Montreal Candiens‘ 2nd year undrafted defenseman Joel Hanley(71) was signed to a one-year two-way deal on the opening day of free agency.
As a rookie he played under an AHL contract with Portland Pirates, the team he skated 15 games with on an ato after four years at UMass-Amherst.
The versatile 6′ 193 lbs. blue liner had 5 assists in his pro debut.
To start 2014/2015 he was dispatched further down the ladder to Atlanta Gladiators of the ECHL to start his first campaign.
After 3 games in less than a month he was up for good.
Through 63 games he had a pair of goals and 15 assists with a +7 rating and added another assist in 5 Calder Cup Playoff match-ups with a +1.
So not really outstanding numbers but they saw something they liked and felt like they could develop and seemingly out of nowhere the 24-year old gets his first big league deal after only one season of mucking it.
He’s appeared in 61 games with affiliate St. John’s IceCaps and has a new career high 5 goals.
With the injury bug biting the parent club hard, his steadiness (and “experience” on a very young defensive squad) has given him a chance with his first NHL recall.
After going scoreless in his debut, he has posted consecutive multi-point games with a pair of 2 assists performances.
Given his play it may be tough to send him back down for the remainder of the schedule but regardless, it looks like he’s starting to solidify his spot in the show and will earn a contract extension to stay put.