Five former NHL players to watch at the 2023 Spengler Cup

Mike Gould
Mike Gould
Five former NHL players to watch at the 2023 Spengler Cup
Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Boxing Day is always a treat for hockey fans. Although the NHL is still on break, it’s time for the start of a tournament that has become one of the most time-honored traditions on the international hockey calendar.

What? No, not the World Juniors, what are you talking about? It’s Spengler Cup season! The unique invitational event also happens to kick off on December 26 each year and runs through New Years’ Eve.

Although it’ll never be a true best-on-best tournament in any sense of the word, the Spengler Cup has developed a considerable cult following over the years and remains an institution in the Swiss city of Davos, where it has taken place on an annual basis (with the occasional year off) since 1923.

The Spengler has always been a hodgepodge of club teams from various European leagues, albeit with one major exception in more recent times: Team Canada, comprised mainly of some of the top Canadians playing overseas.

Hockey Canada has maintained a consistent presence at the tournament since 1984, winning 16 titles since then. Joe Thornton is one of Team Canada’s co-GMs this time around; the longtime NHL star played for HC Davos during the 2004–05 lockout, helping the hosts win the Spengler alongside the likes of Rick Nash, Niklas Hagman, and Jonas Hiller.

This year, the six teams set to hit the ice at the gorgeous Eisstadion Davos are HC Dynamo Parubdice (Czechia), KalPa (Finland), HC Ambri-Piotta (Switzerland), Frölunda HC (Sweden), Team Canada, and HC Davos. Here’s a look at five notable former NHL players set to take part in this year’s tournament.

Peter Mueller (HC Ambri-Piotta)

It’s been more than a decade since Peter Mueller last suited up in the NHL with the Florida Panthers.

The former No. 8 overall pick showed so, so much promise when he first broke into the league as a member of the Phoenix Coyotes in 2007–08, scoring 22 goals and 54 points and finishing fifth in Calder Trophy balloting.

But a series of injuries limited Mueller’s effectiveness in subsequent years and, after being traded to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Wojtek Wolski, the 6’2″ center missed the entire 2010–11 season and most of 2011–12 as a result of multiple concussions.

Mueller’s NHL career ended after he was unable to parlay a PTO with the St. Louis Blues in the 2013 preseason into a contract offer. He’s been in Europe ever since, with the exception of one AHL season with the Providence Bruins in 2016–17. Mueller has played in Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, and Czechia, racking up huge numbers pretty much everywhere he’s been over the last decade or so. He’s always long hair, but Mueller has truly become a greybeard — well, minus the grey.

Now 35, Mueller is one of the elder statesmen on an Ambri-Piotta team looking to defend its 2022 Spengler Cup title. He actually began the season with HC Vítkovice in the Czech Extraliga before terminating his contract for the purposes of joining Ambri-Piotta’s Spengler squad.

Jordie Benn (Team Canada)

Jamie Benn’s big brother managed to hang around in the NHL for a pretty long time. Although Jordie Benn never had Jamie’s scoring touch, he was a reliable third-pairing guy who endeared himself to fans around the league for his toughness and defensive ability.

Benn started out in the Stars organization as an undrafted free agent signing, ultimately spending parts of six NHL seasons in Dallas before being traded to the Montreal Canadiens in 2017. The 6’1″ left-handed defenseman played some of his most productive hockey in Montreal, topping out with five goals and 22 points in 81 games in 2018–19, and parlayed that success into a relatively hefty contract with the Vancouver Canucks. From there, Benn made brief stops with the Winnipeg Jets, Minnesota Wild, and Toronto Maple Leafs; then, after a brief reunion with the Stars in training camp this past fall, Benn signed with the Swedish club Brynäs IF.

As one of the most experienced players in the entire Spengler Cup, the 36-year-old Benn was one of the most obvious choices to serve as Captain Canada at this year’s tournament. Between Nathan Beaulieu, Eric Gelinas, Ty Smith, and Benn, Team Canada head coach Bruce Boudreau will have one of the strongest top-four defensive groups in Davos at his disposal.

Christian Folin (Frölunda HC)

Between Benn, Beaulieu, and Christian Folin, this year’s Spengler Cup is weirdly flush with depth defensemen from the mid-2010s Montreal Canadiens. In fact, Folin was briefly Benn’s teammate in Montreal after being acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers ahead of the 2019 trade deadline.

Folin suited up for a total of 244 NHL games with the Minnesota Wild, Los Angeles Kings, Flyers, and Canadiens between 2014 and 2020, adding in six playoff contests with the Wild and Kings along the way. He started out as a well-regarded college free agent with the Wild at the tail end of the 2013–14 season and managed to carve out a solid career as a right-handed depth defender who could skate with the puck.

Since returning to Sweden after the end of the 2019–20 season, Folin has just kept chugging along. He’s spent the last three years as an alternate captain with Frölunda and is now set to make his Spengler Cup debut. It’ll be a bit tougher sledding for Frölunda without David Edstrom and Otto Stenberg, two of their top young players who are set to play for Team Sweden at the World Juniors, so it’ll be up to Folin and company to hold the fort against some formidable competition.

Josh Jooris (Team Canada)

In many ways, Josh Jooris was the 2014–15 Calgary Flames. He came out of nowhere after being completely unheralded, was ridiculously fun to watch, and fell off immediately thereafter. But man, that one season was off the chain.

Jooris scored 12 goals and 24 points in 60 games with those 2014–15 Flames while spending a decent chunk of time riding shotgun with Johnny Gaudreau. The previous year, the undrafted Union College alum had managed just 11 goals and 27 points in 73 AHL games. But he perfectly jived with then-head coach Bob Hartley’s “always earned, never given” mantra and parlayed that entertaining season into a 213-game NHL career.

After one more underwhelming season with the Flames, Jooris made brief stops with the New York Rangers, Arizona Coyotes, Carolina Hurricanes, and Pittsburgh Penguins before heading to Switzerland in 2019. Since then, the 6’1″ winger has established himself as an effective middle-six forward in the Swiss National League, first with Lausanne HC and then with Genève-Servette.

Jooris has won gold at both his previous Spengler Cup appearances. He first suited up for Team Canada back in 2019; then, last year, he joined Ambri-Piotta on loan and helped them defeat HC Sparta Praha in the final.

Tomas Jurco (HC Davos)

Tomas Jurco’s journey in professional hockey has taken him around the world.

The Slovak winger played his junior hockey in New Brunswick before being drafted by the Detroit Red Wings. Then, after turning pro, Jurco spent parts of four seasons in Detroit before going to to play for the Chicago Blackhawks, Edmonton Oilers, and Vegas Golden Knights; he also skated for AHL teams in Michigan, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, California, and Nevada along the way.

But he was only just getting started. After 221 NHL games (and 212 more in the AHL), Jurco left North America in 2021 to join the Kazakh KHL club Barys Nur-Sultan. Also in 2021–22, Jurco represented Slovakia at the Winter Olympics in Beijing; he returned to China the following year by signing with Kunlun Red Star, the KHL’s easternmost club.

Now, Jurco is in the midst of his first season in Switzerland. The 30-year-old forward has six goals and nine points in 17 games with HC Davos and is now gearing up for his first-ever Spengler Cup appearance. And with Davos seeking its first Spengler title since 2011 — or, heck, even its first championship game berth since 2012 — Jurco will be leaned upon heavily by the hosts for his experience and scoring ability.

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