Anaheim Ducks‘ 6th year defenseman Andrej Sustr(67) signed a few days into unrestricted free agency by his new team on a one-way deal has played some AHL games in the minors for the first time in five seasons with affiliate San Diego Gulls.
The giant 6’7″ blue liner has skated 323 NHL games getting 10 goals and 53 assists with a -3 rating.
His best campaign was 2015/2016, when he struck for a career high 4 goals and 17 assists for his initial contract club, Tampa Bay Lightning.
He was with the team for his first 5 seasons.
The 28-year old will definitely need to step it up to be considered for an extension with his new club but even if he’s released, it shouldn’t be a problem for him to find a new suitor.
Andrej Sustr (2)
6’8″ 225 lbs. Czech Republic-born, undrafted defensive tower Andrej Sustr(2) signed a two-year entry level deal with Tampa Bay Lightning that included the remainder of 2012/2013 after deciding to turn pro at the conclusion of his third season at University Of Nebraska-Omaha.
He appeared in a pair of NHL games without registering a point while skating an average of 10 minutes in each contest and had a couple of shots of goal and a +1 rating before being reassigned to their AHL affiliate Syracuse Crunch to finish off the regular season.
In 8 games, he scored his first 2 pro goals and added an assist.
The 22-year old has skated in all 17 Calder Cup Playoff games with the team, adding another goal and 5 assists to his totals while going a rock steady +9 plus/minus and showing a willingness to fire pucks on the net and mix it up when the situation calls for it.
With a bit more grit he will easily develop into a feared blue liner much like another extremely large, former countryman. Very possibly this could be his only stop in the minors.