Florida Panthers‘ 7th year defenseman Brent Regner(37) signed a two-year two-way deal on opening day of unrestricted free agency and is realizing his first NHL recall and game through a career that was certainly promising coming out of the gate but went through a period on a pair of minor league contracts and even a couple games in the ECHL to finding his way back on the big league payroll.
In his debut, he skated 16 shifts for 12:22 of ice time including :15 shorthanded. He had had 1 shot, 2 hits, 1 breakup and 1 giveaway with a 0 rating in a 3-2 overtime loss.
The 26-year could be just getting started now that he’s finally found the show, as he plays a hard-hitting style in the defensive zone and can move the puck for offense.
He averages 20 assists a year in the AHL. With 12 already in the current season with affiliate Portland Pirates he looks to once again reach that mark.
Regardless of what happens this is a feel good story already for an almost forgotten former 5th round pick.
Pittsburgh Penguins‘ 3rd round pick in the 2012 draft (#81 overall) Swedish-born rookie center Oskar Sundqvist(40) received his first NHL recall at the midway point of the 2015/2016 season.
The fairly sizable 6’3″ 209 lbs. power forward played a decent 14 shifts for 11:11 of total ice time with 1 shot on net, 1 break up and went 37% in the face off dot in what turned into a 6-3 drubbing.
A late cut from the parent club’s training camp last season and was summoned back up early with no appearance, he’s been decent to start his first campaign on reassignment with affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins scoring 5 goals and 11 assists with a -1 rating in 39 AHL contests on a top tier squad. He’s in all likelihood still getting his game adjusted.
The soon-to-turn 22-year old already had two years plus pro experience skating with Skelleftea AIK and even won the 2014 SHL Championship adding four goals and two assists in 13 playoff match-ups.
Signed to a three-year entry level deal he was allowed to spend the 2014/2015 in his home country to continue his development but did come over and appeared in one Calder Cup Playoff game with the farm team.
We shall see if this one rises to the top.
Florida Panthers‘ 3rd round pick in the 2011 draft (#91 overall) rookie center Kyle Rau(42) is turning heads in his first year with affiliate Portland Pirates.
The pint-size 5’8″ 178 lbs. forward of course leads other first year players in scoring but he’s 2nd in goals at 15 and his 24 points are third overall.
He’s been fairly clutch in the minor league team’s ascent up the AHL standings.
It’s not exactly uncharted territory for the player. He was a point per game guy through 4 years at University Of Minnesota and named captain as a junior and senior.
Upon signing his two-year entry level deal, he was assigned to play with San Antonio Rampage. In 7 games he scored a pair of goals and one assist, then appeared in one postseason contest.
Even though the parent club is hot, they may pull him up to have a looksie.
Colorado Avalanche 10th year defenseman Nate Guenin(5) was on quite the little journey through the minors before landing in his current home of the last three seasons.
Prior to signing a one-year deal as an unrestricted free agent, then re-upping for another two he spent his first full season in the AHL as captain of Anaheim Ducks‘ affiliate Norfolk Admirals.
That situation was probably a wake-up call the aging d-man needed to put that little extra into his game to become a full-time player in the big league.
Previously he’d played a smattering of NHL games with his first team of three years Philadelphia Flyers, then one in Pittsburgh Penguins‘ organization, half a season for Columbus Blue Jackets before almost another 3 with the Ducks.
He was originally a New York Rangers‘ 4th round pick in the 2002 draft (#127 overall) but never signed.
A veteran of 205 games in the show and 441 in the minors, he’s never put up outstanding numbers, instead the 6’3″ 207 lbs. blue liner plays mostly a punishing presence in his own zone holding down a career +7 rating up and +28 when on reassignment.
At 33-years old he could be given another season to stay put but may also be released. In 29 games he has no points and has been in and out of the lineup as a healthy scratch.
St. Louis Blues‘ 5th year center Pat Cannone(12) continues to elevate his play with age.
The 29-year old forward has been a story of chip-chip chip away at it and it will start to come loose.
After two seasons in Ottawa Senators‘ farm system playing for Binghamton Senators, his sophomore campaign didn’t go quite as well on the score sheet as his rookie year did, but he turned a -7 into a tied for 2nd +21 rating.
It wasn’t enough to keep him around for the final year of his contract as he was traded in the off season to St. Louis for future considerations (bag of rocks).
Impressive in his first run with affiliate Chicago Wolves scoring 16 goals and 18 assists and he had a team leading +24 plus/minus.
That was good enough for the parent club to sign him up to a one-year extension and he became an assist captain for the minor league club. He set new personal highs for assists (33 – 1st), points (47 – 2nd) and his +11 was also good enough for 2nd on the squad.
It was in the postseason that he really started setting his current pace though, as he notched 6 assists in 5 Calder Cup Playoffs games.
Given another 1-year contract, he was named captain for 2015/2016 and is on pace to record new best marks in all categories.
In 41 games he has 16 goals, 21 assists with a +14 and he also looks to be shooting the puck on net with way more frequency at 87.
He recently was named MVP for the Central Division in the 2016 AHL All-Star Game getting 3 goals and an assist with a +2 in the victory.
Although he has yet to earn an NHL recall and there are maybe younger prospects ahead of him, he has put in the effort to see what he can do up in the big league.
Ottawa Senators‘ 2nd year left wing Ryan Dzingel(43) received his 1st NHL recall in what is a contract year for the skater.
He played a sparingly used 7 shifts for 5:25 minutes of ice time with 1 hit, 2 penalty minutes, went 50% in the face off dot and was a -1 rating in a 2-1 shootout loss.
The small-ish forward leads affiliate Binghamton Senators in assists with 24 and is tied for the lead in points at 36.
He was tops for all rookies last season with his 17-17-34 totals and finished four on the team in goal scoring.
His marks in 43 AHL games this season has eclipsed what he put up last year and it looks like he will reach new peaks.
The 23-year is set to become a restricted free agent at the end of current campaign but seems like an easy bet to receive a qualifying offer and stay in the system.
Montreal Canadiens‘ 1st round pick in the 2013 draft (#25 overall) rookie right wing Michael McCarron(25) starts his pro career with new affiliate St. John’s IceCaps and leads them in first year player goal scoring and is 2nd overall with 13.
The huge 6’6″ 231 lbs. power forward also has 15 assists for 28 points with a -4 rating, averages 2 shots on net per contest and has 61 penalty minutes in 43 AHL games.
He has already basically indicated through his time on the ice that he doesn’t back away from the rough stuff.
In his two seasons of junior hockey he had 8 fights and 120+ minutes of penalties in each campaign, then had one fight in NHL preseason and already has 3 with the farm club this year.
At 20-years old he’s proving himself to be the complete package but for right now the parent club wants him to continue developing before bringing him up full-time.
He did appear in a pair of big league games skating limited time and recording 4 penalty minutes.
Can’t be long before he returns though, as the slumping Les Bleu Blanc Rouge might want to mix things up a bit by inserting former Oshawa Generals‘ 2015 OHL and subsequent Memorial Cup Champion into the roster once again.
New York Rangers‘ 13th year Swiss-born defenseman Raphael Diaz(26) is experiencing his 2nd round with the team in a short time frame.
He was initially a late season pickup for a draft pick but was not retained and subsequently signed for 2014/2015 with Calgary Flames after a successful training camp tryout.
And now he’s back on a one-year one-way deal. Even though he was a late cut to be reassigned to affiliate Hartford Wolf Pack he may have a tough row to hoe to get back to the NHL but it could definitely happen.
He was originally a Montreal Canadiens‘ free agent signing at 25-years old after playing in his country’s top league NLA with Zug for 7 years in addition to his junior hockey time he spent there.
When he was sent down it was initially thought he would just split back home but he ended up staying and is actually a really nice fit in a starting to surge minor league squad.
In 14 AHL games he has 1 goal and 4 assists with a -1 and pair of shots on net per appearance.
Throughout his entire career he has never suited up for a farm club playing exclusively up in the big league for the last four.
It’s heavily thought that next year the 30-year old will head back to Switzerland as he’s signed a five-year deal to return to his roots.
Philadelphia Flyers‘ 2nd round pick in the 2012 draft (#45 overall) gargantuan 6’6″ 232 lbs. goaltender Anthony Stolarz(41) is starting to grow into his game.
Taking a somewhat crazy but cool path through juniors first with Corpus Christi Ice Rays of the NAHL, followed by a year at University Of Nebraska-Omaha before settling in for a couple of seasons with London Knights, where he won the 2013 OHL Champinship and had a league best SV% at .926 in 2013/2014.
Reassigned to be the starting goalie with affiliate Lehigh Valley Phantoms, his workload looks to almost double from his rookie season, when he played in 31 AHL games.
He’s already tended the cage for 29 appearances in the current campaign giving his just over .500 team a chance to win every contest with a 15-10-3 record, 2.45 GAA and .915 SV%.
The just turned 22-year old has been recalled on numerous occasions without making his NHL debut but that moment can’t be too far off at this point.
Reading Royals‘ undrafted right wing Justin Crandall(19) is having a great first pro season.
He currently leads all rookie scoring with 41 points and his 30 assists is tops in the category in 36 ECHL games.
He also has a +4 rating and averages a pair of shots on net per game.
The 5’11” 189 lbs. forward played four years at home state college University Of Minnesota-Duluth with decent results, then upon graduation signed an ato to join Reading for the remainder of 2014/2015 scoring a goal and 2 assists in 4 contests.
He signed pretty quickly in the off season to return so must have liked the atmosphere and figured it would be a good place to start.
Still only just before the halfway point on the hockey calendar but it’s a bit surprising the 23-year old has yet to score a call up to the AHL.
It should happen.
