St. John's IceCaps | CollegeHockeyPlayers

02Aug

Brett Festerling(5) Nürnberg Ice Tigers

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Heading into his 6th pro season, undrafted defenseman Brett Festerling(5) figures trying out hockey in a different country for right now is the route to take, as he signs with Nurnberg Ice Tigers of the DEL for the 2012/2013 season.

The 6’1″ 208 lbs. blue liner has appeared in 88 NHL games in each of his last 4 years, mostly with Anaheim Ducks, who he was initially under contract with from 2007-2011. He registered no goals and 8 assists.

In 2010/2011, he found himself on the trading block three times, finally ending up with Atlanta Thrashers‘ farm team Chicago Wolves.

From there the now 26-year old re-signed with Winnipeg Jets for 2011/2012 and put up some AHL career highs with their affiliate St. John’s IceCaps scoring 15 assists, 18 points and a +8 plus/minus, while making it to the Eastern Conference Finals with the team in its’ inaugural season. He also appeared in 5 NHL games with the Jets.

An interesting bloodline fact to him picking Germany as his next place to play professionally in, his twin brother Garrett plays there and his grandfather is a native of the country.

He was also captain of the Vancouver Giants team that captured the Memorial Cup in 2007.

23Jul

Maxime Macenauer(26) Winnipeg Jets

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Entering his 4th pro season, originally an Anaheim Ducks‘ 3rd round pick in the 2007 draft (#63 overall) center Maxime Macenauer(26) re-signs for another year on a two-way deal with Winnipeg Jets, the team he was traded to near the 2012 trade deadline.

He appeared in 27 games to start 2011/2012 with the Ducks, making the team out of training but was reassigned to their AHL affiliate Syracuse Crunch in mid-December and then traded a couple months later.

The 5’11” 188 lbs. forward wasn’t exactly a cornerstone in the Jets‘ AHL affiliate St. John’s IceCaps during the last part of the regular season or in the postseason through three rounds. He did have some nagging injuries during the season that hindered his play.

Still the Jets must see something in the 23-year old to qualify the restricted free agent and sign him up for another season.

see related post: 4/26-12 Riley Holzapfel(26)

08Jul

Jason King(5) St. John’s IceCaps

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Heading into his 11th pro season, St. John’s IceCaps‘ assistant captain Jason King(5) re-signs for two more years with the hometown team.

He had a pretty solid 2011/2012 year playing in a career high 70 regular season games putting up a team leading 22 goals and 19 assists. The only downside was a miserable -14 plus/minus on the second best team in the AHL Eastern Conference.

Originally a Vancouver Canucks‘ 7th round pick in the 2001 draft (#212 overall), the 6’1″ 192 lbs. forward was fairly legendary with their AHL affiliate Manitoba Moose.

He also appeared in 59 NHL games, almost all with the ‘Nucks skating on the “mattress” line with the Henrik and Daniel Sedin: two twins and a King. Now that’s humor right there but he got 12 goals and 9 assists that year. Unfortunately by the next season had fallen lower on the depth chart as was strictly playing in the AHL.

The almost 31-year old is a good fit for the IceCaps.

07Jul

Mark Dekanich(1) St. John’s IceCaps

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5th year goalie Mark Dekanich(1) has always posted a winning record since turning pro in 2008.

He was originally a 5th round pick in the 2006 draft (#146 overall) by Nashville Predators and tended net in their system, mostly with AHL affiliate Milwaukee Admirals for his first three seasons.

In 2011/2012, his first and only season with Columbus Blue Jackets, a series of high ankle sprains and a groin injury limited his availability to only 5 regular season games with Springfield Falcons.

The 6’2″ 192 lbs. 26-year goaltender is still looked at as a potential NHL backstop (he’s appeared in one game) and Winnipeg Jets think that could be the case as they signed him to a one-year, two-way contract for the upcoming year.

Most likely he’ll compete for the St. John’s IceCaps‘ starting job.

07Jul

John Albert(16) St. John’s IceCaps

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2nd year center John Albert(16) was originally an Atlanta Thrashers‘ 6th round pick in the 2007 draft (#175 overall).

He signed an AHL only deal with Winnipeg Jets to play with their affiliate, St. John’s IceCaps for his rookie season in 2011/2012.

In 64 games he popped in 9 goals and 18 assists, while going a very accountable +10 plus/minus on a good team. He also scored 3 goals and added 2 assists in 15 Calder Cup Playoff games that saw the team get to the Eastern Conference Final.

Count the Jets as impressed, because they re-upped with the 23-year old AHL style for a second season.

At 5’11” (when fully stretched) 190 lbs. he’s the type of player that always looks to put himself at the center of the action and finds the open areas of the ice for scoring chances.

28Jun

Marco Rosa (19)

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Entering his 10th pro season, center Marco Rosa(19) skips the country to play with Espoo Blues of the SM-liiga for the 2012/2013 season.

Hampered by post-concussion symptoms, he was limited to just 31 games during the regular season but did manage to produce close to a point per game with 6 goals and 21 assists.

He was on par to beat his career high point totals from 2 years ago until he got sidelined.

Although he did return for 9 postseason contests, he wasn’t nearly the same player, getting only one assist.

Originally a Dallas Stars‘ 8th round pick in the 2001 draft (#255 overall), the 6’ 180 lbs. forward worked his way up through the ranks first with a few years in the ECHL and for the last 5 seasons he’s been an AHL mainstay.

At 30 years old, no doubt he’s making the right decision to possible play his final years in Europe.

16Jun

Jason DeSantis (6)

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Entering into his 5th pro season, undrafted defenseman Jason DeSantis(6) signed a one-year, two-way contract with Florida Panthers for the 2012/2013 season, which will see him skating for their AHL affiliate San Antonio Rampage.

He signed a minor league deal last season with Winnipeg Jets that saw him appear in 76 games during the regular and postseason with St. John’s IceCaps, where he established career highs in games played (66), goals, assists and points (11-35-46).

His totals were good enough for second on the team for d-men and third overall.

He even spent more time in the sin bin that he had in any previous years with 66 penalty minutes.

Most importantly, the 5’11” 185 lbs. 26-year old established himself as a dependable presence on the blue line that has the ability to help out on the scoring sheet.

We’ll miss seeing him play in the Eastern Conference, but are happy to see him ink an NHL
deal and if he continues to play well it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Panthers‘ recall him for a look in the show.

03Jun

David Aebischer(1) Rapperswil-Jona Lakers

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Once again it’s time for soon to be 14 year veteran goalie David Aebischer(1) to go home to Switzerland, joining a new team in the NLA, Rapperswil-Jona Lakers.

While he didn’t earn a contract with Winnipeg Jets, the team he came back to North America on a tryout agreement to hopefully sign with, the 34-year old was offered an AHL deal, took it and did pretty well with their minor league affiliate St. John’s IceCaps running a 15-12 record with a 2.86 GAA and an .895 GAA and helping the team to the Calder Cup Eastern Conference Finals in their debut season.

Got to say it was still pretty cool seeing the former Colorado Avalanche 6th round pick in the 1997 draft (#161 overall) play when the IceCaps were in town and he got the start in net. He has played in 214 NHL games with a 106 wins to 74 loss record.

25May

Derek Meech(7) St. John’s IceCaps

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post #1000

If 8th year veteran defenseman Derek Meech(7) had any luck this season, it most definitely would have been bad.

What was finally reported as a knee problem that sidelined him in late October after only a couple of games with Winnipeg Jets. He finally returned to finish up the season for 6 games with their AHL affiliate St. John’s IceCaps.

He signed a one-year two-way deal with Winnipeg after 7 seasons with Detroit Red Wings and Grand Rapid Griffins. The 5’11” 196 lbs. blue liner was originally picked in the 7th round of the 2002 draft (#229 overall).

The 28-year old has played 126 NHL and 427 AHL regular and postseason games.

In 15 Calder Cup Playoff games, ending a pretty enchanted first season for the IceCaps, he had 4 goals and 5 assists to help them all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals before bowing out to the number team in the regular season, Norfolk Admirals.

We lay bets the Jets will re-sign the Winnipeg native soon for another season.

08May

Brock Trotter (39)

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When St. John’s IceCaps picked up center Brock Trotter(39) in early March on an AHL loan deal he was on the sidelines nursing an upper body injury that made his immediate playing future a bit unclear.

He managed to return before the regular season concluded and skated in the last couple games with the team after missing 20 previous contests.

The point per game forward failed to reach the scoresheet.

The IceCaps’ Calder Cup future was already sealed though and they opened as the number 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Throughout 8 postseason games (so far) he is back to form contributing 5 goals, while adding 4 assists but none would add up more importantly than the pair he pocketed in the Semi-Finals‘ 2-1 overtime game 3 win vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to put them in the series lead.

He’s set to become an restricted free agent as summer approaches and bets are on that Winnipeg Jets will make a move with Phoenix to sign the fully stretched 5’10” 185 lbs. minor league scoring machine up for another season.