With NHL training camps starting next week and no contract for the upcoming campaign, Damien Brunner might need to start looking elsewhere for work.
His native Switzerland, specifically.
On Thursday, a report surfaced from Luzernerzeitung, a Swiss German-language daily newspaper, suggesting that National League A team EV Zug could sign Brunner on a game-by-game basis, keeping his NHL options alive in the process.
Here’s a (hasty) translation of the piece:
Zuger sporting director Jakub Horak (39) says: “We do not plan to Brunner. But of course we would take him to kiss on the hand.
“It would be conceivable an agreement from game to game, from which Brunner can get off at any time.”
(If anybody knows what the “kiss on the hand” thing means, please enlighten us in the comments section.)
Brunner, 27, has a long history with Zug, having played there for five seasons before joining Detroit in 2013 (in 2011-12, he led the Swiss league in scoring and was named forward of the year.)
Last season, his first in the NHL, Brunner scored 26 points in 44 games with the Wings and finished third on the team in goals, with 12.
It should be noted that, in mid-August, Brunner’s agent (Neil Sheehy) said that his client would play in the NHL this season.