Augusta Lynx | CollegeHockeyPlayers

25Jun

Brent Henley(44) Nottingham Panthers

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Giant-sized 6’7″ 249 lbs., undrafted 11th year defenseman Brent Henley(44) will don the jersey of his 21st pro hockey team, when he jumps shores to continue his career in the EIHL with Nottingham Panthers for 2013/2014.

He has skated most of his time in the ECHL amassing 248 games and 1189 penalty minutes in the league, while posting 9 goals and 38 assists.

He’s also played in 114 AHL contests, most recently last season in 5 appearances with Lake Erie Monsters.

The 32-year old was a member of Fort Wayne Komets through three different leagues, playing 164 games and won a pair of titles with the team, 2008 IHL Turners Cup and 2012 Central Hockey League President’s Cup.

Most awesomely though, he started his career with Colorado Gold Kings of the WCHL in 2001/2002.

04Dec

Riku Helenius(31) Syracuse Crunch

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Tampa Bay Lightning 1st round pick in the 2006 draft (#15 overall), Finnish goaltender Riku Helenius(31) has already had quite the ride through North American pro leagues and Europe in his 5-year playing career.

In his rookie campaign he saw 7 minutes of NHL game action, 25 appearances in the AHL with then affiliate Norfolk Admirals and 11 contests with three different ECHL teams.

Entering his sophomore season he started with Norfolk but after a dozen games was reassigned to the top league in Sweden, where he stayed through the next year while still under he 3-year entry level contract.

For 2011/2012 the decision was made for him to join JYP Jyvaskyla in his home country’s SM-liiga, where he won the National Championship with the team and posted his most impressive numbers yet over the course of the regular season and in the playoffs.

The now 24-year old, 6’3″ 211 lbs. netminder was wooed back to the United States to compete for a job in the show. But due to the NHL lockout the first season of that 2-year deal (the 2nd is a one-way contract) may be spent entirely with the Lightning‘s new minor league affiliate, Syracuse Crunch. The same team that won the 2012 Calder Cup as Norfolk Admirals.

In 8 AHL starts, he’s off to an ok start with a 5-2 record on a very good team but has a not so great 3.04 GAA and .878 SV%. He may heat up as the 2012/2013 rolls on but he’s already mixed it up in a goalie fight early in his time back.

27Jul

Jay Leach(2) New Jersey Devils

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New Jersey Devils‘ defenseman Jay Leach(2) will be entering his 12th pro year at the start of next season. He re-signed for another 0ne-year, two-way deal that will possibly see him taking over as team captain for their AHL affiliate in Albany.

Originally a Phoenix Coyotes‘ 5th round pick in the 1998 draft (#115 overall), it wasn’t until four years of bouncing between ECHL and AHL teams that he got his first taste of NHL action with Boston Bruins. He’s appeared in 70 games with 5 different teams scoring only one goal and adding a pair of assists.

He’s never really been counted on for his scoring touch so much as his 6’4″ 215 lbs frame to keep the attackers at bay.

The almost 33-year old has what seems to be a small-ish count of 439 regular season AHL games to his credit. You’d think he’s played more but he also has a surprising 177 ECHL contests on his resume.

This could be his final season playing. We could see him going into coaching with ease, if that’s where he sees the next step in his hockey career. He barely play any last season succumbing to what seemed like a series of injuries.

15Jul

Jon Landry(7) New York Islanders

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It would be easy to have a case of mistaken identity in this roster move: defenseman Jon Landry(7), who last year played with Bridgeport Sound Tigers for 34 games on call-up and scored 2 goals and 18 assists, while going a +11 plus/minus is not to be confused with Jon (now) A. Landry, who played for Bridgeport in 2011 but didn’t skate last season.

This Jon Landry, like the other one though, was called up from the ECHL, where he was under contract with Colorado Eagles. The 6’3″ 220 lbs. d-man had 12 goals and 18 assists when unknowingly he left for good.

The couple seasons before that he played in the EIHL for a year and parts of one in Germany’s DEL. Mostly though, he was sort of hiding as an undrafted player in the Central Hockey League with Arizona Sundogs for his first 4 seasons since turning pro.

He did manage to win a President’s Cup Trophy as the top team in the league in his second campaign in.

Now the 29-year old seemingly out of nowhere signed his first one-year, two-way NHL contract with New York Islanders and will likely see more time in Bridgeport to continue to confuse everyone. Until he makes his NHL debut that is.

12Jun

Trevor Gillies(51) Vityaz Chekhov

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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.

26May

Kevin Quick(4) Florida Everblades

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4th year defenseman Kevin Quick(4) signed an AHL 2-way contract with Norfolk Admirals in the offseason after spending most of the first 3 seasons of his career with the team signed to an entry level deal with Tampa Bay Lightning.

He appeared in 6 NHL games in his rookie year registering an assist. The blue liner also skated 18 ECHL games in that season.

In 2011/2012, the 24-year old spent most of his time with Florida Everblades and eventually won the Kelly Cup with the team.

He did skate 14 games with the Admirals and now that the lower league has reached its’ conclusion, he will likely rejoin them for the Calder Cup Finals, where he can be used pretty effectively in case one of the players goes down with injury.

25Apr

Mike Brodeur(29) Houston Aeros

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For the first time in his 8-year pro career, goaltender Mike Brodeur(29) didn’t sign a contract to play with a team for the 2011/2012 season.

This is after two seasons in the Ottawa Senators‘ system, where he appeared in 7 games from 2009-2011. Last season he appeared in NHL, AHL and ECHL games.

Then seemingly out of nowhere, he signs a pto 3 weeks before the end of regular season with Houston Aeros and finds himself to be the back-up but would come in to relieve an injured Matt Hackett in each of the first two games AHL Calder Cup Playoffs and got the call to start game 3 backstopping 31 shots for the 1-0 win to put them back in the series.

Aeros did get bounced from the Calder Cup Playoffs by Oklahoma City Barons on Tuesday night.

Originally a Chicago Blackhawks‘ 7th round pick in the 2003 draft (#211 overall), it’s a wonder where the 29-year old will end up next season. We wouldn’t be surprised to see him go the Europe route.

12Sep

Joel Martin(49) Herlev Hornets

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9th year pro goalie Joel Martin(49) has bounced around many different North American leagues and teams in his career but for the first time he’s looking elsewhere, overseas to continue.

For the 2011/2012 season he signed with Herlev Hornets of AL-Bank Ligaen (Danish Pro Hockey League).

Last season, the 28-year old netminder appeared in a career high AHL games (18 with Bridgeport Sound Tigers).

He also played in 29 games with Odessa Jackalopes of the Central Hockey League and was called-up as an emergency back-up for one game with New York Islanders.