Tagged: Belfast Giants

10Nov

Kevin Westgarth(15) Belfast Giants

Posted in AHL, NHL | Leave a comment

Kevin Westgarth copyUndrafted 8th year right wing Kevin Westgarth(15) found no takers for his gritty game in the NHL so he has decided to join storied English hockey franchise Belfast Giants for the 2014/2015 campaign.

The exceedingly large 6’4″ 234 lbs. forward was invited to Edmonton Oilers‘ training camp before being released right before the start of the new season.

He last played a full year with Calgary Flames and seemed to enjoy it as a most productive landing spot in 2013/2014 scoring a career high 4 goals and 3 assists in 36 games.

His last stint four+ years ago in the AHL with Manchester Monarchs he showed signs of converting his fists into scoring chances landing 11 goals and 14 assists in 76 games.

The now 30-year old is off to a hot start getting a pair of goals in his first two appearances and of course, already has one fighting major penalty too.

He should be a point per game kind of player in this league.

It remains to be seen if good play away from home for a season will get anyone interested in paying for his services to return.

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.