Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets‘ 3rd pick in the 2010 draft (#87 overall), second year defenseman Julian Melchiori(44) proves third time is the charm for a recall. He was summoned on a couple of occasions but returned without cracking the lineup.
Appearing in his first NHL game, he logged 14 shifts for 8:41 minutes total ice time with a -1 rating, 1 block shot, 1 hit and 1 giveaway in the team’s 6-4 victory.
The big 6’5″ 215 lbs. blue liner is mostly a stay-at-home style player but is noticing a bit of an uptick in point production in his sophomore season with 5 helpers in 18 AHL games with affiliate St. John’s IceCaps.
He managed only a goal and 7 assists in 52 games through his rookie campaign.
The 22-year old is signed through 2015 after only a pair of seasons in junior hockey and although he was reassigned back to the farm club, he will probably see more time in the show to continue to prove he has what it takes to stick.
Original story 12/28-13
The fairly huge d-man appeared in only the single game and seemed to fall on the team’s prospect depth chart spending the rest of the season in the minors collecting one goal and a new career high 10 assists with a second best +19 rating but was never inserted into the lineup through 21 postseason match-ups.
He would stay with the farm team for a new season high 70 AHL games but fell to a -16 plus/minus on a squad that was mostly out of the playoff picture for the entire run of 2014/2015.
With his 3-year entry level deal reaching its conclusion he was set to become a restricted free agent and it was looking like the Jets would be giving up on him but have elected to sign him to another 1-year two-way extension.
It will be interesting to see how he emerges from training camp to see if he can find his way back onto the parent club’s future plans but is bound to spend the majority of his playing time with new affiliate Manitoba Moose.
