NORTH Vancouver's Ben Maxwell signed a one-year free agent contract with the Winnipeg Jets last weekend, joining the relocated NHL franchise in moving from Atlanta to the Manitoba city for the 2011-12 season.
Winnipeg has not hosted NHL hockey since the first incarnation of the Jets left town for Phoenix in 1996.
"Signed on with the Jets yesterday, can't wait to get things going in Winnipeg!" Maxwell wrote on his Twitter account.
The 23-year-old former North Shore Winter Club player suited up for 12 games with the Thrashers last year, scoring a goal and an assist. He also played for the Hamilton Bulldogs and Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League, registering 11 goals and 41 points in 49 games split between the clubs.
The six-foot-one, 195pound centre was drafted in the second round, 49th overall, by the Montreal Canadiens in 2006. He was traded with a fourth round pick from Montreal to Atlanta for Nigel Dawes and Brent Sopel earlier this year.
Maxwell has appeared in 32 NHL games in his career. The goal and assist he scored against Ottawa in a 5-4 shootout win for Atlanta March 27, 2011 are the only points of his young NHL career so far. Maxwell was named the first star of that game.
