Category: NHL

22Sep

Ryley Grantham(16) Allen Americans

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4th year right wing Ryley Grantham(16) was not qualified by Calgary Flames when his 3-year entry level deal was up. He was originally their 6th round pick in the 2008 draft (#168 overall).

In the final season of his contract, he was skating mostly with Gwinnett Gladiators of the ECHL before being reassigned in a minor swap with Chicago Express.

The 6’4″ 210 lbs. bruiser played 89 AHL games with Abbotsford Heat and put up a pretty hefty 163 penalty minutes in 67 games of his rookie season. He only minimally hit the scoresheet with a goal and 3 assists.

In an interesting lock out move, the 24-year old signed a contract to play in the Central Hockey League with Allen Americans for 2012/2013. While with them he should really look to pick up his offensive game; put more points than pims on the scoresheet.

 

 

20Sep

Josh Godfrey(3) Las Vegas Wranglers

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He was a high draft pick of Washington Capitals in 2007 (round 2, #34 overall), defenseman Josh Godfrey(3) never seemed to materialize much higher than their then ECHL affiliate South Carolina Stingrays, although he did play 18 games with Hershey Bears registering no goals and 6 assists.

Last season on pto’s with a poor Binghamton Senators‘ team is where he has mostly come alive, scoring a couple of goals and adding 6 assists in 38 games, all AHL career highs.

In the ECHL he’s skated in 120 games and netted 26 goals and 45 assists for a modest 71 points. He also holds the league’s hardest slap shot at 102.7 mph as clocked at the 2011 All-Star Classic.

For 2011/2012 he returns to the league signing a one-year deal to join Las Vegas Wranglers, while the AHL pool is fairly well stocked.

 

18Sep

Brent Regner(28) Peoria Rivermen

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brent-regner

Columbus Blue Jackets‘ 5th round pick in the 2008 draft (#137 overall), defenseman Brent Regner(28) found himself without a team heading into his fourth pro season, despite putting up career high games played, assists and points (75 – 29 – 31) with Springfield Falcons in 2011/2012.

Turns out the Jackets weren’t interested in qualifying him for another campaign and cut ties with the 23-year old, who also displayed better on-ice accountability with a +4 plus/minus.

No worries as Peoria Rivermen stepped in an offered the 6′ 190 lbs. blue liner a one-year AHL contract for 2012/2013.

In 181 AHL games he has 12 goals and 58 assists. With the NHL lockout looming, he may be in a dog fight for a spot on his new team’s roster.

He also was a part of the fabled 2007 Vancouver Giants‘ squad that captured the Memorial Cup.

17Sep

Radko Gudas(3) Syracuse Crunch

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Czech Republic born defenseman Radko Gudas(3) will be entering the final season of his 3-year entry level deal he signed with Tampa Bay Lightning in 2010.

He was originally a 3rd round draft pick in 2010 (#66 overall) but has yet to receive a call up on a team that stocked fairly well with blue liners.

In 2011/2012 he won the Calder Cup with the Admirals in a fairytale run to capture the title. He also grew the most enormous playoff beard pro hockey has seen.

At 6′ 201 lbs he doesn’t seem like the biggest of guys out on the ice but he plays a much bigger game than his size stats may point towards and is not afraid to drop the mitts, ending last season with 195 penalty minutes and 11 fighting majors to his credit.

Although his offensive numbers ticked up slightly last year in a few less games, he’s not what you’d deem as an offensive powerhouse.  Still at a two season combined +33 there is plenty of accountable upside to his game.

He along with just about every other eligible player was recently reassigned to their new affiliate Syracuse Crunch.

16Sep

Tye McGinn(16) Adirondack Phantoms

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Philadelphia Flyers‘ 4th round pick in the 2010 draft (#119 overall) left wing Tye McGinn(16) is in the second season of this three-year entry level contract.

In his rookie season with their AHL affiliate Adirondack Phantoms, the 6’2″ 205 lbs. played a big game, unafraid to get into those situations on ice that some other players would shy away from.

The 22-year may not quite be ready for his first NHL call-up (not that it’s going to matter this season) but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him cut his existence into a strong 4th line guy and effect special teams, pk specialist when he has a few more seasons to his credit.

In 63 regular season games he scored a healthy 12 goals but somehow only feed another scorer for 6 assists (dish that thing) and was a strong -1 plus/minus. He put up impressive numbers in his last two years of juniors.

Not surprising his older brother is Jamie McGinn. They play a similar game of pro hockey.

15Sep

Theo Ruth(25) Springfield Falcons

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As the NHL prepares for another lockout, the big club’s are stocking the minor league ponds with all the two-way contracts they’ve got.

One such player is Columbus Blue Jackets‘ 3rd year defenseman, Theo Ruth(25). He’ll be in the final year of his entry level deal.

The 6’1″ 207 lbs. blue liner looks bigger than his stats might indicate. So far in his pro career he’s skated 106 AHL games with their affiliate Springfield Falcons and had identical scoring of 1 goal and 5 assists each year. One stat he’s probably not bragging about though is the cumulative -38 plus/minus he’s run up in just two campaigns.

He was originally a Washington Capitals‘ 2nd round pick in the 2007 draft (#46 overall) but “Ted” found himself dished in a trade for Sergei Federov before he ever skated a game with the team. That will always be something for him to brag about.

He’s still fairly young at 23-years old but he’ll need to step up his game big in what will be a difficult AHL season to gain some notice.

 

14Sep

Tommy Cross(29) Boston Bruins

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Boston Bruins‘ 2nd round pick in the 2007 draft (#35 overall), defenseman Tommy Cross(29) signed a 2-year entry level deal with the club last spring after he finished a mighty successful college career earning two national titles and captaining Boston College in his senior year on the way to that honor.

Upon completion of this academic career he played with Providence Bruins for the remainder of the AHL regular season and got in a couple of pro games that put him up on the stat sheet with 4 shots on goal and a +1 plus/minus.

Even without the impending NHL lockout it was almost a certainty that the 6’3″ 210 lbs. 23-year old would start his first full pro season with the P-Bruins.

In the games and prospect camps we’ve seen him skate, he makes good decisions with the puck and has enough size out there that he’s already tough to play against.

13Sep

Joe Charlebois(51) Kalamazoo Wings

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4th year defenseman Joe Charlebois(51) re-signs a one-year deal with Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL for 2012/2013.

He’s been with the the team for the last couple of seasons and has skated in 112 regular and playoff games scoring 3 goals and 31 assists with a +22 plus/minus.

The 6’2″ 210 lbs. d-man was originally a Chicago Blackhawks‘ 6th round pick in the 2005 draft (#188 overall) but never officially signed him. Instead he agreed to an spc with their minor league team, Rockford IceHogs. He spent most of his time with their ECHL affiliate Toledo Walleye though.

In 2010, he returned to Toledo inking for a year with them but was traded to the K-Wings, where the 26-year old has found a home of sorts.

In 2011/2012, he was recalled for 13 games by Manchester Monarchs and Lake Erie Monsters. In 28 AHL games he has yet to register a point.

 

12Sep

Matthew Pistilli(36) South Carolina Stingrays

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Undrafted right wing Matthew Pistilli(36) had himself a nice 3-year entry level deal with Carolina Hurricanes that expired at the end of the 2012 season.

He split most of his time between minor league teams but played almost the full tilt (73 games) in the AHL last campaign scoring a career high 12 goals, 13 assists and 25 points with a less than great -12 rating.

He had 17 goals and 18 assists in 39 games on reassignment with Florida Everblades then added another 3 tallies and 7 helpers in 13 postseason contests.

Entering his 4th pro season, the 6’2″ 219 lbs., should-be power forward signed a contract to skate with South Carolina Stingrays in the ECHL.

First things first though, he scored an invite to join new affiliate Providence Bruins training camp.

No doubt, the almost 24-year old should be on the short list for a recall, if a player gets injured.