Chicago Blackhawks forward Peter Regin said Monday he has agreed to a two-year deal to play with Jokerit of Europe's Kontinental Hockey League next season.
Regin, 29, was acquired by the Blackhawks from the New York Islanders in February 2014 and played in 21 games and five playoff games for Chicago the past season. The native of Denmark re-signed with the Blackhawks on a one-year deal in the offseason and was set to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2014-15 season.
Regin had hoped to play all of this season in the NHL with the Blackhawks, but he was assigned to the AHL's Rockford IceHogs and spent most of the season there. He had 10 goals and 31 assists in 69 regular-season games in the AHL and played four games in the NHL.
Regin said spending a majority of this season in the AHL helped in his decision to sign in the KHL.
“I guess the last couple months, I kind of knew that Europe would be the next option for me, the way the season went this year,” Regin said by phone Monday. “I wanted to kind of try something new. My agent started looking around, and obviously, it interfered with the season here. I understand it’s not the best timing, but it won’t affect me in any way [in the AHL playoffs].
“[The KHL] is the second-best league in the world. Guys are still making it back to the NHL. If I were to have a good year, I might have a chance coming back over here. That was kind of my priority. That’s why I wanted to go to the KHL -- to maybe have that opportunity to come back here if I have a good year.”
Regin said he didn’t have any discussions with the Blackhawks about re-signing. Despite not playing in the NHL much this season, Regin said he has enjoyed his time with the Blackhawks organization.
“I think we both kind of knew where it was heading,” Regin said. “I think my agent told them this could be a possibility for me. I don’t think they thought too much against it. It was where it was kind of heading. But they’ve been nothing but good to me the whole way. They’ve been fair and told me they understood my situation and understood jobs do go early in Europe. If that was the way I was going to go, I would probably have to do it before the season ended here. They were very understanding. I’m thankful for that. I have only positive things to say about the Blackhawks organization.”
