Florida Panthers‘ fourth year center Ryan Martindale(8) found himself shuffled for a second year in a row from one minor league club to another. What changed this year though was when he arrived at Syracuse Crunch on loan from Panthers‘ affiliate San Antonio Rampage he exploded into a goal scoring machine.
He had 8 goals and 5 assists in 45 AHL games to start but when he switched squads he got as many tallies and one better helper in only 17 contests, almost a third less games since heading to the Eastern Conference. His 16 goals and 27 points are new career highs.
Originally an Edmonton Oilers‘ 3rd round pick in the 2010 draft (#61 overall), he played 2.5 years in their system with Oklahoma City Barons but was unable to live up to what he’d accomplished in his final three years of juniors with Oshawa Generals of the OHL. where there was a 20+ goal season, a 30+ and 2 straight campaigns with 40+ assists and almost 50 in his final run.
The 6’3″ 208 lbs. forward plays with a lot of jam and fires the puck on the net at least a couple of times each game but stays out of the penalty box. He’s mostly been a minus player but surprise he’s currently a +5.
The 24-year old is set enter his second restricted free agency but is still under contract to Florida. It would be easy to think they may pay some renewed interest now that he’s come to life.