Last summer the Edmonton Oilers signed long-time Swiss league centre Gaetan Haas to an ELC. The 28-year-old had played in 10 seasons in the NLA, and had 38 points in 50 games for SC Bern in 2018-2019. He played 58 games for the Oilers with 10 points. That’s up to them to decide if that’s a success or not.
Signing an undrafted European free agent isn’t new, but signing one from the NLA is relatively rare. The main reason for that is that the Swiss league, with strict import rules that keep the teams mostly Swiss, is not one of the best European leagues in terms of quality of play and strength of teams.