After 2 years in Russia, P.E.I.'s Josh Currie happy to be playing hockey closer to home

Josh Currie says he never felt nervous playing hockey in Russia during the past two seasons.

But with the war in Ukraine on Day 500 and counting — and his first child due in a couple weeks — the one-year contract he signed last week with the Ottawa Senators organization couldn't have come at a better time.

Currie, 30, returned home to Covehead, P.E.I., at the end of March. Though he had an offer to return to his team in Russia, or to play elsewhere in Europe, playing pro hockey in Canada was the ideal situation.

"With a newborn … just going anywhere overseas, even if it's not Russia, if it's Germany, anywhere, you still have to fly overseas," Currie said. "It's a lot of travel for a newborn baby and it was a lot more stress."

Russia's invasion of Ukraine began during the playoffs of Currie's first season playing in Magnitogorsk, a city of about 400,000 people located 1,700 kilometres east of Moscow.

His wife, Cierra, joined him on a couple occasions, but he lived on his own for the most part. He said he could keep up to date on the war through social media, but the local television stations were all in Russian.

"The team kind of does a good job of … making sure your mind stays on hockey. You didn't see too much of what was going on," he said.

"Russia is such a big country and where we were was quite a distance away from where everything was kind of going on. So, we weren't too exposed to it."

Currie, a five-foot-10 forward, felt comfortable enough to go back for a second year. There were four other Canadians on the team, but most of his teammates were Russian.

It was hard to tell how his Russian teammates felt, Currie said, because many could not speak English and were focused on hockey, as well.

"Obviously, it's their country. I think they were definitely paying attention to it a little bit more than maybe some of the imports. But when it came down to it, every morning they just went to the rink, did their job and didn't really talk about it too much."

After 10 years playing pro hockey everywhere from California to Russia, with a combined 22 NHL games in Edmonton and Pittsburgh along the way, Currie will now head to training camp with the Senators. 

He'll be joined by two other Islanders. Zack MacEwen of Stratford signed a three-year deal with Ottawa, and Ryan MacKinnon signed a one-year deal with Belleville, Ottawa's American Hockey League affiliate.

Currie's two-way contract will pay him the NHL minimum of $775,000 if he sticks with Ottawa, and $275,000 if he is sent to Belleville.