Kraken activate Pierre-Edouard Bellemare off IR

The Kraken forward has been out since Dec. 18 with a lower-body injury suffered in a game against the Dallas Stars.

The 38-year-old veteran has four goals and one assist for five points in 29 games this season, averaging 9:34 minutes of ice time. Seattle signed Bellemare to a one-year, $775,000 contract in the offseason.

Bellemare was an undrafted free agent, spending the first 11 seasons of his professional career in Europe, playing in his native country of France for Rouen, then transferring to the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) where he played 238 games with Leksands and Skelleftea.

At 29, he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers, and since then has played 689 career games with the Flyers, Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning, scoring 64 goals and 72 assists for 136 points.

Bellemare scored a career-high 22 points (nine goals and 13 assists) in 69 games with the Avalanche in 2019-20.

He has also played 85 career playoff games, scoring five goals and 10 assists for 15 points.

The Kraken are 21-21-10 with 52 points in 52 games, sixth in the Pacific Division. As of Feb. 13, they are six points out of one of the two Wild Card playoff spots in the Western Conference.

Their next game is Tuesday night against the New York Islanders in Long Island, which Bellemare is eligible to play in. After that, Seattle travels to Boston to face the Bruins on Thursday, then fly back home for a six-game homestand between Feb. 19 and March 2, which they’ll kick off by hosting the Detroit Red Wings.