Czech defenseman Dominik Mašin, 28, has signed a contract to play the remainder of the current season with Kärpät Oulu, the Finnish Liiga club announced on Monday.
“Dominik brings more depth to our defense,” said Kärpät sports director Mikko Myllykoski. “He’s a high-quality Czech national team defenseman who knows our league and is ready to immediately step into the lineup. It’ll be great to have him on the road with the team already this week.”
Mašin is already in Finland because he just played two games in Helsinki this weekend at the Karjala Cup, helping the Czechs to a second-place finish. Previously, he’d played for Sparta Prague, recording three points in 17 Czech Extraliga games and also playing in four Champions Hockey League games
“We were very interested in Dominik continuing in Sparta,” that club’s sports director, Tomáš Divíšek, said. “Unfortunately for us, he decided to pursue an opportunity abroad, which was his contractual right and we have to respect it.”
Mašin came up through the youth system of Slavia Prague, Sparta’s crosstown rival, but went to North America at age 18 to play junior hockey for the OHL’s Peterborough Petes.
Mašin was taken in the second round, 35th overall, by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. He played four seasons for the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch but only played pre-season games for the Lightning, and eventually returned to Europe in 2020.
Prior to joining Sparta this season, Mašin played a season and a half for the KHL’s Amur Khabarovsk and two and a half seasons in Finland for Ilves Tampere. Last season, he had 17 points and 26 penalty minutes in 46 regular-season and playoff games.
Sparta is currently tied for third place in the 14-team Extraliga with 34 points in 18 games. Kärpät sits ninth in the 16-team Liiga with 28 points in 19 games. Mašin’s new team has away games in this week on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and he is expected to play.