Manchester Monarchs | CollegeHockeyPlayers

18Dec

Paul Bissonnette(15) Manchester Monarchs

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10th year veteran left wing Paul Bissonnette(15) for the first time in five years found himself on the outside as an unrestricted free agent after five seasons under contract with Arizona Coyotes.

Definitely a character guy out there for a team, he scored himself an invite to tryout with St. Louis Blues‘ training camp. He was released as the season was about to begin.

He was first rumored to sign with Cardiff Devils but then pulled the switch and inked a pto to join the Coyotes‘ farm club Portland Pirates.

The 6’3″ 220 lbs. forward is well known for putting his nose in the middle of trouble but in recent years has seemed to shy away from it mostly averaging only 50 minutes a season in the box and has fought only occasionally in the last three years.

Maybe his little goal scorer spree in the EIHL (6 goals, 11 assists in 15 games), while the NHL was on lockout, made him think of his game differently. He has 202 games in the big league to his credit and almost surprisingly is the proud owner of a +7 rating.

He was released from his tryout with Portland and the next day Manchester Monarchs chose to sign him.

He’s used very sparingly on a fourth line and seems mostly to be there to give the younger players a guy with some toughness and leadership to feed off.

The 29-year old was originally a Pittsburgh Penguins‘ 4th round pick in the 2003 draft (#121 overall) and played in their system for four years.

13Dec

Colin Miller(6) Manchester Monarchs

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Los Angeles Kings‘ 5th round pick in the 2012 draft (#151 overall), 2nd year defenseman Colin Miller(6) is having a great sophomore season with affiliate Manchester Monarchs.

His point totals in 23 AHL games this season has already surpassed what he put up in 65 games as a rookie.

He has a new career high goals with 6 and points at 18 and is tied his assist mark from last year with 12.

In his last campaign of juniors with hometown team Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, he was a point–per-game player scoring 20 goals and 35 assists in 54 OHL games.

The 6′ 195 lbs. blue liner was always very accountable in his own zone, leaving after three years with a +24 rating.

He continued on that path in the minors and is currently a +7 plus/minus.

The 22-year old has yet to earn his first NHL recall but is definitely on the right path and signed with the parent club through 2016 on a 3-year entry level deal.

19Nov

Josh Gratton(13) Manchester Monarchs

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Undrafted 12th year left wing Josh Gratton(13) spent the last four seasons playing mostly in the KHL with Barys Astana and Vityaz Podolsk. He only skated in 11 games last season.

Seeing only limited action in his last two seasons was possibly the impetus for him to return to North American pro hockey to see if at 32-years old he could earn himself a contract.

Invited to Manchester Monarchs‘ training camp, he proved himself worthy and was given a pto to start the 2014/2015 season.

13 games into the season he has one assist, a +1 rating, 36 penalty minutes and quickly accrued 6 fighting majors.

The 6’2″ 215 lbs. tough guy has skated in 247 AHL games scoring a modest 35 goals and 39 assists with an eye-popping 936 pims and dropped the gloves 102 times.

He’s also appeared in 86 NHL games for Arizona Coyotes and two stints with Philadelphia Flyers.

He won a Calder Cup Championship with Philadelphia Phantoms in the lockout year 2004/2005.

It remains to be seen whether or not he’s given an spc for this season but regardless, he’s making his presence felt.

10Nov

Kevin Westgarth(15) Belfast Giants

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Undrafted 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.

29Sep

Kevin Gravel(57) Manchester Monarchs

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Los Angeles Kings‘ 5th round pick in the 2010 draft (#148 overall) defenseman Kevin Gravel(57) will start his rookie season under a one-year minor league contract, executed by the parent club, with Manchester Monarchs.

He signed an ato to join the team at the conclusion of his four-year stint at St. Cloud University, where in 5 AHL games he registered no points but got some necessary early experience.

At 6’4″ 200 lbs. he’s a large presence on the blue line and plays a relatively sturdy, stay at home style, although he has shown an ability to move the puck around for scoring opportunities as he did in his final pair of college hockey campaigns.

The 22-year old could definitely add another dimension to his game with some coaching to fire the puck on net with more frequency.

It remains to be seen if that will develop but for now he’ll continue to work on his strong, shut down play.