Kodie Curran signed a two-year contract with the Anaheim Ducks on Monday. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The 30-year-old defenseman was named MVP of the Swedish Hockey League this season, when he led defensemen and was second in the league with 37 assists and 49 points in 48 games.
"He's a late bloomer," Ducks general manager Bob Murray said Wednesday. "We've known about him for years and his improvement in the last couple of years in the SHL, you saw his numbers, you saw the awards he won. I'm quite excited about that and I expect some really, really good competition on defense this year. We should be deep enough. I think the schedule's going to be pretty tough next year."
In two seasons with Rogle BK, the Calgary native had 86 points (24 goals, 62 assists) and a plus-13 rating in 97 games. He has not played in North America since 2015-16, when he had four assists in 18 games for Hartford of the American Hockey League and 25 points (seven goals, 18 assists) in 45 games for Greenville of the ECHL.
"He wanted to be here," Murray said. "He's learned how to train. Some of us take longer than others of us to figure out [and say], 'Oh geez, I need to train to do these things.' I think Kodie's figured it out. He gives us more options on the back end, which, for a couple of years, we haven't been as good as we usually are. But we're going to fix that."
Anaheim's season is over after it finished 13th in the Western Conference in points percentage (.472; 29-33-9), failing to make the Qualifying Round announced by the NHL on May 26 in its Return to Play Plan. The top four teams in the Eastern and Western conferences will play in a Seeding Round Robin in the 24-team format.
