Canadian defenseman Brad Hunt, 37, has signed a one-year contract with Vaasan Sport, the Finnish Liiga club announced on Friday.

After playing his entire career to this point in North America, including parts of 10 NHL seasons, this is Hunt’s first contract to play in Europe.

“Brining Brad to Vaasa is fanstastic,” said club sports diractor Ari-Pekka Pajuluoma, who was told that Hunt is “an experienced and seasoned team player” by Joel Kiviranta, a former Sport forward who was Hunt’s teammate in the Colorado Avalanche organization.

“He has been a very popular person in every team he has played for, but we expect, above all, good play on the ice from Brad,” Pajuluoma continued. “His strengths lie in the game with the puck, and in addition, he has an incredible shot from the point, so we also expect him to have a role on the power play.”

Born in the Vancouver suburb of Maple Ridge, B.C., Hunt played four years of college hockey at Bemidji State University. Never drafted by an NHL team, he signed with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves in the spring of 2012.

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Between 2013 and 2023, Hunt played 288 NHL regular-season games for the Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators, Vegas Golden Knights, Minnesota Wild, Vancouver Canucks and Colorado, recording 86 points and 52 penalty minutes. He also played five playoff games for Minnesota and Colorado, incurring one minor penalty.

He spent the entire 2024-25 season in the AHL with the Hershey Bears, recording 20 points in 43 regular-season and playoff games.

To be able to afford Hunt’s contract, the Vaasan Sport club had to raise over 90,000 euros (approx $105,000 US) from a combination of sponsors and donations from fans.

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“Without the community's campaign, this player signing would not have been possible for us,” Pajuluoma explained. “This shows what is possible with a community pulling in the same direction, and this was good proof of how special our community in Vaasa is.”

The Liiga season has already started and Vaasan Sport has played two games, beating Kärpät Oulu 3-0 on the road and then losing its home opener 3-2 to TPS Turku on Friday. Since being promoted to the top-tier Liiga in 2014, the team has never finished better than 10th place. Last season, despite an 11th-place regular-season finish, Sport won a play-in series and advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time.

The club made big news in the off-season when it signed 20-year-old Topi Rönni, a former Calgary Flames second-round draft pick who was convicted of rape in 2024, to a two-year contract. After a strong negative response from the Finnish media and public, the contract was terminated two weeks later. Rönni signed soon thereafter with Hungarian ICEHL club Ferencvárosi TC. 

Topi Rönni’s Contract With Finnish Club Terminated Due To Public UproarFinnish center Topi Rönni, who recently signed as a free agent with Liiga club Vaasan Sport, has agreed to part ways with the club after the signing drew intense criticism from the Finnish public and media.