Former Leafs winger leaves NHL, signs a deal in his home country as he looks to get his career back on track

Injuries are largely unavoidable in a contact sport like hockey, but some players seem more injury-prone than others. When injuries begin to pile up, they can really tank a player's value. When head injuries pile up, you obviously have a great deal of concern for the player's long-term health.

Ondrej Kase is a player who has always had the skill to be an impactful NHLer, but unfortunately for the 27-year-old, a number of injuries, including and especially concussions, have seemingly de-railed his NHL career. Kase has been limted to just 258 career NHL games across 7 seasons, including just 60 games combined in his last four seasons.

For a time, Kase appeared to be re-establishing himself as a viable NHLer in Toronto, but unfortunately for the Czech winger, the other shoe dropped and another concussion halted his season at just 50 games.

Last summer, Kase signed a 1-year deal in Carolina in an attempt to get himself back on track, but played just 1 game for the Hurricanes before suffering a season-ending concussion on November 8th, 2022. He rode the remainder of the season out on LTIR. Now, it appears as though Kase is taking his chances back home in Czechia, as the Kadan native has signed a 1-year deal with HC Litvinov of the Czech Extraliga, the top Czech men's league.


Kase signed to play with his brother, David Kase, back home. It will be his first stint back in the Czech Extraliga since the 2013-14 season, when he played with Chomutov Pirati, notching 7 points in 37 games in his draft year. Kase was a 7th round pick of the Ducks in 2014 (205th overall).