Will Butcher Finds New Home In Germany

American defenseman Will Butcher, 29, has signed a contract to play the remainder of the current season with EHC Red Bull Munich, the German DEL club has announced.

It is Butcher’s second team this season. He earlier had three assists in 15 KHL games for Barys Astana but was released, along with fellow North American ex-NHLers Michael McLeod and Nathan Beaulieu in October, in an apparent cost-cutting move by the last-place team.

“My family and I are very happy and pleased to be joining the Red Bull organization,” said Butcher. “A few years ago, my wife and I went on holiday to Munich and were already impressed by the people and the city. I am convinced that my style of play fits in very well with Red Bull’s philosophy. From a hockey perspective, the team has also been successful in recent years.”

Butcher was a fifth-round draft choice of the Colorado Avalanche in 2013 and then went on to play the next four seasons at the nearby University of Denver Pioneers, where he won the Hobey Baker Award as NCAA men’s ice hockey MVP in 2016-17 – a year in which he had 37 points in 43 games as a d-man and captained the Pioneers to the NCAA championship.

Between 2017 and 2022, Butcher recorded 114 points and 34 penalty minutes in 275 NHL regular-season games for the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres. He also had four points in five playoff games for New Jersey in 2018.

Butcher spent the next two seasons playing for the AHL farm teams of the Dallas Stars, Pittsburgh Penguins and Minnesota Wild before heading overseas for the first time this past summer.

“We were looking for a strong defenseman and found him in Will,” said Christian Winkler, the managing director of Red Bull Sports’ hockey division. “He is experienced, at the best age for hockey and has proven several times that he can play at the highest level.”

A perennial league powerhouse, Munich currently sits fourth in the 14-team DEL with 33 points in 19 games. The team’s roster also includes ex-NHLers Tobias Rieder, Ben Smith, Jonathon Blum, Taro Hirose and Adam Brooks, as well as experienced German national team players Patrick Hager, Yasin Ehliz, Maximilian Kastner and goaltender Mathias Niederberger.

The club’s announcement says that Butcher is travelling to Munich this weekend and will begin practising with the team after undergoing a physical examination, but exactly when he will make his debut is not mentioned. He will wear uniform number four for the team.