Undrafted 6th year left wing David Vallorani(97) will head back over to Europe after another hugely successful season in the ECHL signing for 2017/2018 with Almtuna IS of Sweden’s tier 2 Allsvenskan.
He was the league’s 5th top scorer with 83 points (new career highs 32 goals and 51 assists) with a +8 rating for Brampton Beast.
The small 5’8″ 180 lbs. forward spent his last two campaigns overseas, first as an almost two point-per-game player with Milano Rossoblu of Italy’s Serie A, then moved on to Starbulls Rosenheim putting together 41 points (21-20) in 46 DEL2 games.
He had a pair of 59 point campaigns to start his pro career with Reading Royals and Utah Grizzlies and helped win the 2013 Kelly Cup Championship with the former club.
This scoring trend continued from what he was able to achieve through 4 years at UMass-Lowell, where he was once a 31 point guy and got very close to that mark in each of his other three seasons.
The 28-year old obviously still has a lot of gas left in his tank but it remains to be seen if he’ll continue to jump around from country-to-country in his quest for the best hockey.
8th year left wing Blair Riley(25) re-signs for a second run with Belfast Giants after a career season that saw him put up his best totals since he was a rookie skating for Las Vegas Wranglers, when he got 20 goals and 20 assists in 2010/2011.
He bumped that up significantly grabbing 28 goals and 28 assists through 52 EIHL games equaling over point-per-game numbers for the one-time Bridgeport Sound Tigers‘ tough guy that amassed 165 minutes penalty minutes and 21 fighting majors.
The 31-year old veteran of 330 AHL games looks to have found a nice home late in his career.
8th year right wing Sean Backman(16) has decided over 500 regular season and playoff games in the AHL through 7 seasons is quite enough and will try the ice overseas signing with Eisbaren Berlin of DEL for 2017/2018.
The small forward that posted career high 21 goals and 34 assists for 54 points only a couple of seasons ago in his initial run with Ontario Reign and has definitely been able to connect with the score sheet through four years at Yale University and in the pros.
He also managed to be a part of the storybook Manchester Monarchs that went on an impressive postseason run to the 2015 Calder Cup.
His 5 goals and 12 assists were a team 5th best (on a stacked squad) en route to the title.
The 31-year old only ever signed a few one year NHL deals with Dallas Stars as a rookie and New York Islanders as a 2nd and 3rd year player, so has been a trooper in the minor league.
We have little doubt he’ll continue to put up big stats in his new surroundings.
Undrafted defenseman Alex Wall(5) takes a successful rookie season with Adirondack Thunder scoring 6 goals and a blue liner high 38 assists and 44 points in 66 ECHL games to GET-ligaen joining Frisk Asker for his sophomore campaign.
Taking a fairly long route to turning pro he first spent 4 years in the QMJHL with three different squads before engaging in five runs at a pair of universities in Canada before signing his first pro deal.
The 5’11” 190 lbs. d-man also skated a two AHL games on loan to Utica Comets without recording a point.
At 26-years old, he continue to do well overseas and could very well work himself up the hockey ladder quite nicely.
Undrafted 9th year backstop Jeff Lerg(1) has decided it’s time to once again split for overseas hockey signing a one-year contract with Gap of Ligue Magnus.
It will be his third season playing pro hockey in the country.
The mini 5’6″ 163 lbs. net minder tended the cage from 2012-2014 for Villard-de-Lans through 63 games including playoffs.
He also spent most of 2016/2017 away appearing in 23 games with Rungsted Seier Capital of Metal Ligaen before returning to his team of the past three seasons, Toledo Walleye towards the end of the calendar and through the postseason.
Despite possibly being the smallest player to ever guard the cage professionally, he was named Goaltender Of The Year in 2004/2005 with Omaha Lancers of the USHL and won the 2007 NCAA Championship as a sophomore for Michigan State University.
At 31-years old he shows little signs of hanging up the skates but if he decides it’s time would be an outstanding goalie coach to start.
8th year center Johan Sundstrom(28) played the last pair of seasons for the only team in his home country, Sweden he’s ever known, Frolunda Indians running up some career high points (38) last season and a new best goals (17) two campaigns ago, while winning the 2016 SHL Championship and two Champions League titles with an impressive, overall +30 rating.
The still super-young 24-year old, who will turn just 25 before the start of the new season, is set to join only his third team, Avangard Omsk of the KHL for 2017/2018.
We expect him to do well with his new squad but may take a year to get situated if he can do well enough to stick.
6th year left wing Justin Florek(38) will take his game over to Germany joining Iserlohn Roosters of DEL for 2017/2018 after a respectable year scoring 12 goals and 18 assists while under contract with Milwaukee Admirals.
It was his third season with 30 or more points in the AHL.
The 27-year old will likely do well over here quickly and could find himself climbing the European hockey ladder.
The big winger deserved a better shot in the NHL.
Kirk MacDonald spent 6 seasons playing pro hockey, all on the minor league level but did score himself a two-way NHL deal with Boston Bruins in 2011 midway through his second full-time stint (of three) with affiliate Providence Bruins, who he was under contract with from 2009-2012.
The 2010/2011 campaign was his career year playing a new high 76 AHL games scoring new best 15 goals and 23 assists.
After one more season he decided to transition into coaching and became an assistant at his alma mater RPI (Rensselaer Polytech Institute).
He quickly moved on to take on the same role with the last team he played for, Reading Royals.
The 33-year old was recently named to the head coach position and should do well, potentially winning another championship for the ECHL team.
We always thought he was a good player that worked really hard to climb the hockey ladder.
Opposing goaltenders South Carolina Stingrays‘ Parker Milner(35) and Manchester Monarchs‘ Sam Brittain(1) meet at center ice to share a handshake and a smile after a tough ECHL Eastern Conference Finals series that extended to game 7.
The two backstops have outstanding GAA’s and SV%s in the playoffs and battled hard to keep pucks out of their respective nets that saw the Stingrays come away with the victory they needed to move on to the Kelly Cup Finals.
It was amazing to watch both play.
After a fairly solid 13-year career, Austrian defenseman Thomas Pock(20) decides it’s time to set the skates aside.
He spent the last 4 seasons playing in his home country’s top league Erste Bank Eishockey Liga mostly for Klagenfurter AC, but made his final run with Graz 99ers scoring a very sturdy 6 goals and 24 assists with a +5 rating.
A veteran of over 700 pro games through 6 world leagues with 118 of those in the NHL, he’s put up 30+ points on 5 occasions and has always been pretty solid dishing out assists.
The 35-year old has accepted an invite to become the head coach of the National Women’s Hockey League Boston Pride for 2017/2018.
