Former Blackhawks Winger Returns To Europe to Play in Home Country
Former Chicago Blackhawk, Richard Panik has decided to return home to Slovakia for the first time since his teenage years.
He will play in the Slovakian Extraliga with HC Slovan Bratislava in his home country and have signed the 33-year-old through the league's international break during November.
Panik's NHL career for all intents and purposes has ended, since the last time he suited up in the league, was during the 2021-2022 season.
Panik would register an assist in four games for the New York Islanders and would spend most of the season with the Bridgeport Islanders in the AHL.
He hadn't seen AHL action in six years prior to that, and would eventually be loaned to the Swiss League's Lausanne HC, for the final year of his NHL deal in 2022-2023.
Panik would forego the attempt to return to the NHL, and as a free agent would opt to travel to Czechia to play in the Czech Extraliga, playing for HC Oceláři Třinec and find his game again.
He'd score 24 points( 14 G, 10 A) in 36 games before being traded to the HC Dynamo Pardubice, adding another 16 points( 6 G, 10 A) in 15 games.
He wouldn't find his new home until the European league's regular seasons began, but he'll find a home in his country's capital, Bratislava.
He'll be the only player with 521 games of NHL experience on the roster on HC Slovan.
Panik has shown brillance in the NHL, during the 2016-2017 season scoring 22 goals and 44 points with the Chicago Blackhawks.
But wouldn't notch that mark against his career, as he only came shy of it at the beginning of his career in the AHL with Norfolk, scoring 19 goals and 41 points.
He'd never find true success and would lose his scoring touch and eventually his spot in the league.
Unfortunately, the Blackhawks dealt him mid-way through the 2017-2018 NHL season but was never more than a depth scorer in the league.
Panik is another case of the "what ifs" in the NHL, as another player who had the skills but couldn't find a home in the best league in the world.
Source: Pro Hockey Rumors
Richard Pánik Signs In Slovakia
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