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Sens’ Regin on playing abroad: “You don’t want to take somebody else’s job, but that’s what the game is about”

Peter Regin

Having already experienced a brief stint in Europe, Ottawa forward Peter Regin knows it can be uncomfortable taking another player’s job.

That said, he doesn’t sound overly concerned about it.

“We all compete for the same jobs, but we’re also all colleagues,” he told the Ottawa Sun. “I guess you don’t want to take somebody else’s job, but that’s what the game is about.

“It’s what you do every year at camp. You knock somebody out.”

Regin spent a short while playing for SC Langenthal of the Swiss second division before returning to Ottawa at the end of October.

Now, he’s got a new offer on the table -- from Lukko Rauma of the SM-liiga, Finland’s top league -- one he’s going to sit on as he participates in a four-day tour of Northern Canada with fellow locked-out NHLers.

“I would like to go there, that’s my first priority, especially because my friends are there and it would be fun to play with them again,” Regin said of Lukko, which currently employs fellow Danes Frans Nielsen, Mikkel Boedker and Philip Larsen. “(But) a lot of guys have signed month-to-month deals (with European teams), so if it gets blown up here, at least you can go somewhere else and sign for bigger money.”

Regin’s comments directly contrast those made by Anaheim Ducks forward Bobby Ryan.

Before the CBA expired on Sept. 15, Ryan went public with his plans to stay in North America during the lockout.

“I know you’ll lose guys right way,” Ryan said. “That being said, I’m an NHL player. I’m not going to take somebody else’s job overseas.”

Related: Don Cherry to NHLers: Don’t take away jobs overseas