Cody Almond (born July 24, 1989) is a Canadian-born Swiss professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for

Lausanne HC , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

(NL). He has formerly played for the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL).

Playing career

Almond was originally selected by the

in the fifth round, 140th overall in the

2007 NHL Entry Draft The 2007 NHL Entry Draft was the 45th NHL Entry Draft. It was hosted at Nationwide Arena in the city of Columbus, Ohio, on June 22, 2007. The draft consisted of seven rounds with rounds two through seven taking place on June 23, 2007. The draft ...

from the

Kelowna Rockets The Kelowna Rockets are a major junior ice hockey team based in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. The Rockets play in the Western Hockey League (WHL), out of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). They play their home games at Prospera Place. The Roc ...

of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

. He made his NHL debut on February 12, 2010 against the

Atlanta Thrashers The Atlanta Thrashers were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta. Atlanta was granted a franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL) on June 25, 1997, and became the League's 28th franchise when it began play in the 1999–2000 seaso ...

, and scored his first goal on April 4, 2010 against the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce B ...

. Almond started the 2010–11 season with Minnesota's AHL affiliate, the Houston Aeros, but was recalled to the NHL on November 4, 2010. On June 20, 2012, Almond left the Wild organization for Europe and was signed to a three-year contract with HC Genève-Servette of the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

National League A. In his second season with Genève-Servette in 2013–14, Almond broke out offensively whilst still providing a physical two-way game in contributing with 18 goals and 34 points in 44 games. Approaching the final year of his contract he re-signed to a five-year contract extension with Genève-Servette on June 23, 2014. Only two weeks after in signing his extension, Almond was granted a release from the Eagles, after earning a one-year, $550,000 contract to return with the Wild on July 8, 2014. Almond was unable to make the Wild's opening night roster for the 2014–15 season, and was assigned to AHL affiliate, the

Iowa Wild The Iowa Wild are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League, that began play for the 2013–14 season. The team plays at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, as the AHL affiliate of the NHL's Minnesota Wild. The team was f ...

. After just five games, going scoreless, and recovering from an injury, Almond opted to leave Minnesota and return to Switzerland on his initial five-year agreement made with Genève-Servette HC on December 1, 2014. In June 2018, Almond opted out of his contract with Genève-Servette HC to sign a three-year deal worth CHF 1.6 million (+ bonuses and additional costs) with

for the 2019/20 season. Almond should have joined Lausanne in the summer of 2018, but both clubs failed to find an agreement, forcing Almond to stay in Geneva through the 2018/19 season. During his tenure with Servette, Almond was largely criticized for his inconsistency and his lack of physical condition as he failed to play a single full season over 7 years in Geneva. He eventually played 213 regular season games with Geneva (139 points) and 35 playoffs games (20 points), before moving to Geneva's biggest rival, Lausanne HC.

Personal life

Almond received Swiss citizenship in 2012. His maternal grandmother Martha is a native of

Olten Olten (High Alemannic: ''Oute'') is a town in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland and capital of the district of the same name. Olten's railway station is within 30 minutes of Zürich, Basel, Bern, and Lucerne by train, and is a rail hub o ...

, Switzerland.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* 1989 births Living people Canadian ice hockey centres Genève-Servette HC players Houston Aeros (1994–2013) players Ice hockey people from Calgary Iowa Wild players Kelowna Rockets players Lausanne HC players Minnesota Wild draft picks Minnesota Wild players Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players of Switzerland Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland Naturalised citizens of Switzerland Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Canadian emigrants to Switzerland Swiss ice hockey centres Swiss expatriate sportspeople in the United States {{Switzerland-icehockey-bio-stub