Ottawa Senators‘ 5th year defenseman Andreas England(39) has tied a career high 3 goals and new best 11 assists and 14 points with a +10 rating in 65 AHL games for affiliate Belleville Senators, a team fighting for a Calder Cup Playoff spot.
His offense uptick gets him notice by the parent club and he scores a 6th NHL game.
In his 2018/2019 debut he skated 16 shifts for 11:21 total ice in a huge 4-1 win with 1 shot, 1 play break up, 1 give away, a 10-minute misconduct penalty and left the game with a +1 rating.
Not bad for the forthcoming 23-year old restricted free agent that will likely be looking for a contract extension to stay but who knows he could just jumped back and head home to Stockholm.
Toronto Maple Leafs‘ undrafted 6th year, Swedish-born defenseman Calle Rosen(48) turned a hot start with affiliate Toronto Marlies, where he currently has a career high 7 goals and 39 assists in 54 AHL games with 11 multi-point outings into a new 2-year one-way extension.
He earns a first recall of the 2018/2019 on strong play and skates 16 shifts for 9:37 total ice with his first NHL goal and 2 shots on net in a 2-1 win.
This stat goes along with an assist in one of the four big league games he played last year.
The 6’1″ 195 lbs. blue liner came in with 4 years pro experience, two in Allsvenskan and then another pair in the SHL for hometown Vaxjo Lakers gaining 10+ assist seasons back-to-back.
His current deal was set to end at the upcoming playoffs for either squad but the 25-year old seems to be just getting started.
10th year veteran left wing Chris Terry(25) gets an assist on the last day of March to earn his 500th point in the AHL (211-289).
He has skated 564 games in the league.
A 3 time 30 goal scorer, 20+ three other seasons, 8 times recording 30+ assists, twice over 40, on 6 occasions had 60+ points and once recently in 2017/2018 with Laval Rocket had 71, a career high.
The maybe slightly smallish forward signed a two-year deal on the opening day of unrestricted free agency with Detroit Red Wings but has spent all of his time with affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins putting up a tidy team leading 28 goals and 32 assists in 64 games.
The very soon to turn 30-year may still have some time to add to his 152 NHL games (22-16-38) but even if he doesn’t has had quite the nice run at professional hockey.
Idaho Steelheads‘ 3rd year center Kyle Schempp(61) may be spending his first full season in the ECHL but is enjoying career high goals 15, assists 25 and points 40 in 67 games with a +3 rating.
The former Ferris State University captain in his third and final season, when they won the 2016 NCAA/WCHA Championship, was originally a New York Islanders‘ 6th round pick 2014 draft (#155 overall) but not given a qualifying offer after his 2nd season with affiliate Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
It seems like the 25-year old, 5’11” 183 lbs forward will take these best totals overseas to find a little higher level of hockey but he also may have found a nice new home in Boise.
Undrafted 3rd year defenseman Desmond Bergin(16) is enjoying some extended time on loan to Binghamton Devils.
He’s skated 10 games added to 6 with Providence Bruins on two occasions and 2 for Milwaukee Admirals earlier in the season.
The 5’11” 190 lbs. blue liner even has his first pair of points (2 assists).
Currently under contract in his 2nd campaign with Adirondack Thunder, he’s put up an admirable 22 goals and 41 assists in 97 ECHL games for the team and will likely return when the Kelly Cup Playoffs commence.
Almost oddly he was never a big point getter through 4 years at Harvard University.
He was part of one title though, the 2015 NCAA/ECAC Championship.
The 26-year old looks like he could score an AHL deal for 2019/2020, possibly after the current calendar finishes or will need to have a strong training camp on an invite.
Detroit Red Wings‘ 5th year defenseman Jake Chelios(84) scores a 1st recall under emergency conditions and skates his NHL debut.
In his first game he skated a healthy 20 shifts for 17:11 total ice time with 1 shot on net, 2 hits, 1 play break up and went a +1 rating in a 4-0 team win.
The 6’2″ 200 lbs. blue liner, son of Chris Chelios, has played 294 AHL games (17-90-107), mostly with Charlotte Checkers, where he spent two years in Carolina Hurricanes‘ prospect system, twice putting up 20+ assists and his first season with the club under a minor league contract.
He hasn’t quite put up numbers in this campaign as he did in his last two (1-13-14) but has raised his on ice accountability to a +17, which likely helped him get the attention of the higher ups.
The 28-year old signed a one-year deal on the opening day of unrestricted free agency but could be making an argument to stick and help out for at least a short extension.
Laval Rocket undrafted rookie Morgan Adams-Moisan(32) signed a one-year two-way contract just after his four years in the QMJHL were up, exploding for 32 goals and 29 assists with a +21 rating in his last season for Drummondville Voltigeurs.
In 12 AHL games he has one goal.
The pretty big 6’2″ 215 lbs. has spent the majority of his first season reassigned to affiliate Maine Mariners, where he’s put up 15 goals and 6 assists with a -4 in 42 ECHL games and he’s not afraid to drop the mitts, as he’s been in 5 dust ups.
We just happened to catch an odd occurrence, on the first night he skated with the lower league team only to be recalled for the next day and skate with his contract club.
At 22-years old, we’ll see where he skates next.
Pittsburgh Penguins‘ undrafted 2nd year center Adam Johnson(47) is set to become a restricted free agent at the end of the current calendar and making a solid argument for an extension with career highs scoring 18 goals, 22 assists and 40 points in 60 AHL games for affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
The 6′ 175 lbs. forward earned a 1st NHL recall recently and has played 3 games (all wins), skating limited shifts/minutes but did dish out 6 hits, 3 shots, 1 play breakup and 2 takeaways with a 0 rating.
After playing 2 years with Sioux City Musketeers scoring 46 goals and 71 assists with a +46 rating in 115 USHL games, he then left for University Of Minnesota-Duluth, where he stayed only for a pair of campaigns with a monster 2nd year (18-19-37) before deciding to turn pro.
He did help his team advance to the Frozen Four Finals in his last season and won the 2017 NCAA/NCHC Championship.
The 24-year old will turn 25 over the summer and become an unrestricted free agent at the end of his next contract.
New Jersey Devils‘ 2nd round pick in the 2014 draft (#41 overall) third year defenseman Josh Jacobs(8) earns a first recall and scores his first NHL game.
The 6’2″ 200 lbs. blue liner played a very healthy 19 shifts for 14:54 ice time with 1 shot, 2 hits, 1 play break up, 3 giveaways and left a 5-1 drubbing with a -1 rating.
Not bad for a guy that played an ECHL game as a rookie.
He’s currently in the final year of his entry level deal, so it makes sense to have a look.
Taking a pretty interesting path up to pros, he played two years in the USHL with Indiana Ice before committing to close to home Michigan State University but that lasted just a year before he signed with Sarnia Sting, who drafted him back in 2012.
He has a career high 3 goals in 60 AHL games with affiliate Binghamton Devils but is off his assists best set last year of 15.
Seems like he could sign a conservative short extension to continue in the prospect system and the 23 year old will likely compete hard in training camp for a spot.
13th year right wing Mike Blunden(6) is having a breakout season in his first foray away from North American pro hockey.
Signed to a one-year deal with HC Bolzano Foxes of the EBEL, he has 16 goals and 17 assists in 38 games and is currently lighting up in the playoffs with 2 tallies and 3 helpers.
These numbers are very close to his career bests of 21 goals and 17 assists in 2016/2017 with Syracuse Crunch in Tampa Bay Lightning‘s system.
The sizable power forward has consistently been recalled in all but one of his campaigns in the minors by the parent club for at least one game, making 127 appearances.
He has skated a phenomenal 573 AHL games scoring 137 goals and 155 assists.
At 32-years old the former Erie Otter could stop at any point but may still feel he has enough gas left in the tank to continue overseas, maybe even at a higher level league elsewhere.
