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.
New York Rangers‘ 3rd year Danish-born right wing Nicklas Jensen(13) was recently picked up in a trade involving two former 1st round draft picks.
After spending his first pair of seasons in Vancouver Canucks‘ prospect system, skating mostly with affiliate Utica Comets, the change of scenery appears to be doing him justice.
He did play in 17 NHL games as a rookie (3 goals, 3 assists) but only appeared in 5 throughout 2014/2015 with no points. It was possible there was little room to experiment with a lineup that teeter on a playoff berth.
Upon reassignment to farm team Hartford Wolf Pack he’s starting to produce right away scoring 3 goals and 1 assist with a +5 rating as the team starts to surge.
7th year center Mathieu Tousignant(7) has been known for being mostly a mucker in his pro career amassing over 100 penalty minutes in three of his pro seasons and dropped the mitts 10+ times in four campaigns.
The 5’11” 185 lbs. pugilist enjoyed his best scoring run as a sophomore skater, when he struck for a career high 10 goals and 13 assists for 23 points with Texas Stars.
It was also his first year of a three-year entry level deal he signed with Dallas Stars.
He recorded his best assist mark last season while under contract with Adirondack Flames at 14.
Having spent the majority of his playing time in the AHL (327 games) he decided to try his hand elsewhere for 2015/2016.
Signing a one-year term with Ravensburg Towerstars of DEL2, he has exploded on the score sheet popping in 18 goals and 22 assists in 32 games, while continuing his agitating presence on the ice with 81 pims.
These totals mirror what he had been able to achieve on a couple of ECHL reassignments to Idaho Steelheads and what he did in his final three years of juniors in the QMJHL with Baie-Comeau Drakkar, Prince Edward Island Rocket and Chicoutimi Sagueneens.
The 26-year old is obviously fairly comfortable as he inked an extension to stick around for another year.
Buffalo Sabres‘ 10th year center Cal O’Reilly(19) signed a two-year one-way deal to join his younger brother’s team after two seasons with Utica Comets, under contract with parent club Vancouver Canucks in 2014/2015.
He eclipsed the 50 assist mark for the third time in the AHL last year.
The 6′ 191 lbs. forward left North America for a pair of campaigns in the KHL with Metallurg Magnitogorsk but was released after not producing early in his second run.
That was after he skated for no less than 5 squads in 2011/2012, initially with draft team Nashville Predators, then Phoenix Coyotes and farm team Portland Pirates before finally going to Pittsburgh Penguins and their minor league affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
The 29-year old is enjoying his second NHL recall of 2015/2016 from Rochester Americans (4-19-23 in 35 contests), where he was named team captain, and has an assist in three games playing at the highest level of hockey in three seasons.
Anaheim Ducks‘ newly signed to a multi-million dollar 3-year deal through 2018, 8th year right wing Patrick Maroon(19) isn’t exactly have the best year on the score sheet with only one goal and 5 assists in 40 games he’s way off the marks of 25 assists last season and 11 goals the year before that.
Isn’t helping that the top scorers on the team aren’t scoring either.
It’s bound to start clicking but at this point that it’s not is a problem.
Seems a little odd that this is only the still huge 6’3″ 230 lbs. power forward’s third full year in the NHL.
Previously he had a combined 15 games through his first two years in the Ducks‘ system.
At 28-years old it’s definitely time for him to start coming out of the shadows on the score sheet.
