12th year veteran left wing Ryan Malone(6) has played a whopping 647 NHL games with only three teams throughout his lengthy pro career.
He was a Pittsburgh Penguins‘ 4th round pick in the 1999 draft (#115 overall) and spent his first 4 years, minus the 2004/2005 lockout, with the team, where he reached the 20/20 scorer three times.
The big 6’4″ 224 lbs. forward went on to sign a lucrative 6-year deal with Tampa Bay Lightning and once again averaged the 20/20 mark through his first four seasons in south Florida.
A few seasons ago though, his numbers started to tank.
This led the Lightning to rethink their contract and eventually moved to buy out the remaining two seasons of his agreement.
After a summer of uncertainty as a freshly released unrestricted free agent, the 35-year old signed a one-year, two-way contract for virtual pennies to see if he could fill in some offensive spots lost by New York Rangers after their run to the Stanley Cup Finals.
He was on the opening night roster and was almost reassigned once until an injury kept him up. Failing to connect, he was eventually put on waivers and reassigned to minor league affiliate Hartford Wolf Pack.
It was his first time in the AHL since playing 3 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins fresh out of four years of college at St. Cloud University.
He’s appeared in 5 contests thus far recording a pair of assists in one game on a veteran heavy squad that may require him to sit out more often than not.
