10th year defensemen Tommy Cross(4) gets signed to a 1-year 2-way NHL deal with St. Louis Blues sort of quickly into unrestricted free agency and reassigned a 2nd time to be captain of new affiliate Springfield Thunderbirds.
The 6’3″ 205 lbs. blue liner has 518 AHL games to his credit with a glorious +65 rating, 48 goals and 152 assists reaching the 200 point mark in the minors just recently.
He has only 3 games in the big league to his credit with draft club, Boston Bruins, grabbing an assist, so it’s definitely not impossible to see him score a recall.
The 32-year old, former 4-year Boston College senior captain from Simsbury, CT must just be pretty pleased his is still pulling down a major contract, despite his limited experience in the league.
8th year center T.J. Tynan(36) gets the call from new club Los Angeles Kings after igniting affiliate Ontario Reign scoring with 2 goals and 13 assists in 14 AHL games.
The 5’9″ 165 lbs. forward was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player in last season’s crazy run with 7 goals and point-per-game 27 assists and also helped Cleveland Monsters win the 2016 Championship.
At 29-years old, he has only skated 20 NHL games with one assist, but in the lower league has a total of 74 goals and 291 assists in 448 games with a +67 rating.
He was also basically a huge scoring standout through 4 years at Notre Dame University Fighting Irish and has to be at least a little happy how his career has evolved.
RPI Engineers‘ senior portal transfer from 3 years at Robert Morris University Colonials, where they waved bye bye to hockey last season, huge 6’6′ 249 lbs. French-born right wing Justin Addamo(22) plays a hard skating style for a big man and has 3 goals and 3 assists in 17 games.
He played all of his youth hockey in close to home Rouen and even had 5 games in France3 as a teenager, scoring 5 goals and 2 assists before coming over for a pair of successful runs with Lone Star Brahmas, scoring 12+ goals and 15+ assists and picking up an NAHL Robertson Cup in his first campaign.
It will be interesting to see if the 23-year old turns pro over here or returns home.
Cedar Rapids Roughriders‘ 2nd year junior Andy Moore(7) announces his commitment to Northeastern University Huskies for 2022/2023.
He was a 15th round USHL draft pick, invited to camp and obviously stuck for so far 3 goals and 5 assists in 16 games with a mammoth +11 rating.
The plays big 5’11” 192 lbs. forward had a monster year for tier 3 junior Boston Jr. Rangers, helping them win the 2021 EHL Championship and grabbing Rookie Of The Year honors in the process.
A Cumberland, ME native, he played his high school close to home and appeared in 4 USPHL games for Twin City Thunder with an assist, but somehow didn’t stick.
There’s little doubt the almost 20-year old will continue turning heads, when he arrives at Hockey East.
2nd year in Florida Panthers‘ system (6th overall), left wing Ryan Lomberg(94) gets a new contract extension for a couple more seasons after opening 2021/2022 with 2 goals and 3 assists in 14 NHL games with a +5 rating.
The scrappy 5’9″ 187 lbs. forward started his pro career on a minor league deal and even was sent to the ECHL for most of his rookie session to Adirondack Thunder, putting up close to point-per-game production, then helping the playoff push with more strikes.
He spent the entirety of his sophomore campaign up in the AHL, scoring 13 goals and 16 assists with a +15 in 68 games to gain final notice of the parent club, Calgary Flames, who signed him to a 2-year entry deal with a one year follow-up.
He received some big league time and had an assist, but couldn’t hang on with the parent club.
The 2-year University Of Maine Black Bears’ averaged close to 10 goals while he was there, but in an almost oddball move, left and returned to become captain of Youngstown Phantoms for another run through the USHL before turning pro.
While not exactly a fighter, he has gotten into some scraps with guys much bigger than him, which shows disregard but a level of balls for sure.
As an unrestricted free agent, he waited right up until the start of the new season before agreeing to terms, but almost oddly played entirely up in the show.
The 26-year old has to laugh a little at the ride he’s taken to make it stick.
Canisius College Golden Griffons‘ junior net minder John Hawthorne(29) isn’t finding a lot of room to take over, but is doing his best in time spent, earning a 1-0-1 record with a 2.90 GAA and .915 SV%.
The 6’2′ 190 lbs. net minder came over after two seasons at Northern Michigan University Wildcats, but didn’t get to tend much last season’s weirdo run.
He spent a couple of junior seasons with Alberni Valley Bulldogs of the BCHL before heading to school.
The 23-year old from Chemainus, BC may agree with Atlantic Hockey style better.
Boston University Terriers‘ 2022/2023 commit, goaltender Anton Castro(31) has definitely played for some tough luck teams in junior hockey and this his final year with Fargo Force will likely be an uphill struggle.
He has a 2-4-2 record in 8 USHL games.
It’s nothing like the two clubs that got him his college of choice, North Jersey Avalanche 16U AAA and Gentry Academy 15U AAA.
The 6’2″ 180 lbs. back stop will definitely shine once he drops into Hockey East play.
Buffalo Sabres‘ 4th round pick in the 2016 draft (#99 overall), 3rd year left wing Brett Murray(57) played his first season under the guide of the parent club on an AHL contract with affiliate Rochester Americans.
The kinda giant 6’5″ 228 lbs., former year and a half Penn State University Nittany Lions‘ forward posted 9 goals in each of his first two seasons and 10+ assists before dropping a goal and 7 assists in 6 games in the current frame to earn a 2nd recall.
In his first re-appearance, he failed to connect in a win, but had an assist the next night and topped it with a two point, first NHL goal and an assist performance in a loss that should have earned him a third star award.
The Bolton, ON native took an interesting path from a first year at juniors, directingly into a first year at college hockey, but only stayed one run before returning to Youngstown Phantoms to absolutely detonate the stat sheet with a league best 41 goals and 35 assists with a +13 rating.
That was basically all the now 23 year old needed to turn pro and now he’s looking at some extended time up.
Undrafted 4th year 6’1″ 209 lbs. center tower Nic Pierog(61) decides to head for some new kind of hockey, signing with HKM Zvolen of Slovak Extraliga for 2021/2022.
The former two-time Clarkson University Golden Knights‘ captain always keeps it exciting on the ice and maybe what he had yet to develop scoring in college, he’s definitely a new kind of player as a pro.
Through 179 ECHL games, he’s popped in 78 goals and 56 assists.
He would end up signing an AHL deal with Springfield Thunderbirds after agreeing to head off, but aside from one appearance played 4 games for Worcester Railers (2 goals, 2 assists), but is now set to head to some tougher hockey in the top Slovakian league.
Northeastern University Huskies‘ 2022/2023 commit defenseman Nolan Hayes(18) was pointed at joining Omaha Lancers for one more year of juniors before heading to school.
In 14 USHL games, he has one goal and one assist with a +1 rating.
The 6′ 181 lbs. blue liner was definitely known for being able to contribute points in his last year of school at Cushing Academy, then first run of juniors with South Shore Kings, scoring 8 goals and 11 assists in 35 USPHL/NCDC games.
He will turn 20 by the time he reaches his freshman year and you can bet he’ll be competing for a Hockey East roster spot.
