Players who’ve played everywhere

[Yozhik v tumane]

I wonder if the HoH is the right place for this query, or if the International subforum would be better, but I figured it’s about weird historical records and we’ve got a diverse mix of historical knowledge here so, here goes.

@sr edler mentioned a Canadian player with the very Swedish name of Eric Johansson in another thread, and looking up his elite prospects profile I noticed that he’d played for teams in a whopping nine different countries: Canada, United States, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Denmark and France.

This made me wonder, who are some players who’ve played virtually everywhere? Can we figure out what the record is for the number of countries a player has represented teams in?

The first name that sprung to mind for me was Kent Nilsson who had appearances in seemingly every European league imaginable during the 90s. Indeed, he matches Johansson’s nine countries, having played for teams based in Sweden, Canada, the United States, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Norway, Germany, and Spain (!).

I doubt that nine’s the record, but so far I haven’t found anyone with more countries under their belt, so to speak. There seems to exist a ton of obscure players who perhaps dipped their toes in the Swedish first or second tier leagues, then spent years moving from league to league playing semi professional hockey.

This thread’s about hockey’s globetrotters!

Click to read more...

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

Okay, I found one who’s played in 10 different countries!

Former Habs 2nd round pick Danny Kristo played for Canadian, American, Latvian, Swedish, Swiss, Chinese, German, Czech, Slovakian and English teams, before hanging up his skates following the 2023-24 season.

 

[ES]

Couple of good Finns:

Sami Ryhänen - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Sami Ryhänen, 1980-05-23 Helsinki, FIN Finland. Most recently in the Suomi-sarja with Hunters. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/5861/janne-laakkonen

 

[Michael Farkas]

Ryan Glenn - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Ryan Glenn, 1980-06-07 Port Coquitlam, BC, CAN Canada. Most recently in the II-divisioona with Peliitat. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

I got 13 pro leagues here I think. 10 countries.

 

[Robert Gordon Orr]

...This made me wonder, who are some players who’ve played virtually everywhere? Can we figure out what the record is for the number of countries a player has represented teams in?...

That's an interesting question. Jeff Ulmer who had a brief cup of coffee in the NHL, played hockey in 13 countries, but I'm sure there are players out there who had more countries under their belt.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

That's an interesting question. Jeff Ulmer who had a brief cup of coffee in the NHL, played hockey in 13 countries, but I'm sure there are players out there who had more countries under their belt.

Good catch! Depends on if we’re counting Scotland and Wales as separate countries. Either way, 12 or 13 is the most I’ve seen so far.

 

[sr edler]

Not a record regarding countries or anything, but Michael Nylander is still a little bit crazy to me, the sheer number of different teams he played for in various countries. Outside of Sweden (5 teams) and the NHL (7 teams) he also played for three Finnish clubs, three Swiss clubs, two Russian clubs, and one Italian club, plus three AHL teams (two of them as an older twilight-type of player).

He always gave off pretty strong mercenary vibes, Michael Nylander, but funnily enough his oldest son (Willy) is now on his 10th straight season with the same NHL club.

Regarding Kent Nilsson, I think he played in Spain mostly because they have amazing golf courses there.

 

[SealsFan]

I'm reading the biography of former Seal George Pesut. He's played in 11 leagues - the WCHL, WHL, AHL, CHL, SHL, NAHL, two years with the Seals in the NHL and one with the Calgary Cowboys in the WHA, then went overseas to play for 8 different teams in 3 German leagues.

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

In the category of >500 nhl gp:

Jari Kurri (Canada, USA, Italy, Finland)

Jaromir Jagr (USA, Canada, Czechslovakia, Italy, Russia, Germany)

Kris Versteeg (USA, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Slovakia)

Im sure theres got to be some better examples I havent thought of yet.

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

Just misses the cutoff at 451 NHL games, but still interesting:

Wojtek Wolski (Canada, USA, Russia, China, Czech)

Wojtek Wolski Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of Wojtek Wolski, a hockey player from Zabrze, Poland born Feb 24 1986 who was active from 2001 to 2020.

www.hockeydb.com