Former Penguins Forward Signs Contract in Overseas League

Pittsburgh Penguins fans didn't get to know Zach Boychuck very well, as he spent only 7 of his 127 career NHL games with the franchise in 2012-13.

But he's made a decent living for himself and tuned into his offensive instincts while playing overseas for the last several years with Eisbären Berlin of the DEL, Germany's top professional hockey league, and winning the championship in each of the last 2 years.

Now, he's heading to Slovenia and has agreed to sign with HK Olimpija Ljubljana of the European Hockey League.

Boychuck is a former 1st round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, taken with the 4th overall pick. He would play the 1st several years of his professional hockey career with the Hurricanes organization, bouncing back and forth between the NHL and the AHL affiliate Charlotte Checkers.

He would also briefly play for the Nashville Predators before returning to the Hurricanes organization, where he would play a handful of years before moving overseas and playing in the KHL with both HC Sibir Novosibirsk and HC Slovan Bratislava.

He's also played for SC Bern of the Swiss National League, the top hockey league of Switzerland, as well as HC Fribourg-Gottéron, also of the Swiss National League.

Last year with Eisbären Berlin, he had 35 points (12G, 23A).

During his time in the NHL, which was spent with the Hurricanes, Predators, and Penguins, Boychuck scored 30 points (12G, 18A) in 127 career games. He didn't appear in any NHL postseason games.