This one lands in the out of left field category: undrafted, Slovakian-born forward Marek Hrivik(15) signed an ato with Connecticut Whale and joined the team for their last 8 regular season games of the 2011/2012 season after his junior squad finished up their year.
He managed to score one goal.
At 6’1″ 197 lbs. the 20-year old is already built like a power forward and from his short time in the AHL looks to have all the necessary assets to excel in this league (or higher).
He played in all three opening series Calder Cup Playoff games vs. Bridgeport Sound Tigers for the 3-0 win and helped the team with four goals.
That’s all well and good but of course, his goals came in pairs like two other players in the playoffs’ tallies did, which is getting to be a weird 2012 AHL playoff stat.
He also has no assists.
Didn’t I see a video where he said he was a play maker?
To his credit, he is in juniors.
He could still play one more season in the QMJHL and score 2 points per game probably, but we think he’s ready for the show (or just below).
Original story: 4/23-12
To finish up his late season pro debut he appeared in 9 2012 Calder Cup Playoff games and went on to score a leading 5 goals and 4 assists for a team high tie of 9 points.
He would start his rookie year skating 40 AHL games for the Whale getting a tidy 7 goals and 19 assists.
In his second season, he played a still career best 74 contests setting new marks of 13 goals and 27 points.
Entering his contract campaign he reached new levels of scoring with 21 assists and 33 points in 72 games with a +8 rating.
He added another 9 points (3 goals, 6 assists) in 15 postseason match-ups for the re-adopted affiliate named Hartford Wolf Pack that ended solidly in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Set to become a restricted free agent, the 24-year old inked an extension quickly to stay on with New York Rangers‘ prospect system.
If he can connect regularly on the score sheet in his fourth season the parent club would be well-served to call-up him to see how effective the power forward could be in the show.
[…] See related: 4/1-14, 4/23-12 […]