Four days after departing Czech club Dynamo Pardubice, 33-year-old Czech defenseman Andrej Šustr has signed to play the rest of the season in Finland with Tappara Tampere, the Liiga club announced on Thursday.

“I can’t wait to get started in Tappara,” Šustr said in a video posted on Tappara’s social media channels. “I’ve heard a lot of great things about the organization and the city. I know the team’s success in the Finnish league and the Champions League have been great, so that’s a great opportunity for me to be part of and to get better as a player and a person.”

“In Šustr, we get an experienced and skilled reinforcement for our back end,” said Tappara sports manager Antti Tuomenoksa. “As a large player with a long reach, he is very strong in his own end, but in addition to this, he also has good puck skills and hockey sense.”

In 12 games Extraliga games this season with Pardubice, Šustr scored one goal and had three assists and 37 penalty minutes, and was a plus-2. Pardubice was leading the Extraliga standings at the time, but sports manager Petr Sýkora said that the fit “wasn’t perfect here, which was felt on both sides.”

In addition to playing in the Extraliga, Šustr also had five assists in six Champions Hockey League games, although Pardubice failed to advance to the playoffs. Tappara, however, is still alive in the competition and will play Swedish powerhouse Färjestad Karlstad in the round of 16. The club has said that Šustr is expected to make his Tappara debut in the first game against Färjestad at home on Nov. 12, wearing number 65.

Šustr had 69 points in 362 NHL regular-season games between 2013 and 2023 with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Anaheim Ducks. He also had five points in 46 playoff games with Tampa Bay and played in the 2015 Stanley Cup final. Šustr has also played in the KHL with Kunlun Red Star and in the DEL with Kölner Haie.

Internationally, Šustr represented Czechia at the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship, the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and the 2021 World Championship.

At the international break, Tappara sits second in the Liiga standings with 38 points in 19 games – six points back of first-place IFK Helsinki with two games in hand.