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.
New York Islanders‘ 5th year right wing Joe Whitney(9) just keeps putting together minor league seasons that do better then better.
In his first year with a new team after four seasons with New Jersey and Albany Devils he’s skating with affiliate Bridgeport Sound Tigers and is basically a point per game guy with 14 goals and 19 assists in 36 AHL games.
He’s on pace to exceed his career best goals in 2012/2013 of 26 and could surpass the 37 assists and 60 points he set last year.
His only 5 games in the big league are a pair of recalls over two seasons but he did get his first NHL goal on a New Year’s Eve tilt 2014.
It’s maybe a little doubtful the 5’6″ 171 lbs. mini forward will score a summons this season but the soon-to-be 28-year old could find himself in a bit of a comfortable spot and get the call again if he all parties decided he should stay in the system.
Vancouver Canucks‘ 3rd year center Mike Zalewski(40) must have been a little nervous signing his most recent contract, the one-year minor league variety with his team of a couple seasons, Utica Comets.
Previous to this campaign though, the undrafted 6’2″ 205 forward was playing in the AHL on a two-year entry level deal with the ‘Nucks after only a pair of decent campaigns at Rensselaer Polytech Institute.
The first year of his deal was actually a couple of NHL games after leaving college that counted toward his term.
His official rookie year was 2014/2015. He skated 55 games scoring 3 goals and 9 assists with a -3 rating and then added another 23 contests heading all the way to the Calder Cup Finals and notched another tally and 2 helpers.
The still young 23-year old is off to a hot start this season, already matching his 9 assists mark and almost tripling his goal output with 8 in just 35 games.
It’s caught the attention of the parent club once again as they have inked him to a one-year two-way deal and immediately recalled him for a couple of appearances.
He played an average of 17 shifts for 12 minutes of ice time and got another assist, with two penalty minutes, 1 shot, 5 hits, 1 giveaway, was 50% in the face off circle and was reassigned back to the minor leagues with a +1 rating.
