The Cardiff Devils have announced that classy offensive defenceman Gleason Fournier will be returning to the team for a fourth season.

The 26-year old French-Canadian played a huge role on last year’s League and Playoff winning side, scoring 16 goals and 42 assists for 58 points in 68 games.

Fournier joined the Devils mid-season in January 2016 and won League, Conference and Challenge Cup in his first full season in south Wales.

Fournier, who was drafted in the third round by the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings in 2009, has since established himself as one of the best offensive defencemen playing in the Elite league.

Last season he finished seventh in the league in overall scoring for defenceman and played a key role on the Devils’ league best powerplay where he scored 6 of his 16 goals.

Coach Andrew Lord, who is currently on a coaching conference in America believes the Devils have retained the services of one of the league’s best players.

“Gleason is one of the best, if not the best skater in the EIHL,” he said. “He has an ability to pick up the puck in his own end and go coast to coast with ease, but his speed lets him always get back into position on defence.

“His skating and offensive skill makes him dangerous every time he is on the ice and he gives us an added offensive element that can catch out a lot of teams. He has a cannon of a shot and scored some big goals for us the last 3 seasons.”

Before turning pro, Fournier played four seasons with Rimouski Oceanic of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL).  He split his first three years pro between Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League (AHL) and Toledo of the ECHL.

In 2013, he was part of the Calder Cup winning Grand Rapids team, his only professional championship before becoming a Devil.  In his three years in Cardiff he has won three Erhardt Conference Titles, two Elite League Championships, one Challenge Cup and most recently the 2018 Play-Off Championship.