Norwegian winger Andreas Martinsen, 34, has signed a three-year contract extension that will keep him with the Storhamar Dragons until 2028, the Norwegian Ligaen club announced on Friday.
“Andreas joined Storhamar before last season and has been a rock in the team, both on the ice and in the locker room,” the club said in the announcement about five players, including Martinsen, who signed extensions.
In his second season with Storhamar, Martinsen’s 46 points were second on the team behind American Cole Schneider, a fellow ex-NHLer, whose 64 points led the whole league. Martinsen was eighth in league scoring and named MVP.
Storhamar finished first in the Ligaen regular season and has swept through the first two round of the playoffs with eight straight wins over Lorenskog and Valerenga Oslo. The Dragons will face the Stavanger Oilers in the finals.
Martinsen played junior hockey and turned pro with the nearby Lillehammer club, eventually going to Leksand in Sweden at age 19. He spent two more seasons in Lillehammer and three more before making the jump overseas at age 25.
Martinsen was never drafted by an NHL team, but the 6-foot-3, 229-pound winger eventually got some attention from overseas scouts. Between 2015 and 2019, he played 152 NHL regular-season games with the Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks, scoring nine goals with 14 assists and 110 penalty minutes. He also played two playoff games with Montreal in 2017.
Martinsen was also property of the Anaheim Ducks and Pittsburgh Penguins but only played for their AHL farm teams.
Alexander Reichenberg dies at 31
Norwegian national team forward Alexander Reichenberg has passed away suddenly at the age of 31, his Lillehammer club team announced on an Instagram post on Sunday. The cause of death was not revealed.
Since returning to Europe in 2020, Martinsen played briefly in Switzerland for EV Zug and since then back in Norway, first back in Lillehammer before heading to Storhamar in 2023.
Internationally, Martinsen has represented Norway at 12 IIHF World Championships, recording 20 points in 80 games.
Earlier this year, Martinsen was named to Norway's Quarter Century Second Team by The Hockey News International.
Norway Quarter-Century Teams Unveiled: Veterans Zuccarello & Thoresen But What About The Kids?
In the spirit of the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/news/nhl-quarter-century-teams-tracker-each-franchises-best-players-since-2000">NHL announcing quarter-century teams for each of its 30 franchises that have played since 2000</a>, I thought I’d try a similar exercise by country – first and second teams. It’s not limited to NHL performance, although that carries a lot of weight. International play for the country also weighs heavily. To be eligible, a player needn’t have necessarily played for the country at a major tournament, but he had (or has) to be eligible.