American forward and former NHLer Tanner Kero, 33, has signed a one-year contract with Kölner Haie, the DEL club announced on Thursday.
A former NHLer, this will be Kero’s second season in Europe after spending last season in Sweden.
“My family and I are very excited to arrive in Cologne and start the season,” said Kero. “We’ve heard nothing but good things about the club, the city, and the fans. It was important to me to join a good team in a strong and competitive league, and the Sharks fit those criteria perfectly.”
“Tanner is a very intelligent forward who can play in various positions and in all scenarios,” said club sports director Matthias Baldys. “He brings with him extensive experience from North America and his first European experiences from last year in Sweden. Tanner knows how to finish himself, but also how to utilize his teammates. We are very much looking forward to welcoming Tanner and his family to Cologne in the coming days.”
Leon Draisaitl Donates Equipment To German Youth Club
Back
home in Germany for the summer, Leon Draisaitl recently
appeared at a promotional event to donate equipment to
a youth club in his hometown of Cologne.
Never drafted by an NHL team, Kero signed as a free agent with the Chicago Blackhawks in April 2015 after finishing four years of college hockey with Michigan Tech, where in his senior year he was team captain and was the WCHA’s leading scorer and MVP.
In the nine years since, Kero has played 145 NHL regular-season games with the Blackhawks and Dallas Stars, scoring 11 goals and adding 24 assists. He also spent time in the Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche organizations without playing for them in the NHL. His best AHL season was 2018-19 when he recorded 57 points in 67 games for the Utica Comets.
Last season, Kero had 25 points in 58 regular-season and playoff games for HV71 in the SHL.
Report: Kölner Haie & DEL Set New European Attendance Records; New Records In Czechia & Britain Too
The
Alliance of European Hockey Clubs published its annual attendance
study on Wednesday, <a href="https://www.eurohockeyclubs.com/attendance?seasonId=25">ranking 376 clubs across 29 leagues</a>.
Kölner Haie is consistently one of the top clubs in Europe in terms of attendance, and in fact has set new single-season attendance records for a European club in each of the past two seasons.
On the ice, Die Haie finished sixth in the DEL regular season in 2024-25 but reached the finals, where they lost to Eisbären Berlin.
In addition to Kero, the team includes ex-NHLers Patrick Russell, Ryan MacInnis, Brady Austin and Dominik Uher and St. Louis Blues 2018 first-rounder Dominik Bokk.
Patrick Russell remains positive about Denmark's chances
It hasn’t been the best World Championship for Denmark so far and Friday’s game against Great Britain wasn’t a masterpiece by any means, but thanks to a third-period goal from Christian Weise, the Danes managed to pull out a 4-3 victory – their second win in five games.