The National Hockey League (NHL) team of the Ottawa “Senators” has hired their Stavanger “Oilers” after the conclusion of a new one-year contract with the Latvian striker Rudolf Balcer, where the Latvian had already played before going to North America, the Norwegian unit informs.
It has already been reported that on Friday, the 23-year-old hockey player signed a two-way contract for 735,000 US dollars, which Balcers will receive while playing in the NHL, but if he has to play in a farm club in the American Hockey League (AHL), the salary will be much lower.
Balcers would have joined the Norwegian club earlier, but this was delayed by talks with Ottawa Senators over a new deal, the Stavanger Club’s website said on Monday.
The Latvian striker could return to the “DNB arena” in Stavanger on Thursday in the “Oilers” match against Sarpsborg’s “Sparta”.
“Balcers lives in Stavanger outside of North America and has been training with the Oilers all summer and autumn,” says the club. “So visiting and playing at a club where he played three seasons and became a two-time Norwegian champion in 2015 and 2016 will be natural this season. in anticipation of a new NHL season. “
Currently, the start of the NHL season is scheduled for January 2021.
“The unresolved contract situation in Ottawa has made it difficult to play in Stavanger so far. Now it will be good to go on the field again,” the club quotes Balceru as saying.
The player of the Latvian national team has not lacked an offer to play before the NHL season, but the 92nd number of “Oilers” chose to do so without going far.
“Stavanger is like home, and I’ve been training with the team for several months,” explains the hockey player. “Until the new season of Senators has started, I will be here. Now I am looking forward to playing in the DNB arena again.”
Between 2013 and 2016, the Latvian has played 81 games in the ranks of the “oil” of Stavanger in the Norwegian championship, in which he scored 23 goals, played 23 times, as well as accumulated 24 penalty minutes and a +/- score of 39.
Due to an injury, the Liepaja player participated in only 15 games in the NHL this season, in which he scored one goal, scored twice and scored a negative +/- score of -2. AHL Latvian Beleville “Senators” had 16 goals, 20 assists and a positive +/- score of +20 in 33 matches.
Balcers made his NHL debut in the 2018/2019 season, when he scored five goals in 36 matches, scored nine times and scored a negative +/- score of -7. In the world’s strongest league, he has 51 games, six goals and 11 assists.
AHL Balcers, representing the Senators and Barracuda teams in San Jose, has scored 56 goals and 59 assists in 143 matches.
In the 2015 draft, the ballerina was chosen with the number 142 in San Jose “Sharks”, but in his first season in North America he played for the Western Hockey League (WHL) team Kamlaupas “Blazers”, where he was recognized as the best debutant of the WHL Western Conference. Last year, he was involved in an ambitious exchange deal in which the Sharks came under the auspices of the Senators.
Balcers has represented the Latvian national team in the previous two world championships, in which he has scored five goals in 15 matches and marked with ten assists.
At the end of the season, the “Senators” took 15th place in the overall ranking table of the Eastern Conference, without qualifying for the final phase of the tournament.
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