UFA Jimmy Vesey Considering Significant Decision for 2025-26

UFA Jimmy Vesey considering heading overseas for next season

Former New York Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey hasn't been getting many bites on the free agent market, and now is considering a move to the KHL for the coming season.

According to Daria Tuboltseva in rg.org, the 32-year-old nine-year NHL veteran has interest from a number of teams in Russia.

The frontrunner for Vesey’s signature is SKA St. Petersburg. Other interested teams include Ak Bars Kazan, Dinamo Minsk, and the Chinese club Kunlun Red Star.

The report cites a source close to Vesey as saying, “Jimmy has been asking a lot of questions about how things work in the KHL and is seriously considering offers from the top European league."

Vesey's second stint with the Rangers came to an end last season, when they dealt him, in the Ryan Lindgren trade, to the Colorado Avalanche. Before the deal, Vesey had complained, after numerous healthy scratches in New York, "It seems that I have fallen out of favor and have just been cast aside over an extended period of time. I’m kind of dying by being here.”

In Denver, he didn't get much of a chance to come alive, playing in only 10 games and contributing just one goal and one assist in 10:34 average ice time. He wasn't called on at all in the playoffs.

He started his career back in 2016 with three solid seasons for the Blueshirts, contributing strong secondary scoring, averaging almost 17 goals a year. His production largely dried up in short stints with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks, and New Jersey Devils. Back with the Rangers again in 2022, he posted two more double-digit scoring seasons before struggling from start to finish this past season.

Vesey is coming off a two-year deal with an $800K AAV.