Longtime NHLer Jimmy Vesey signs in Switzerland

A player who has bounced around the NHL for the last several years is heading overseas.

On Monday, Genève-Servette HC of the National League in Switzerland announced that the team has signed forward Jimmy Vesey to a two-year contract that will carry through the 2026-27 season.

Vesey has been in the NHL ranks since debuting with the New York Rangers in 2016. However, the Boston native never quite met the hype that surrounded him coming out of Harvard University, where he won the Hobey Baker Award in 2016.

After three seasons with the Blueshirts, where Vesey scored no more than 35 points in a season, he was shipped off to the Buffalo Sabres in the summer of 2019. After one year in Buffalo, Vesey was on the move again, signing a one-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Yet, he didn’t make it through the entire season in Toronto, as he was claimed off waivers by the Vancouver Canucks in March 2021.

From there, Vesey had a quick stop with the New Jersey Devils before re-signing with the Rangers in October 2022. He would remain with the Rangers until this past March, when he, Ryan Lindgren and Hank Kempf were traded to the Colorado Avalanche for Calvin de Haan, among other assets.

In 626 regular-season games across nine NHL seasons, the 32-year-old scored 101 goals and 93 assists for 194 points. He never scored more than 17 goals in a season, hitting the 30-point mark just once. Vesey also posted nine points in 31 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Vesey joins a team in Switzerland that is filled with NHL experience. Along with team captain Markus Granlund, the Eagles have the likes of Josh Jooris, Marc-Antoine Pouliot, and the recently signed Jesse Puljujarvi on their roster for next season. Genève-Servette is just a year removed from the team winning the Champions Hockey League for the first time in franchise history.