Albany River Rats | CollegeHockeyPlayers

27Feb

Bryan Helmer(40) Springfield Falcons

Posted in AHL, ECHL, NHL | Leave a comment

20th year, undrafted veteran defenseman Bryan Helmer(40) signed a contract to play with Springfield Falcons very late in the game, maybe waiting to see how the NHL lockout would unravel before making his move.

He has played an absolutely head-popping 1104 AHL games through 19 seasons and counting. He needs 1200 to catch the number two guy, so he may finally retire at 40-years old as the bronze medalist in the category. He has gold in the Calder Cup Playoff games played though with 158 and three Championship rings to his credit; two in 2009 and 2010 as captain of Hershey Bears and back in 1995 with Albany River Rats, his second year pro.

The solid 6’1″ 209 lbs. d-man has always been thought of as a good two-way player that isn’t afraid to jump up into the offensive action. He does have a pretty impressive 129 goals and 434 assists.

He’s played 146 NHL games (mostly from 1998 – 2004) with four different teams and as recently as 2009 with Washington Capitals. He has a modest 8 goals and 18 assists.

He’s like the ultimate team guy no doubt and we’d love to see him back somewhere for his 21st pro season.

27Dec

Brett Bellemore(34) Charlotte Checkers

Posted in AHL, NHL | Leave a comment

Carolina Hurricanes‘ 6th round pick in the 2007 draft (#162 overall), defenseman Brett Bellemore(34) is in the last season of his two-year contract extension. The 24-year old is set to become a restricted free agent once again but chances are good that he’ll be re-signed for at least another campaign to help keep Charlotte Checkers‘ teammates well-protected.

He’s rarely among the leaders on the team in penalty minutes but his 6’4″ 210 lbs. presence is enough to keep opponents from making any stupid moves. In 29 contests his pims are showing a bit of an uptick, considering he is one of two big men on the current roster. The towering blue liner could end his 4th full season with a career high in the category.

He has never been all that active on the scoresheet through 29o AHL regular and postseason contests, scoring only 6 goals and 30 assists. With 5 helpers already this season, he could reach another career best for assists.

He’s also a +9 plus/minus, which is another high mark, so far in the first third of the season on a squad that looks good to compete for the Calder Cup.

12Sep

Matthew Pistilli(36) South Carolina Stingrays

Posted in AHL, NHL | 1 Comment

Undrafted right wing Matthew Pistilli(36) had himself a nice 3-year entry level deal with Carolina Hurricanes that expired at the end of the 2012 season.

He split most of his time between minor league teams but played almost the full tilt (73 games) in the AHL last campaign scoring a career high 12 goals, 13 assists and 25 points with a less than great -12 rating.

He had 17 goals and 18 assists in 39 games on reassignment with Florida Everblades then added another 3 tallies and 7 helpers in 13 postseason contests.

Entering his 4th pro season, the 6’2″ 219 lbs., should-be power forward signed a contract to skate with South Carolina Stingrays in the ECHL.

First things first though, he scored an invite to join new affiliate Providence Bruins training camp.

No doubt, the almost 24-year old should be on the short list for a recall, if a player gets injured.

04Sep

Bobby Robins(21) Providence Bruins

Posted in AHL, ECHL, NHL | Leave a comment

Undrafted 7th year center Bobby Robins(21) signed his first AHL contract since his rookie season with Binghamton Senators by re-upping for a full campaign with Providence Bruins, the team he spent 33 games with in 2011/2012. He was originally recalled from the ECHL, signed to a pto and upped to an spc as he continue to stick with the team.

The stat that pops out from his sheet is penalty minutes. He ended the regular season with 150 pims. That’s 3 games shy of a five minute (fighting) major per game. His actual number of incidents was more like 20 though, good enough for a three-way tie for 3rd in the league. It’s likely that he accomplished his feat in lesser contests than the other players did, which is a key reason why the P-Bruins found it necessary to get him under contract before the new season starts.

The knock on the team the last few years of postseason drought has been how undersized they were. This, at the very least, gives them 6’1″ 220 lbs. of protection out on the ice. The almost 31-year old also had a pair of goals and 10 assists (a career high) and we’d expect that number to go up too.

19Aug

Chris Terry(25) Carolina Hurricanes

Posted in AHL, NHL | Leave a comment

Carolina Hurricanes‘ 5th round pick in the 2007 draft (#132 overall) left wing Chris Terry(25) gets the nod for another two seasons to continue his development in the team’s prospect system.

In 2011/2012 he had an AHL career high in 43 assists with Charlotte Checkers.

His 59 points led the team in scoring; he was second by a point the year before.

Through 234 regular season games he has 67 goals and 103 assists, which is pretty good for the 5’10” 195 lbs. forward.

He was outstanding in the Checkers‘ surge to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2011 with 6 goals and 3 assists in 15 contests.

The 23-year old has yet to appear in an NHL contest but an appearance should be right around the corner, especially if he continues on his scoring run in the minors.

25Jul

Justin Pogge(1) Renon/Ritten

Posted in AHL, ECHL, NHL | Leave a comment

Heading into his 7th pro season former Toronto Maple Leafs‘ 3rd round pick in the 2004 draft (#90) Justin Pogge(1) splits for Renon/Ritten of the Italian Serie A league after 254 regular season AHL games.

The big 6’3″ 21o lbs. backstop has almost quietly always had a winning record and put up decent numbers for whatever minor league team he’s played with.

Last season with Portland Pirates he posted a 14-13 record with a .890 SV% and a 3.07 GAA, which was a bit higher than his average play in the league.

In 7 NHL games, all with Toronto Maple Leafs, he didn’t fare so well. He had an amazing season in his last of juniors.

He’s still only 26-years old and probably has a good amount of juice left in the container. A couple good years overseas and we may see him again.

24Jun

Jacob Micflikier(18) EHC Biel

Posted in AHL, ECHL, NHL | Leave a comment

Entering his 5th pro season undrafted, under-sized as previously stated in a previous post, forward Jacob Micflikier(18) flies from North American hockey to skate with EHC Biel of the Swiss NLA.

It’s a move that makes sense for the 27-year old, unrestricted free agent. For 2011/2012, he signed a one-year, two-way deal with Washington Capitals but spent the entire season with Hershey Bears. He also was injured and limited to 57 games but had a career year for assists with 35 and would have been on par for highs in points and possibly goals too.

He leaves on a high, which is probably why the climate change likely makes it more appealing from a player standpoint. He’ll probably do pretty well playing this style hockey and we wish him all the best.

See related posts: July 18, 2011 & November 30, 2010

12Jun

Trevor Gillies(51) Vityaz Chekhov

Posted in AHL, ECHL, NHL | Leave a comment

Soon-to-be 14th veteran left wing, Trevor Gillies(51) will be taking his brute force game over to Russia, joining Vityaz Chekhov in the KHL for 2012/2013.

The 6’3″ 231 lbs. forward has been with NY Islanders‘ organization for the last three seasons and appeared in 56 NHL and 50 AHL games with their affiliate Bridgeport Sound Tigers. During that time he’s amassed a whopping 474 penalty minutes in the two leagues.

At 33-years old this is in all likelihood a good move for him to make as there’s no telling how many years he can continue to use his fists to protect teammates.

He sat out a good chunk of last season with a groin injury that limited him to 29 games.

The stocky forward was also seen helping out as an “assistant coach” behind the Sound Tigers‘ bench while he was on the sidelines.

Ironically after watching him play for the last 10 years, he skating and stick work has improved greatly over the last couple campaigns since he started extra sessions with Isles’ Skills’ Development Coach Bernie Cassell.

He will be missed at North American hockey barns, because he may be one of the toughest guys to lace up the skates but he’s also one of the nicest.

14May

Keith Aucoin(11) Washington Capitals

Posted in AHL, ECHL, NHL | Leave a comment

Veteran AHL center Keith Aucoin(11) has played a whopping 673 regualar season games in the league throughout his amazing 11-year career run.

Despite appearing in only 43 games this season, he still ranked 5th in scoring with 70 points (11 goals, 59 assists).

On February 28, the 33-year old was recalled from Hershey Bears for the fourth time in a month by Washington Capitals and stayed in the NHL throughout their Stanley Cup Playoff run, which included a pair of 7-game series.

In his first 14 big league postseason contests ever he had a pair of assists but more importantly was utilized on the power play and provided a tough fourth line checking forward for the opposition to deal with.

The 5’8″ 171 lbs. forward (that plays with hockey stick that’s bigger than he is) has been in the Caps‘ system for the last 4 seasons and is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, but we expect him to be re-upped for at least one more year.

04May

Joey Mormina(3) WBS Penguins

Posted in AHL, NHL | Leave a comment

Unlikely hero #2: 7th year Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins‘ defenseman Joey Mormina(3) scored the game-winning goal in the second contest of the best-of-seven AHL Calder Cup Eastern Conference Semi-Finals vs. St. John’s IceCaps to even the series at one apiece.

It was his first-ever postseason point in 39 games and what a big one to get for the extra-large 6’6″ 220 lbs. blue liner. Making matters even more exciting, it happened to be a shorthanded goal for the mostly stay-at-home d-man that happened to jumped into the play.

He’s played in 456 AHL games (21 goals, 82 assists) with four different teams and this is his second-go-round with the Baby Pens in 4 seasons.

He even had a career high in goals in 2011/2012 scoring 6.

The 29-year old signed a one-year AHL contract and chances are he’ll re-sign with them for a 5th campaign as he plays is fairly accountable in his own zone and was a league 2nd best +37 plus/minus a couple of seasons ago.

He has only appeared in one NHL career game with Carolina Hurricanes in ’07/’08 and was originally a Philadelphia Flyers‘ 6th round pick in the 2002 draft (#193 overall). He didn’t sign with them initially but did ink a contract in 2009 and was reassigned to Adirondack Phantoms.