Category: AHL

30Nov

Ryan Malone(6) Hartford Wolf Pack

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Ryan Malone12th year veteran left wing Ryan Malone(6) has played a whopping 647 NHL games with only three teams throughout his lengthy pro career.

He was a Pittsburgh Penguins‘ 4th round pick in the 1999 draft (#115 overall) and spent his first 4 years, minus the 2004/2005 lockout, with the team, where he reached the 20/20 scorer three times.

The big 6’4″ 224 lbs. forward went on to sign a lucrative 6-year deal with Tampa Bay Lightning and once again averaged the 20/20 mark through his first four seasons in south Florida.

A few seasons ago though, his numbers started to tank.

This led the Lightning to rethink their contract and eventually moved to buy out the remaining two seasons of his agreement.

After a summer of uncertainty as a freshly released unrestricted free agent, the 35-year old signed a one-year, two-way contract for virtual pennies to see if he could fill in some offensive spots lost by New York Rangers after their run to the Stanley Cup Finals.

He was on the opening night roster and was almost reassigned once until an injury kept him up. Failing to connect, he was eventually put on waivers and reassigned to minor league affiliate Hartford Wolf Pack.

It was his first time in the AHL since playing 3 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins fresh out of four years of college at St. Cloud University.

He’s appeared in 5 contests thus far recording a pair of assists in one game on a veteran heavy squad that may require him to sit out more often than not.

27Nov

Adam Burish(37) Worcester Sharks

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Adam Burish3San Jose Sharks‘ 9th year veteran center Adam Burish(37) has never been a prolific goal scorer through 378 NHL games he’s skated, 27 goals and 33 assists.

Returning healthy after suffering an injury that tossed all but 15 games to the sidelines last season, he’s off to a less than stellar start with only a goal, a pair of assists and a -6 rating in 20 contests.

His team is also suffering from sub par performances on more nights than not. As they say, there’s plenty of blame to go around.

Originally a Chicago Blackhawks‘ very deep 9th round pick in 2002 (#282 overall), the 6’1″ 191 lbs. forward has played most of his big league games with them, winning a Stanley Cup in 2010.

He does seem to gravitate towards winning as he was team captain for University Of Wisconsin when they won the 2006 NCAA Championship.

In between he had a two season stop posting career highs with Dallas Stars before signing a very decent 4-year agreement with the Sharks.

He’s in the third campaign of his one-way deal but not producing and with the team slumping he finds himself on the outs, reassigned to minor league affiliate Worcester Sharks.

It’s his first appearance in the AHL in 7 years.

In two games he has one assist.

The 31-year old could be a huge asset with the farm club or could easily find himself on the payoff end of a buyout after this season.

24Nov

Andrew Agozinno(32) Lake Erie Monsters

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Andrew AgozzinoColorado Avalanche 3rd year undrafted left wing was signed to a 2-year entry level deal after being on the radar under contract with minor league affiliate Lake Erie Monsters for his rookie season.

Despite putting up stellar numbers in juniors, the small 5’9″ 187 lbs. forward went roughly undetected by clubs potentially because of his size but only they really know.

He continued his scoreboard success leading his AHL squad in points, assists and plus/minus in his first year.

He basically ran duplicate numbers in his sophomore run but was a fairly terrible -12 on a struggling team.

The 23-year old is in the final year of his big league contract and set to become a restricted free agent.

Well, once again he came out of the gate lighting the lamp in his third campaign with the farm club (3 goals, 5 assists in 14 games).

Good enough to earn him a recall for a game in the show.

He skated 14 shifts for 9:45 of total ice time and got his first NHL point with an assist on the first goal in the 4-3 shootout victory.

He also put up one shot and was a +1 rating.

Despite his good play and the team win he was sent back down as the injured healed well enough to play.

No doubt he’ll earn another shot.

See related: 1/25-13

23Nov

Kellan Lain(19) Oklahoma City Barons

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Kellan Lain2Undrafted Vancouver Canucks‘ exceedingly large 6’6″ 222 lbs. center Kellan Lain(19) found himself in an early season mostly minor league deal that ships him to Edmonton Oilers‘ prospect system for the final year of his two-year extension.

Initially signed to an entry level deal for just one season coming out of his third tour with Lake Superior State University, he started his pro career with 13 AHL games for then affiliate Chicago Wolves.

Although he was credited for no points he must have played with enough jam to keep the restricted free agent around for more than one more look.

In his official rookie season with Utica Comets he is credited for 7 tallies and 12 helpers in 63 games with a +4 rating on a mostly struggling first year squad.

He earned himself a pair of call ups after the new year and stuck around for 9 NHL game scoring his first big league goal and was a +1 plus/minus.

Heading into a contract year, he was maybe a bit slow out of the gate, getting reassigned to the farm club early in training camp and coming out of the gate slowly with only 1 assist in 10 games.

Maybe the new surroundings skating with Oklahoma City Barons will wake the sleeping giant.

22Nov

Bo Horvat(53) Vancouver Canucks

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Bo HorvatVancouver Canucks‘ 1st round pick in the 2013 draft (#9 overall) center Bo Horvat(53) started his rookie season with the on the opening night roster but was unable to crack the lineup, so less than a month into 2014/2015 he was sent down on a conditioning reassignment to minor league affiliate Utica Comets.

In 5 AHL games he was somewhat oddly unable to come up with a point but still showed enough that he should be up with the parent club.

The 6′ 216 lbs. former two-time 2012 and 2013 OHL Champion continued to work hard and finally found a spot on the team.

He was virtually a point-per-game player in three seasons with London Knights.

At only 19-years old and leaving a year early from junior hockey, he plays the game like a true power forward and in his 7th NHL game finally came up with his first pro goal in the team’s 4-3 loss.

He did appear in the full slate of preseason match ups and was credited with an unofficial tally.

Signed to a three-year entry level deal, he should be a contributor for a long-time in Western Canada.

21Nov

Brendan Brooks(27) Bakersfield Condors

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Brendan BrooksUndrafted 17th year right wing Brendan Brooks(27) has never skated an NHL game but has managed to play in 8 different pro leagues, including 4 with North American teams and across 5 different countries.

The somewhat small-ish 5’10” 185 lbs. forward even had a formidable campaign last season appearing in only 21 games with Valerenga scoring 16 goals and 11 assists.

It was his second stint in Norway GET-ligaen. He had two of his most productive offensive years with 2014 champs Stavenger Oilers.

The 35-year old has scored 20+ goals six times in his career.

His latest stop, signing with Bakersfield Condors brings him full circle.

After only his second season of OHL junior hockey he played a single ECHL game in 1998 for Mississippi Sea Wolves.

He would then officially turn pro with Quad City Mallards of the UHL and stick with them for a couple of years.

Among the impressive resume of stops he even had one appearance along the way in the old IHL with Cincinnati Cyclones.

He worked his way up the ladder and spent four seasons in the AHL most notably for two with Worcester Ice Cats before splitting overseas.

It’s possible that he’s chosen to play closer to home, because he could be eying the next phase of his hockey lifetime.

20Nov

Scott Laughton(49) Philadelphia Flyers

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Scott Laughton2Philadelphia Flyers‘ 1st round pick in the 2010 draft (#20 overall) center Scott Laughton(49) has definitely been on a bit of a ride to rejoin the parent club on recall from affiliate Lehigh Valley Phantoms early in his rookie year.

He was initially summoned after the lockout thawed in 2013 from his third run in juniors but was returned to Oshawa Generals to continue tearing up the score sheet and work on his development.

He was unable to notch a point in 5 NHL games.

He went on to produce more than a point per game and then doubled those stats in 7 playoff contests.

The 6’1″ 177 lbs. forward returned to the pros after his team was knocked out of the postseason and skated 6 more games with farm team Adirondack Phantoms.

He would score his first goal and add two assists.

Continuing his crazy 2013 he was once again in Flyers‘ training camp, already under contract but with the option of being sent back due to his young age.

In a crazy turn of moves, he was set to be on the opening night roster but instead was loaned back to the OHL and he went on to put up career numbers as an assistant captain.

Having just turned 20-years old he was one of the final cuts to be reassigned to start his first official campaign and popped out the gate retaining his scoring touch.

In 13 AHL games he’s struck for 6 goals and 5 assists, good enough to earn that recall and make his sixth appearance in the show.

Used on sparingly, skating 12 shifts for 7:00 minutes of ice time in a 2-0 blanking.

With some additional time out there he should be able to contribute as he plays a speedy style with plenty enough tenacity and has a scoring touch that just needs to break though on the highest level of hockey.

19Nov

Josh Gratton(13) Manchester Monarchs

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Josh Gratton

Undrafted 12th year left wing Josh Gratton(13) spent the last four seasons playing mostly in the KHL with Barys Astana and Vityaz Podolsk. He only skated in 11 games last season.

Seeing only limited action in his last two seasons was possibly the impetus for him to return to North American pro hockey to see if at 32-years old he could earn himself a contract.

Invited to Manchester Monarchs‘ training camp, he proved himself worthy and was given a pto to start the 2014/2015 season.

13 games into the season he has one assist, a +1 rating, 36 penalty minutes and quickly accrued 6 fighting majors.

The 6’2″ 215 lbs. tough guy has skated in 247 AHL games scoring a modest 35 goals and 39 assists with an eye-popping 936 pims and dropped the gloves 102 times.

He’s also appeared in 86 NHL games for Arizona Coyotes and two stints with Philadelphia Flyers.

He won a Calder Cup Championship with Philadelphia Phantoms in the lockout year 2004/2005.

It remains to be seen whether or not he’s given an spc for this season but regardless, he’s making his presence felt.

17Nov

Anton Forsberg(35) Springfield Falcons

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Anton-Forsberg

Columbus Blue Jackets‘ deep 7th round pick in the 2011 draft (#188 overall) Swedish-born goalie Anton Forsberg(35) realized his first pair of NHL starts as a rookie.

He’s thus far absolutely shutting the door on the offense in a pair of AHL starts with affiliate Springfield Falcons.

He won both appearances posting a 1.50 GAA and a .953 SV% along with a getting his first shutout.

It was much the same when he first appeared with the farm club at the tail end of last season and kept a secure 1.13 GAA and .957 SV% in 4 times between the pipes. He also played in 2 Calder Cup Playoff games, running some respectable numbers.

The fairly sizable 6’3″ 195 lbs. fared less well in his two appearances with the big club.

He was credited for only one of the losses but got shellacked on the stat sheet with a dismal 5.32 GAA and .841 SV%. He did earn a third star award in one of the games for at least keeping his team competitive in one of the defeats.

As a teenager he already experienced pro hockey in his home country playing last season in net with MODO of the SHL. He also backstopped 14 games for them in 2011/2012, while still participating in juniors and incidentally won a gold medal at the WJC.

For his first official year of pro hockey he kept the crease clear for Sodertalje of tier two Allsvenskan.

Although he may have come out of the gate in the show less than spectacularly, the still very young 21-year old is best suited playing a good 30+ game schedule in the minors and given plenty of room to develop as he’s signed for a 3-year entry level deal through 2016.

See related: 5/4-2014

15Nov

Chris Tierney(50) Worcester Sharks

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chris tierneySan Jose Sharks‘ 2nd round pick in the 2012 draft (#55 overall) rookie center Chris Tierney(50) started his first campaign with the parent club appearing in 11 NHL games scoring a pair of assists with a -2 rating.

He was reassigned to affiliate Worcester Sharks to re-find that scoring touch that made him a point per game guy in his last two seasons of OHL with London Knights, where he also won two league championships in 2011, 2012 and  was named team captain in his final term.

In his first 2 AHL games he already notched a first goal in the minors and has 4 assists to help the team come from behind twice to win.

The 6′ 190 lbs. forward is signed to a three-year entry level deal through 2017, so if he gets hot and there’s a roster spot for him, he may be making the trek between the two coasts on a number of occasions in the 2014/2015 calendar.

The only 20-year old is definitely making a huge difference where he is.