Former 1st round pick Brett Connolly(10) signs with his third team for 2016/2017 after spending just one full season with Boston Bruins.
Washington Capitals pick up the 6th year forward on a one-way, one-year deal after scoring a career high 16 assists and 25 points in 71 NHL games.
He spent the first four years with draft team Tampa Bay Lightning spending his rookie season and final term with the team in the big league but receiving most of his playing time in the other seasons skating for affiliate Syracuse Crunch.
In the minors he’s almost a point-per-game player scoring 120 points in 137 AHL games, which almost mirrored what he was able to put up in 3 years of juniors with Prince George Cougars of the WHL.
He served as captain in his last year.
The 26-year old will definitely need to step it up with his new team.
If that doesn’t happen quickly, he could find himself watching from the sidelines as a healthy scratch, a move that was too frequent an occurrence in 2015/2016.
Brett Connolly(28) Syracuse Crunch
Tampa Bay Lightning 1st round pick in the 2010 draft (#6 overall), right wing Brett Connolly(28) skated the entirety of his rookie campaign as a 19-year old in the NHL. He picked up 4 goals and 11 assists in 68 games but was a bit of a lowly -9 plus/minus.
Signed to a three-year entry level deal that extends through 2014, the 6’2 200 lbs. forward finds himself playing his first games in the minors with new affiliate Syracuse Crunch, which adds even more depth to the team that won the Calder Cup Championship (as Norfolk Admirals) last season.
He’s off to a quick start, already racking up 7 goals and 10 assists in 18 contests, while the Crunch continue the pace that brought them to the top of the league and see them tied for first place in the Eastern Conference.
There’s little doubt of his tough playing style that opens up room for scoring chances, which he’ll bury 9 times out of 10, and on the farm he’s a bit of a skater on another level and has the disposition that is more mature than his years on earth.