Top hockey memories in Europe ahead of Global Series, according to Dan Rosen

Welcome to the National Hockey List. Each week, NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen will provide a list dealing with important topics around the NHL. With the 2026 NHL Global Series Finland between Carolina Hurricanes and Seattle Kraken taking place in Helsinki this week, Rosen went back into his memory bank to list his five favorite moments from covering NHL games on the other side of the Atlantic.

The global growth of the NHL has its selfish perks too.

Starting with the NHL Premiere and now to the NHL Global Series, I have attended and covered 12 of the 42 regular-season games the NHL has played outside North America since 2007, with an additional 12 preseason games included in my six trips to Europe and one to Asia.

The game, just through the Premiere and Global series, has taken me to Switzerland, Czechia, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Slovakia and Germany, providing opportunities to embed with NHL teams at each stop and to see all new parts of the world.

The League's global growth continues this week with the Seattle Kraken and Carolina Hurricanes playing two games at Veikkaus Arena in Helsinki for the 2026 NHL Global Series Finland. The games are Thursday (12 p.m. ET; HHN, Prime Video, CARNHL, KONG, NHLN, SN+, TVAS) and Saturday (1 p.m. ET; HHN, Prime Video, CARNHL, KONG, KING, NHLN, SN1).

NHL.com is well staffed in Helsinki with senior director of editorial Shawn P. Roarke and senior writer Tom Gulitti on the ground detailing all the news, features, experiences, player blogs and more.

Written with a tinge of jealousy toward my colleagues who are there with the Hurricanes and Kraken, here are my top five favorite moments from my time covering the NHL Premiere and NHL Global Series games I have been so lucky to attend.

1. A one-of-a-kind day

Oct. 2, 2011, was unique to say the least. That was the day I woke up in Sweden, covered a game in Slovakia and went to bed in a castle in Switzerland.

The back story explains everything.

I tagged along with the New York Rangers in 2011 for their preseason tour of four games in five nights in four different European countries before they opened the season in Stockholm with games against the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks.

We left Philadelphia after a preseason game against the Philadelphia Flyers and flew to Prague, where the Rangers practiced and then played Sparta Praha, winning 2-0 on Sept. 29.

Following the game, it was a quick flight to Gothenburg, Sweden, where the next night Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist was making an emotional return to play against his former Swedish Hockey League team, Frolunda, captained at the time by his twin brother Joel.

The scene at Scandinavium, the arena where the brothers grew up watching hockey and dreaming of becoming pros, was incredible, with Lundqvist the goalie leading the Rangers to a 4-2 win.

The plan was always to stay in Gothenburg on Oct. 1 and to fly to Bratislava, Slovakia, the following day, to essentially barnstorm in for a game against HC Slovan Bratislava and then quickly leave to head to Zurich, Switzerland, where the Rangers had their final preseason tuneup Oct. 3.

Fog rolled into Gothenburg, delaying our travel to the morning of gameday in Bratislava, but we got there, going straight from the airport to the arena. 

The Rangers won 4-1, left the arena for the airport and flew to Zurich, where we all stayed at The Dolder Grand, a 19th century castle turned into a five-star hotel nestled up on a hill overlooking the Alps and Lake Zurich. 

The rooms were so high tech that I had to call the front desk to figure out how to turn on the lights. It is the most amazing hotel I have ever stayed in.

Unforgettable.

2. Duchene switches sides

The Colorado Avalanche were in Brooklyn to play the New York Islanders at Barclays Center on Nov. 5, 2017. Following the game, the Avalanche were set to board a flight for Stockholm, where their next two games would be against the Ottawa Senators.

Matt Duchene was in Colorado's lineup at Barclays Center and on the Avalanche's flight manifest. He played two shifts totaling 1:59 and then left for the dressing room, removed from the game because he was traded to the Senators.

Duchene left Barclays Center, speaking to NHL.com on his way out about his excitement and the opportunity in front of him in Ottawa. He also recognized how weird it was going to be to play his first two games with his new team against his old team in a different country.

That's exactly what happened in Stockholm on Nov. 10 and 11. Ottawa won each game 4-3, the first one in overtime. Duchene didn't have a point, but he did have eight shots on goal in the second game.

That trip to Stockholm also included an excursion to ABBA The Museum in Djurgarden because, well, when in Rome, err Stockholm. I even wrote about it.

3. Seen Stamkos

My first trip overseas with the NHL coincided with Steven Stamkos' NHL debut.

The Tampa Bay Lightning and Rangers opened the 2008-09 season with a pair of games in Prague on Oct. 4-5, 2008. 

Stamkos was less than four months removed from being the No. 1 pick in the 2008 NHL Draft, a selection made by the Lightning in Ottawa on June 20.

Barry Melrose was also making his return behind an NHL bench as Lightning coach, the longtime ESPN broadcaster's first NHL coaching job in 13 years after being fired by the Kings with seven games remaining in the 1994-95 season.

So, the trip to Prague was the beginning for both, and it didn't start well. The Lightning lost both games 2-1 and Stamkos' playing time was limited. He played 8:25 in the first game and 14:53 in the second. He did not have a point. 

As we know now, Stamkos clearly turned out just fine in Tampa Bay. He's a Lightning legend. Melrose lasted all of 16 games that season before he was fired with a 5-7-4 record. He returned to being an ESPN legend. Sadly, he died Sept. 9 at age 70.

4. Young Josi plays first "NHL game"

Long before Roman Josi was a Norris Trophy-winning defenseman with the Nashville Predators, a potential future Hockey Hall of Famer too, he was an 18-year-old second-round pick (No. 38) in the 2008 NHL Draft playing for SC Bern in his hometown of Bern, Switzerland.

I didn't really know who he was when the Rangers went to Bern to play Josi and his Swiss team in an exhibition game Sept. 30, 2008. I knew from my research that he went to the Predators in the second round of the draft earlier that year. I knew he was from Bern, but that's about it.

Josi, who grew up a short distance from PostFinance Arena in Bern, wasn't even all that noticeable or memorable in that game. Considering the Rangers won 8-1, it's hard to remember anyone from SC Bern doing anything in that game.

I certainly remember the crowd, thousands in a standing room only section chanting and singing, having the absolute best time even though the home team was getting blown out by the visitors from the NHL.

Eight years later, before Josi and the Predators went back to play SC Bern in an exhibition game Oct. 3, 2022, the defenseman recalled what it was like to watch the Rangers practice and to play against them in an interview with NHL.com columnist Nicholas J. Cotsonika.

"It was really cool, just seeing an NHL team," Josi said. "It was the first time I saw an NHL practice, and then playing against them was awesome. We lost 8-1, but it was still fun."

Looking back on it, for me it's one of those cool-to-be-there moments, witnessing Josi play against an NHL team for the first time.

5. A few days with Jagr

Two years ago, the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres opened the season with two games at O2 Arena in Prague on Oct. 4-5 as part of the 2024 NHL Global Series. The Devils won both games, 4-1 and 3-1, respectively.

Not surprisingly, the NHL enlisted Jaromir Jagr, the biggest sports star in Czechia, to be a special part of the first game to kick off the Global Series.

Jagr dropped the puck in the ceremonial opening face-off between Devils forward and Czechia native Ondrej Palat and Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin on Oct. 4. Before he got on the ice, I got a full Jagr experience in Prague and his hometown of Kladno.

On Oct. 1, a few of us on the ground covering the Global Series in Prague took the roughly 45-minute trip to Kladno and were among the few thousand in attendance watching a 52-year-old Jagr play for his hometown team against Trinec at CEZ Stadion Kladno.

Jagr was effective in the game, though he didn't have a point, and the Kladno won 3-2. 

The following night, I went to dinner with a few colleagues, including NHL.com senior draft writer Mike G. Morreale, and Jagr joined us at a small restaurant a few blocks from our hotel.

It was a surprise organized by one of our colleagues who is close to Jagr. We sat and talked about seeing him play, why he was still playing, his life, the NHL, Czech food and more. It wasn't until the end of the meal, when we were paying the check, that our server asked if she could have a picture with Jagr. Nobody else bothered him. He said that's the way it is in Prague.

Finally, I got to interview Jagr on camera for a story on NHL.com and to air on NHL Network shortly before he went on the ice to drop the puck in the ceremonial face-off before the first game. He told me why he was still playing.

"People are always asking, 'Why does he still do it?'" Jagr said. "I never had a goal to win this, this and this. I just enjoy it. I just love it. Same thing, my father was a farmer until the day he died. He didn't have to do it. It's what made him happy."