16-year NHL veteran Valtteri Filppula signs in Switzerland

It appears to be the end of the NHL journey for veteran forward Valtteri Filppula. The 37-year-old became a free agent when his two-year, $6M contract expired this offseason and now he’s heading overseas to finish his career. Filppula has signed with Geneve-Servette HC of the Swiss National League, becoming the team’s fourth import player.

Filppula played in 38 games for the Detroit Red Wings last season, scoring six goals and 15 points. If that is indeed the final season of his NHL career, it has been a very impressive one. The Finnish center played 1,056 regular season games and another 166 in the postseason, going deep into the postseason several times. He reached the Stanley Cup Finals three times, winning it in 2008 with the Red Wings. He currently sits at 197 goals and 530 points, quite the legacy for the 95th overall pick in 2002.

He also made quite a bit of money in his career, with CapFriendly estimating his contract earnings at just under $50M. Filppula’s return to Detroit in 2019 may not have gone exactly to plan, but he still did contribute 36 points in 108 games while the team went through a rebuild. His departure is one of many that will open roster spots for some of the Red Wings’ younger players as they try to turn the corner and start the long road toward contention.

In Switzerland, he’ll join Daniel Winnik, Marc Pouliot and Henrik Tommernes as the foreign contingent for Geneve-Servette.