American center Jasper Weatherby, 26, has signed with Dynamo Pardubice for the remainder of this season and an option for next year, the Czech Extraliga club announced on Thursday.
“We are bringing in a power forward who can be a great asset to our offense,” said club sports director Petr Sýkora said about the 6-foot-4 Weatherby. “Jasper is a young player who has experience in overseas competitions and can improve our emphasis in the area in front of the goal and movement in the attacking zone.”
Born in Portland, Oregon, Weatherby was picked in the fourth round, 102nd overall, by the San Jose Sharks in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. He then spent the next three seasons playing for the University of North Dakota.
Weatherby played 50 NHL games for San Jose, all in the 2021-22 season – he scored five goals and added six assists and 18 penalty minutes. He later played in the minor-league systems of the Nashville Predators and Detroit Red Wings. This is Weatherby’s first tour of duty in Europe.
This is Pardubice’s second signing of an ex-NHLer in the past week, following defenseman Jakub Zbořil on Sunday. The team also notably added some big-name free-agents this summer, such as Jiří Smejkal, Roman Červenka and Andrej Šustr. But for all the big names, Pardubice’s roster was entirely Czech and Slovak before the signing of Weatherby.
Pardubice leads the Extraliga with 29 points after 14 games. The next game is Friday night against Jaromír Jágr’s Rytíři Kladno in a rematch of the opening night of the season when Pardubice won 5-1.