Booth last played in the NHL during the 2017-18 season.

PublishedAugust 8, 2025 1:35 PM EDT•UpdatedAugust 8, 2025 1:35 PM EDT

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One thing that I’ve always found fascinating is following NHLers’ careers after they leave the National Hockey League. For a lot of players, time in the National Hockey League is only one part of their career. Lots move on to other leagues around the world to finish out their playing days.

Everyone is familiar with leagues like the KHL in Russia, the DEL in Germany, or the National League in Switzerland that have been known to draw NHLers. Other burgeoning leagues like the United Kingdom’s Elite Ice Hockey League and Central Europe’s ICE Hockey League are becoming an option too.

Another one? The Australian Ice Hockey League, and that’s where ex-NHL power forward David Booth has been playing lately, and he’s dropping some highlight reel goals and some crazy numbers.

The 40-year-old former Michigan Wolverine played 530 games in the NHL with the Florida Panthers, Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Detroit Red Wings. His last NHL appearance was in Detroit during the 2017-18 season, and that came after a pair of seasons in the KHL.

According to Elite Prospects, since then, Booth has played in Norway, Germany, and Hungary, and even played a game for the semi-pro Jackson Hole Moose of the Black Diamond Hockey League.

David Booth

Former NHL player David Booth has been around the world since leaving the league, and right now he’s tearing it up in Australia. (Getty Images)

This season, he’s Down Under (where it’s Winter, remember that) suiting up for the Melbourne Ice of the AIHL. The league has 10 teams spread across the country, and Booth has been tearing it up. 

His stat line this season? 50 points (25G, 25A) in just 11 games. 

That’s 4.55 points per game!

And this week, he scored one of the slickest goals the continent has ever seen.

Are you kidding me?

I understand that the AIHL isn’t the highest level of pro hockey in the world, but that move around a pair of defensemen like that takes some next-level hands and footwork.

Booth has both, and the result was smoother than some Vegemite slathered on a slice of bread.

I might need to keep tabs on Booth’s scoring because when their season wraps up at the end of this month, his totals might be obscene.