Donald Brashear hasn’t played major professional hockey since 2010 when he split time with the New York Rangers and Hartford Wolf Pack. He then briefly joined the fight-filled LNAH before heading into MMA, a career which lasted 21 seconds after a TKO victory.

Brashear will need to dust off his old hockey gear and hop on a plane to Sweden after signing with Modo for the rest of the Swedish Hockey League season.

The news comes out of nowhere, but Brashear does have a connection with MODO. He and the team’s assistant general manager, Peter Forsberg, were teammates with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2005-06. And with recent games seeing youngster William Nylander targeted, the team feels bringing in an experience intimidator may help with that.

Said Forsberg of the signing: “He's a type of player we're missing. He will provide physicality and security.”

Brashear will be 43 in January and hasn't played in over three years. If MODO's plans for him are to skate 3-4 minutes a night for intimidation purposes and fight, if necessary, then they'll be getting their money's worth. But maybe an investment could have gone toward a different need?

MODO currently sits second to last in the SHL and have allowed the most goals (76) among all teams through 23 games. So, yeah, signing Donald Brashear will certainly help in that area.

Stick-tap Linus Hugosson

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy

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