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Columbus’ Letestu off to Swedish second division

Letestu

Mark Letestu’s coaching career has come to an abrupt halt.

On Monday, Swedish second division club Almtuna announced it has signed the Blue Jackets forward to a lockout deal.

Prior to joining the Swedish club, Letestu had taken a somewhat unique approach to staying busy during the work stoppage -- serving as an assistant coach for Bonnyville of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, a tier-two Canadian junior hockey club a few hours east of Edmonton.

An Alberta native, Letestu spent three years playing for Bonnyville before joining Western Michigan University for one season, then signing as a undrafted free agent with Pittsburgh in 2007.

He was traded to Columbus in November of last season and put up impressive numbers with the Jackets, scoring 11G-13A-24 points in just 51 games while averaging a career-high 16:15 minutes per game.

In Almtuna, Letestu will join fellow locked-out NHLers Jhonas Enroth and Mike Lundin. The team is currently sitting second from bottom in the Allsvenskan.