8th year center Michael Latta(46) was on his first two-way deal since signing his entry level contract in 2010/2011.
He played 17 NHL games to start 2013/2014 and grabbed a first big league goal but was reassigned to the minors as of mid-December.
The feisty forward had a solid next training camp and once again was on the opening night roster but this time he stuck, and made it last for a couple seasons, 96 games in the big league scoring 3 goals and 10 assists with a +4 rating in mostly a fourth line role, 118 penalty minutes and 16 fighting majors.
Heading into 2016/2017 as a restricted free agent he was left unqualified but was signed quickly by Los Angeles Kings.
He was traded midseason to Chicago Blackhawks but spent the entire campaign with affiliates.
Again not qualified, it didn’t take long for Arizona Coyotes to have a look but they also dished him after a couple of months to New Jersey Devils‘ system, where he finished out pretty strongly with Binghamton Devils.
The 27-year has decided heading into 2018/2019 it’s time to try a new path and signs with Kunlun Red Star of the KHL.
It will be interesting to see if he is able to have success in Russian but our guess is he will.
Michael Latta (15)
2nd year center Michael Latta(15) was originally a Nashville Predators‘ 3rd round pick in the 2009 draft (#72 overall) and spent all of his first season and a half with their minor league affiliate Milwaukee Admirals racking up some fairly impressive numbers.
He scored 14 goals and 14 assists in 51 games in his rookie campaign and although his production hitting the back of the net went down to 9 in his sophomore season his helpers total almost doubled to 26.
The 5’11” 209 lbs. forward also saw a marked increase in penalty minutes going from 100 to 184.
He also put up triple digits in pims the last two seasons of juniors with Guelph Storm.
Recently involved in a trade that brought him to Washington Capitals‘ organization for the final year of his three-year NHL entry level deal, he was reassigned to their AHL team Hershey Bears.
In 6 games he has one assist and has spent 12 minutes in the box.
He’s also has a -5 rating, a first in the negative column for the 25-year old.
His style of play is very tenacious, in-your-face and there seems to be little doubt that he will be able to impact the scoresheet as he fits in with team chemistry.