It appears Henrik Zetterberg’s had a change of heart.
After saying he didn’t have any immediate plans to play overseas -- something he stated as recently as last week -- the 32-year-old Swede has agreed to play for EV Zug of Switzerland’s National A League, according to USA Today.
Zetterberg reportedly made the decision this weekend after finding the right financial situation in Zug.
Here’s more:
During the lockout in 2004-05, [Zetterberg] played for his old club in Sweden. But that wasn’t an option this time around because he has $50 million left on his contract, requiring heavy insurance.
He said he’d only consider a place in Europe where neither the insurance nor the taxes would be devastating. He found the answer with Zug, home to Red Wings signee Damien Brunner and Montreal Canadiens defenseman Raphael Diaz.
With the move, Zetterberg becomes the eighth Red Wing to sign overseas during the lockout.
Brunner is also in Switzerland, Pavel Datsyuk is in the KHL, Valtteri Filppula returned to Finland, Jakub Kindl went to the Czech Extraliga, Tomas Tatar went to the Slovak Extraliga and Jonathan Ericsson signed with a third-tier Swedish team.