Tagged: Peoria Rivermen

One time Minnesota Wild 2nd round pick in the 2oo3 draft (#56 overall) 7th year left wing Patrick O’Sullivan(16) gets bounced from one AHL team, Portland Pirates, to another, Peoria Rivermen in a offensive-minded forward swap.

He played 23 NHL games with Phoenix Coyotes scoring a pair of goals and assists before last being reassigned to the Pirates in early January. He put up 10 goals and 20 assists in 26 games but went a -6 plus/minus on a pretty good team.

In each of his last 6 seasons, he’s appeared in NHL games, 334 of them. He’s basically a point per every other game producer with 58 goals and 103 assists. In 183 AHL games his stats are 97 goals and 120 assists, better than a point per game. 3 goals and 4 assists of that are in 3 contests since the trade that brought him to the Rivermen.

He lists at 5’11” 189 lbs., which seems a little light. He doesn’t play a very physical game. It’s all about getting into those open spaces and creating them in his style.

He’s either got to turn on those jets or play with a bit more of an edge while scoring those goals and setting up those assists. Make sure that helmet’s on tight.

 

 

blair-riley

Undrafted 2nd year left wing Blair Riley(5) was rewarded with an AHL spc by Bridgeport Sound Tigers for his consistent hard work up front on what has turned into winning push for the team as the Calder Cup Playoffs near.

Initially signed to a pto back in November of last year on call-up from Chicago Express, the ECHL team he inked with to start 2011/2012, he’s played 31 games and has a goal and a pair of assists but more importantly he’s fitting into a mix that works for the team.

He played 8 AHL games last season with San Antonio Rampage and Peoria Rivermen and scored one goal and got 2 assists. He’s already got career highs in games played but goals and assists will likely soon follow.

In 15 games this season with the Express, he had 7 goals (including the first ever in team history) and 9 assists, so scoring will be expected of him as he gets even more games under his belt.

He played 59 games with Las Vegas Wranglers in his rookie season and put up 20 goals and 20 assists.

9th year New York Rangers‘ defenseman Jeff Woywitka(2) has been in and out of the lineup and injured this season, seeing action in 26 games. He’s on the scoring sheet with a goal and 5 assists and a modest +2 plus/minus.

He was plucked off waivers from Montreal Canadiens early in the season and signed to fill the role as an alternate defenseman.

To start February, he was sent down to get some playing time in the AHL with Connecticut Whale on a conditioning stint. He appeared in 6 games and had three assists to help the team get back into the win column after going on a terrible losing skid.

Now that he has been recalled it will be interesting to see if he’ll be able to find his way back into a lineup that has settled very nicely for the Eastern Conference leaders.

He was originally a Philadelphia Flyers 1st round pick in the 2001 draft (#27 overall). He has played 277 NHL games, recording 9 goals and 55 assists.

Defenseman Danny Richmond(7) is one of those high draft picks (Carolina Hurricanes‘ 2nd round in 2003, #31 overall) that just have never quite lived up to expectations.

He was just traded out of Hershey, where he saw limited action, and just couldn’t find his spot on a fairly deep roster after signing a one-year, two-way deal with Washington Capitals in the offseason. This happened to be his 8th AHL team in six years.

The next chapter in his pro career takes him to Cleveland to skate for Lake Erie Monsters, as he was traded out of Chocolatetown. We’ll see if he’s able to gain any traction and maybe another look with Colorado Avalanche.

He has 49 games of NHL experience, registering 0 goals and 3 assists and a -12 plus/minus. He mostly has been less than accountable in his defensive zone.

pierre-cedric-labrie2

5th year undrafted forward Pierre-Cedric Labrie(20) has been finding his scoring touch in the 2nd season of a standard player contract he signed in December 2010 with Norfolk Admirals.

He was initially signed to a pto to start the year with the team.

In 29 AHL games this season he is on pace for career scoring highs with 6 goals and 13 assists and a +17 plus/minus.

Through 2010/2011 he put up 7 goals and 19 assists in 64 games with an impressive +14 mark.

He’s impressed the brass with Tampa Bay Lightning enough that they signed him to a two-year, two-way NHL contract last month and he was recalled in earlier this month for his first action in the show.

So far, he has only played limited minutes in 3 games (all losses) averaging less than 5 minutes a game but already has a first big league fight on his stat sheet.

An argument could be made that December is his best month, as it’s the month he celebrates his birthday and when signed his last two major contracts.

Houston Aeros‘ captain and 9 year veteran left winger, Jon DiSalvatore(14) earned his first NHL call-up since the 2005-2006 season when he was with St. Louis Blues.

This was only his sixth ever game in the big league. He skated a total of 14:27 including time on the power play and had 2 shots on net and 2 penalty minutes. He was reassigned back to the Aeros the next day.

In 635 AHL games he has 188 goals and 269 assists. He has scored 20 or more goals in all of his previous 8 pro seasons and looks to be on his way to a 9th consecutive 20 goal campaign as he already has 10 in 33 games.

He was originally a 4th round pick in the 2000 draft by San Jose Sharks (#104 overall).

jack-combs

In his 3rd pro season, undrafted wing Jack Combs(11) has been tearing up the scoring sheet pretty much regardless of what AA league he’s playing in.

At the time of his call up to the AHL by Worcester Sharks he lead the ECHL in scoring (17 goals 20 assists in 23 games) with Colorado Eagles.

He scored on his first shift with the team and has struck for 3 goals and 3 assists in 5 games.

No doubt, if he continues on this pace, he will remain with the team for the foreseeable future.

In 6 previous AHL games over the last couple of years, he never tallied a goal and only had one assist.

He finished 2nd in scoring and first in goals with 40 for Tulsa Oilers of the Central Hockey League in 2010/2011 and 10th overall in the league.

9/19-12: Maybe in a bit of a surprising move, the 24-year old re-signs to start 2012/2013 with Colorado Eagles of the ECHL.

He completed last season under contract with the AHL Sharks scoring 16 goals and 14 assists in 50 games.

The one downside was a poor -9 plus/minus.

After failing to connect like he did in preseason, the monstrous (6’4″ 225 lbs.) center Evgeny Gratchev(91) is reassigned by St. Louis Blues to their AHL affiliate Peoria Rivermen to go find that scoring touch after only producing two assists in 17 games played to start the season.

He was acquired by the Blues in an offseason trade with New York Rangers for a 3rd round pick in the 2011 draft. He was originally drafted by the Rangers in the 3rd round of the 2008 draft (#75 overall).

At 21 years old, it seems like he’s struggling a bit to find his form in the NHL game. It’s still only his third pro season and he may be something of a late developer to becoming the power forward he is projected to be.

6th year undrafted pro, defenseman Shaun Heshka(37) returned from one season overseas playing in Austria for Salzburg EC and signed a contract to play with Binghamton Senators for 2011/2012.

Only 10 games in, they have dished him to Peoria Riverman for future considerations (a bag of rocks), where he should join the team for tonight’s game vs. Lake Erie Monsters.

Originally signed by Vancouver Canucks to a 3-year entry level deal, he spent 3 seasons with Manitoba Moose without ever getting called up.

It wasn’t until the next season, where he signed a one-year contract with Phoenix Coyotes that he got into his first NHL action (8 games, no goals and 2 assists).

18-year veteran goaltender started the 2011/2012 season on a training camp tryout invite from Vancouver Canucks. They released him in mid-September and from there he signed a pto with San Antonio Rampage, which lasted through one game of the AHL season.

His playing career has come full circle as he signed another pto. This time with the team he started his pro career with, Springfield Falcons. On Friday night, he appeared in his first game with the team since 1997.

Just how long this renewed relationship will last is tough to say but I would expect it to be a short return visit. In the 3-0 loss vs. WBS Penguins he looked to be in the zone and shaky sometimes on the same play.

At 38 years old and having backstopped 365 NHL games, won a Stanley Cup with Detroit Red Wings in 2002 and played in 6 different leagues (4 North American, 2 oversesas) it may be time for him to hang up the goalie skates.