St. Louis Blues broadcaster Darren Pang is reporting that the Nashville Predators have claimed right wing Marek Svatos off of waivers.
Svatos, 28, is a former 32-goal scorer in the NHL but began the season in the KHL over in Russia when he wasn’t signed as a free agent in the summer. In his 19 games with Omsk, he tallied three goals and five assists, good for only 13th in team scoring but keep in mind he’d played in half the games.
He had signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Blues but had to clear waivers before they could add him to the roster.
He has yet to play an entire NHL season (his career high is 72 games) and hasn’t registered more than 37 points in any one season since that 32 goal campaign in 2005-06.
Svatos has scored 164 points in 316 career NHL games, all with the Colorado Avalanche.
The Kosice, Czechoslovakia native has tallied nine points in 19 career games against his new team.
UPDATE (11:25am): Josh Cooper of The Tennessean is now confirming the transaction.
UPDATE (4:52pm): Svatos has missed games in every NHL season he’s played in due to injury. His laundry list of ailments is as follows:
2005-06: fractured right shoulder
2006-07: re-occuring groin injury
2007-08: torn ACL
2008-09: hand injury
2009-10: groin and chest injuries