. John’s, now playing in Germany, won the Dudley “Red” Garrett Memorial Award).

Purcell got his first taste of action that 2007-08 season with the Los Angeles Kings, the team that signed him as an undrafted free agent after one year at the University of Maine.

Purcell split the 2008-09 season between L.A. and the AHL, becoming a full-time NHLER in 2009-10. He blossomed following a trade to the Tampa Bay Lightning, scoring a seasonhigh 24 goals and 65 points in 2011-12.

He would also play with the Edmonton Oilers and Panthers before closing out his NHL career last season with the Kings, appearing in 12 games before spending most of the year with the AHL’S Ontario Reign.

Purcell’s NHL numbers read 110 career goals (regular season and playoffs) and 327 points. That’s fourth all-time amongst Newfoundlanders who have played in the NHL, behind Bonavista’s Michael Ryder (529), Daniel Cleary of Harbour Grace (439) and Ryane Clowe of Fermeuse (355).

Omsk is already 25 games into the 2017-18 KHL season, and leads its division. Three players on the squad — Evgeny Medvedev and Swede Erik Gustafsson (both with the Philadelphia Flyers) and Swede Dennis Everberg (Colorado Avalanche) — have NHL experience. Alexander Perezhogin of Avangard is a former first-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens.

There are no other Canadians on the Omsk roster.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO To date, Teddy Purcell’s 10 years in professional hockey have been entirely spent in North America, including four-and-a-half seasons with the NHL’S Tampa Bay Lightning. Now, the 32-year-old from St. John’s is heading overseas after agreeing to a...