European signings

A whole bunch of WHL-related European signings from the last couple of weeks:

Former Regina Pats C Brett Lysak has signed with Odense of Denmark’s Elitserien. Lysak spent the last two seasons with the Milan Vipers in Italy’s top league. He had 44 points in 28 games last season. . . . LW Reid Simpson (Prince Albert Raiders) has retired and has signed as an assistant coach with Vityaz Podolsk in Russia. He will work with the organization’s second team. Podolsk is about 50km south of Moscow. . . . D Brandon Smith (Portland Winter Hawks) has signed with Eisbären Berlin in the DEL. He spent last season with the AHL’s Rochester Americans. Also with the Berlin team are ex-WHLers Deron Quint, Richard Mueller and Tyson Mulock. . . . D Jason Beckett (Seattle Thunderbirds) will play with Red Bulls Salzburg in Austria’s top league. He was with the ECHL’s Stockton Thunder last season. Also signing with Salzburg was former WHLer Josh Green, who had been with the Vancouver Canucks, and D Doug Lynch (Red Deer Rebels). Salzburg is coached by Pierre Page with Reijo Ruotsalainen as assistant coach.

F Mike Green (Kootenay Ice) has returned to the Hannover Scorpions of Germany’s DEL. Green was with the AHL’s Iowa Stars last season. He played for Hannover two seasons ago. . . . Also signing with Hannover was F Chris Herperger (Swift Current/Seattle). He was with Kloten of the top Swiss league, Nationalliga A, last season. He joins D Aris Brimanis (Brandon), who was also with Herperger in Kloten last season. . . . D Burke Henry (Brandon Wheat Kings) is on a tryout deal through Sept. 15 with Linköping in Sweden’s Elitserien. Henry played with Tappara Tampere in the Finnish SM-Liiga last season. Linköping has G Rastislav Stana (Moose Jaw Warriors/Calgary Hitmen) in its lineup. . . . G Scott Langkow (Portland) was released from his tryout contract with Jokerit Helsinki (SM-Liiga) after Jokerit signed former Edmonton Oilers G Jussi Markkanen to a one-year contract. Jokerit also re-signed F Clarke Wilm (Saskatoon Blades) to a one-year contract.

RW Jamie Lundmark (Moose Jaw/Seattle) signed with the Moscow Dynamo of the Russian Superliga. He joins D Gennady Razin (Kamloops Blazers), who played for Ak Bars Kazan last season. . . . G Jamie McLennan (Lethbridge Broncos) signed with Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the Russian Superliga. . . . D Justin Mazurek, who played 11 games with Portland in 2005-06, won’t turn 19 until November but has signed with Polonia Bytom in Poland’s top league. He played with Bonneyville (AJHL) last season. . . . LW Josh Olson (Portland) has signed with AS Renon in Bolzano, Italy. . . . F Oleg Saprykin (Seattle) has left the NHL’s Ottawa Senators to sign with CSKA Moscow, where he will be teammates with F Ladislav Kohn (Swift Current Broncos).

F Quinn Hancock (Tacoma Rockets/Kelowna Rockets/Calgary/Prince George Cougars) has signed with Södertälje of Sweden’s Elitserien. Hancock played the past five seasons in Finland’s SM-Liiga, the past two seasons with Tappara. He will stay with Tappara until October, when he will change teams. . . . F Martin Cibak (Medicine Hat Tigers) also will suit up for Södertälje. . . . D Filip Novak (Regina) has signed a one-year deal with Ceske Budejovice in the top Czech League. . . . D Rory Rawlyk (Medicine Hat/Vancouver Giants/Prince Albert/Red Deer) has signed with EV Regensburg in Germany’s 2.Bundesliga. He split last season between Bofors (Sweden Allsvenskan), Binghamton (AHL) and Cincinnati (ECHL). Regensburg is coached by former Medicine Hat C Wayne Hynes and has former Spokane Chiefs D Chris Heid, who holds a German passport, Jason Miller (Medicine Hat) and Mike Wirll (Brandon/Prince Albert/Prince George/Lethbridge) signed for this season.

Ässät Pori of Finland’s SM-Liiga, that country’s top league, has signed F Blake Robson (Portland/Prince George) to a tryout contract through the middle of September. Ässät opened its exhibition schedule on July 27. . . . F Chris Schmidt (Seattle) signed with Iserlohn Roosters in the DEL. Schmidt played with Ingolstadt in the DEL last season. According to the Iserlohn website, Schmidt has moved to defence. He will have former Saskatoon G Norm Maracle as a teammate. . . . D Wade Skonley (Brandon) has signed a one-year deal with the Straubing Tigers of the DEL. He joins F Cam Severson (Kamloops/Swift Current/Lethbridge/Prince Albert/Spokane). The head coach of Straubing is former German great Erich Kuhnhackl. . . . F Ryan Keller (Saskatoon) signed a one-year contract with the Espoo Blues of Finland’s SM-Liiga (the top league).

And one non-European note: Keith Gerhart, Everett’s director of public relations and
radio play-by-play voice, has left the Silvertips to, according to a press
release, “pursue other opportunities.” Gerhart, who is moving to
Indianapolis, was the franchise’s original radio voice and called all of its
288 regular-season and 59 playoff games. . . . The U.S. Division now has lost two of its play-by-play voices, the other, of course, being Dean (Scooter) Vrooman, who left Winter Hawks last week.