Winnipeg Jets sign Sam Gagner to one-year contract

The Winnipeg Jets have signed forward Sam Gagner to a one-year contract, the club announced Friday.

Gagner, 33, scored 13 goals and 31 points in 81 games with the Detroit Red Wings during the 2021–22 regular season. His new contract carries a $750,000 NHL cap hit.

The Edmonton Oilers originally selected Gagner in the first round (No. 6 overall) of the 2007 NHL Draft. The 5’11”, 197-pound center spent the first seven seasons of his NHL career with the Oilers – most notably scoring eight points in a 2012 game against the Chicago Blackhawks – before joining the Arizona Coyotes in 2014.

Gagner only lasted one year in Arizona and subsequently made brief stops in Philadelphia, Columbus, and Vancouver before ending up back in Edmonton midway through the 2018–19 season. The Oilers then traded him to Detroit a year later as part of the deal that brought Andreas Athanasiou to Edmonton.

In 967 career NHL regular-season games with Edmonton, Arizona, Philadelphia, Columbus, Vancouver, and Detroit, Gagner has scored 184 goals and 505 points. He’s also appeared in 11 playoff games (six with Philadelphia and five with Columbus), recording a total of four assists.

Gagner joins a Jets forward group that also includes Blake Wheeler, Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Nikolaj Ehlers, Adam Lowry, Mason Appleton, Jansen Harkins, and Cole Perfetti, among others. The Jets finished the 2021–22 season with a 39–32–11 record, good for sixth place in the Central Division.