- Kevin Labanc signed a one-year deal with SC Rapperswil-Jona of Switzerland’s National League
- The former Sharks winger lands in the Swiss NL after a season in the KHL
- Read below for what pushed the ex-San Jose forward across the Atlantic
Kevin Labanc is taking his game to Switzerland.
SC Rapperswil-Jona announced Thursday that the club signed the 30-year-old winger to a one-year deal for the 2026-27 season. He becomes the Lakers’ sixth import forward, stepping into the spot Mike Sgarbossa vacated in early July when the veteran backed out for family reasons.
Most hockey fans know Labanc from his eight seasons in San Jose. He put up 82 goals and 225 points in a Sharks sweater and looked like a real find in 2018-19, when he racked up 56 points in 82 games. His production dipped after that, and his role kept shrinking.
A one-year stop in Columbus in 2024-25 didn’t fix things. Labanc managed just 12 points in 34 games with the Blue Jackets, then headed to the KHL last summer.
He spent 2025-26 with the Shanghai Dragons and found some of his touch again, scoring 15 goals and adding 19 assists across 55 games. Now he’s on to a third league in three seasons.
The Swiss circuit won’t feel completely foreign to him either. Labanc played years alongside Timo Meier in San Jose, and Meier grew up a short drive from Rapperswil in eastern Switzerland.
Labanc joins a growing list of familiar NHL names finishing this offseason overseas. Goalie Hunter Shepard signed in the KHL earlier this week.
The deal gives Labanc one year to prove he can still produce, and it hands Rapperswil-Jona a former NHL scorer to fill the hole that opened three weeks ago.
