Ben Maxwell

Playing career

Before he was a pro, Ben Maxwell suited up for a North Vancouver minor team at the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament in both 2001 and 2002. The Montreal Canadiens picked him in the second round, 49th overall, at the 2006 NHL entry draft. While still with the WHL’s Kootenay Ice, he inked a three-year entry-level deal with Montreal on March 1, 2008. He got his first call-up from the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs on December 12, 2008, stepping in for an injured Saku Koivu, and made his NHL debut the next day against the Washington Capitals.

On February 24, 2011, the Canadiens traded Maxwell and a fourth-round pick in the 2011 draft to the Atlanta Thrashers for Brent Sopel and Nigel Dawes. He netted his first NHL goal on March 27, 2011, beating Ottawa’s Craig Anderson, and earned first-star honors that night. After the Thrashers moved, he signed a one-year, $715,000 deal with the Winnipeg Jets on July 18, 2011. The Anaheim Ducks claimed him off waivers on November 10, 2011, but when Anaheim put him back on waivers on December 6, the Jets reclaimed him. He re-upped with Winnipeg for another year on July 6, 2012, but spent the entire 2012–13 season with the AHL’s St. John’s IceCaps, putting up 11 goals and 40 points over 74 games.

Hoping to catch NHL eyes again, Maxwell signed a one-year contract with Finland’s Kärpät Oulu on August 11, 2013, and won the Finnish championship in April 2014. He then moved to the KHL’s HC Yugra in Khanty-Mansiysk on a one-year deal on May 29, 2014. On February 12, 2015, he returned to Finland to rejoin Kärpät. After that, he spent two seasons with KHL’s HC Sochi, then signed with HC Spartak Moscow for 2017–18. Following five years in the KHL, he left Russia and signed a one-year free-agent contract with Switzerland’s SCL Tigers of the National League on July 12, 2019. Maxwell then played two seasons with Sweden’s Linköping HC in the SHL, leaving after his contract ended on March 14, 2023.