Nottingham Panthers have brought back popular defenceman Guillaume Lepine, five years after he last played for the club.

Lepine originally joined the Panthers in 2010, helping the East Midlands side to win three Challenge Cups, three Playoff titles and an Elite League championships during three seasons with the club before moving back to North America.

Since then Lepine has featured in more than 160 AHL games, mainly for the Binghamton Senators, and 148 ECHL games, most recently for Wichita Thunder, with whom he scored 18 points in 65 games last season.

The 31-year-old has joined the Panthers on a multi year deal, with Head Coach Rich Chernomaz telling Panthers Radio he believes the 6’4” blue liner is ‘a big piece of the (Panthers) puzzle’.

PHOTO: Panthers Images