Veteran defenseman Brandon Davidson, who played in 180 NHL games between 2014 and 2021, signed a one-year contract with the DEL’s Eisbären Berlin last week. The signing marks the 35-year-old blueliner’s first contract in the top division of professional hockey in Germany.
A 6’2″ left-shot defenseman, Davidson has played three seasons overseas in Europe since he last appeared in North America during the 2022-23 campaign. After beginning his European career in the SHL, Davidson spent the last two years in the Czech Extraliga with HC Kometa Brno. He won the Czech title in 2024-25 with the club, but missed all of 2025-26 with a knee injury. Now he’ll join a Berlin team that have won DEL titles in five of the last six seasons, and have won in each of the last three years. Davidson has not appeared in league play just yet but made his club debut for Berlin on Friday, skating 20:40 in a 6-2 loss to Genève-Servette HC in Champions Hockey League play.
Other notes from around the hockey world:
- Nate Sucese, a former Penn State University star and AHL middle-six forward, signed a one-year KHL contract extension with the Shanghai Dragons last week. The 30-year-old winger originally joined Shanghai last summer, but struggled to translate his scoring abilities from the AHL level to the KHL, posting just 16 points in 64 games. Over his last two years in the AHL, Sucese scored 31 goals and 65 points in 128 games. A former point-per-game scorer in college hockey, Sucese will look to help the Dragons reach the KHL playoffs for just the second time in franchise history.
- 24-year-old center Ryan McGuire has signed a one-year ECHL contract to return to the Maine Mariners, per a team announcement. The former Colgate University and Northwestern University forward played his first full season of pro hockey in 2025-26, scoring nine points in 50 ECHL games, while receiving call-ups to play in two AHL games. The son of Pierre McGuire, a former NHL head coach, executive, and longtime television analyst, McGuire will hope the continuity of re-signing in Maine will help him make a stronger mark in year two of his professional career.